Name/TitleSplendid Jem - Once a dashing hero in the Metropolis
About this objectHumorous transportation cartoon set at the docks at Chatham.
The scene depicts the horrors of social disgrace in inimitable Cruikshank style. Splendid Jim – “once a dashing hero in the Metropolis” – is now a convict in leg irons preparing for departure to one of the hulks lying anchor in the background, and thence to Botany Bay. His pain at this current predicament becomes acute when he is recognised by Tom, who is standing with a group of fashionable onlookers.
Cruikshank, best remembered for the work he did for Charles Dickens, made a number of cartoons dealing with transportation and immigration to the Australian colonies.
MakerRobert Cruikshank - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made1821
Period19th century
Medium and MaterialsPaper and ink.
Place MadeLondon, United Kingdom
TechniqueHand coloured
Measurements11cm x 18.3cm
Object TypeCartoons
Object numberSF000793
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art