Alfred Wallis's Two-funnelled Steamers

This small but striking painting by Alfred Wallis may hold the answer to something that’s been puzzling me since I began researching his biography.

Wallis painted many two-funnelled steamers, always identified as fishing vessels, but those only had one funnel. This painting I came across recently is the only example I’ve seen where he scales a two-funnelled steamer against a single-funnelled one, and the size is revealing.

The larger vessel has tall lattice masts (for signalling and navigation, not sails), lifeboats on deck, and two low, closely spaced funnels, both smoking. On a ship this size, that signals multiple boilers and a design built for speed and reliability, not fishing. It points to a twin-funnel screw steamer - likely a mail packet or fast passenger ship on coastal or cross-channel routes in the late 19th century.

Once again, the detail in this painting shows Wallis’s remarkable memory when depicting the ships he witnessed in his past.