Yacht WANDERER

oil painting

PAINTINGS - OIL
marad; paintings
Joseph B. Smith & Son
USA, NY, Port Jefferson; USA, NY, Long Island; USA, NY, Long Island, Setauket
after 1857
oil paint; wood
25.25 x 35.63 x 0

Oil painting on canvas of port view of yacht WANDERER at sea with full sails; flying flag at the top of each mast, one U.S. Yacht Ensign, one possibly a New York Yacht club, and one unidentified; another yacht is upwind to the starboard flying an unidentified flag; 3 men seen on WANDERER, 4 on unidentified yacht. Said to have hung in the home of Capt. Thomas B. Hawkins, who supervisor the building of the boat WANDERER.

Launched on June 19, 1857, from W. J. Rowland’s shipyard in Port Jefferson, New York, The Wanderer quickly gained fame for its luxury and craftsmanship. Under Captain Hawkins—a respected mariner and boat builder born and based in Setauket, Long Island—the schooner-yacht became renowned for its sleek design and exquisite details. Commissioned and owned by Colonel John D. Johnson, it was celebrated as a marvel of shipbuilding—built for both speed and elegance. Its gleaming deck and lavish interiors symbolized Johnson’s wealth and taste, including a $1,400 upholstered chair, a stunning display of opulence.
As a “luxury racing yacht,” The Wanderer became a status symbol at the New York Yacht Club, admired for its beauty and speed. But its journey soon took a darker turn.
When Colonel Johnson sold the yacht to William Corrie, a smooth-talking Southern gentleman and a recent New York Yacht Club member, The Wanderer was unexpectedly repurposed for an illegal mission: the slave trade. Behind Corrie was Charles A. L. Lamar, a radical Southern secessionist who secretly purchased the yacht and orchestrated the operation. Lamar sought to bypass the 1808 U.S. ban on the international slave trade, using Corrie as a front to carry out his plan.
In 1858, The Wanderer set sail under the flag of the New York Yacht Club, cloaking its dark mission in respectability. Its goal was to sail to Africa, procure enslaved people, and bring them to the South. On November 28, 1858, the yacht successfully landed around 407 enslaved Africans on Jekyll Island, Georgia. This illegal voyage marked one of the last known slave shipments to the U.S., provoking national outrage and reigniting abolitionist movements.
The Wanderer’s involvement in the slave trade exposed the deepening divide between North and South. In the North, where slavery had been abolished, the yacht’s mission was seen as a moral affront. In the South, it became an act of defiance against federal law—symbolizing resistance to abolition. The yacht became a focal point in the national debate over slavery and the looming Civil War.

Captain Thomas Brewster Hawkins (1819–1901) was a renowned American yachtsman, shipbuilder, and sea captain whose maritime career spanned over seventy years. Born in Setauket, Long Island, he took to the sea at sixteen, eventually leading trading voyages across the Northeast. In 1850, he and his brother-in-law John Mather became key figures in the development of Port Jefferson's yacht-building industry, launching acclaimed vessels like the sloop Irene and the schooner Wanderer, the latter gaining notoriety for its later role in the illegal slave trade. His designs, including the Civil War–repurposed Corypheus, were celebrated for speed and innovation. Revered for his seamanship and devotion to the sea, Hawkins once said, “The sea has a life, a personality, a being of its own.” He died in 1901, leaving a lasting legacy preserved today by the Mystic Seaport Museum.

1997.129.1A