TSS MILTIADES

Artist John Allcot (Australian, 1888 - 1973)

Date1909

Object number00055450

NamePainting

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall (framed): 405 × 608 × 40 mm, 1853 g

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection gift from Geoff Payne and David Payne

Terms

DescriptionAn oil on canvas ship portrait of TSS MILTIADES painted by John Allcot in 1909. Allcot was one of three stowaways on board on the voyage from London to Melbourne and went in to become one of twentieth century Australia's most prolific maritime artists This is the very first painting he painted in an Australian context, on cloth and from available materials he could find on board.HistoryThe SS MILTIADES, launched in 1903 in Glasgow left London for Cape Town - Melbourne and Sydney for its maiden voyage. A popular vessel for immigrants, MILTIADES was lengthened in 1912 with an increase in accommodation. Requestioned in 1915 as a troop ship in WWI, it resumed commercial service in 1920 and undertook its last Australia run for the Aberdeen Line that year. MILTIADES was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. and renamed ORCANA. The route changed and the vessel, in 1922, was used to for a South America service. A financial disappointment it was deemed too expensive to maintain and in 1924 ORCANA was towed to Holland and scrapped. It was during a 1909 voyage to Australia on MILTIADES that a young John Alcott, a stowaway, met Sidney Arthur Payne, who was a teenage apprentice with the serving on SS MILTIADES. It is believed that Alcott painted the picture of MILTIADES, his first known ship portrait, on material he found on the ship and raffled the painting. The 17-year-old Payne won and kept this image throughout his life. Both Alcott and Payne both immigrated permanently to Australia and met up again in their new lives. Payne still had this first image by Alcott of the MILTIADES, his first ship posting, and likely commissioned the painting of SS SOPHOCLES (00055449), the last ship he served on, from Alcott. SignificanceThis ship portrait of TSS MILTIADES was painted by John Allcot when a young man and remains his first documented ship portrait. The story of him painting the image as a stowaway, presents a unique perspective on Allcot's life and that of many others who sought new horizons in Australia.