Historical Paintings of Woods Hole and Falmouth by F. L. Gifford
Launching of the “Status Ante Bellum,” 1816
and the “Status Ante Bellum” at Sea
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to see larger versions.
Undaunted by the attempts of the British to disrupt trade off the Massachusetts coast, Elijah Swift, leading citizen of Falmouth in the 19th century, vowed that the British would never keep him off the seas. In 1813 he laid the keel of a 50 ton vessel in his own yard beside his home in Main Street (near the site of the present Town Hall). When completed, this great craft was drawn inland to the shore by a team of fifty yoke of oxen. At the foot of Shore Street she was launched, and christened the “Status Ante Bellum.”
The text above is from Historic Woods Hole, by Franklin Lewis Gifford (1932).
Note: Gifford didn't provide notes about the location of the "launching" image. He says that the ship was built near Town Hall and launched at the foot of Shore Street. One assumes that Swift's route to the water would have been straight down Shore Street, but if the ship in the painting is headed down Shore Street, you shouldn't be able to see Martha's Vineyard and the Sound in the background. And, if that's the Sound in the background, the ship is headed in the wrong direction. In any case, it's a wonderful image.