The Oriole, during its short lifetime, from 1908 to 1916, was the queen of the Gloucester fishing fleet, and few could match her in speed. She was built at Essex, Massachusetts by Tarr & James, and more than 500 people attended the launching on June 24, 1908. On her maiden voyage the next month, the Oriole was under the command of Captain Thad Morgan, a native Virginian who was one of the few skippers from the South and one of the best skippers working.

The following season, she was variously seining, dory handlining and halibuting. After a near miss with destruction by fire while docked in Gloucester, the end of this beautiful vessel came when she was rammed and sunk by the Norwegian steamer Borghild on August 12, 1916, forty miles southwest of Nova Scotia. Although the steamer’s whistle could be heard in the distance, the thick fog that evening made visibilty almost nil. The steamer’s massive bow sliced into the 145-ton schooner, almost slicing her in two. The crew scrambled for dories, trawl buoys and rigging as the Oriole sank in less than four minutes.

Mr. Hoyne chose to depict the crew furling a jib, dangerous work on the bouncing bowsprit of the schooner Oriole in the rough seas. The leaden skies foretell stormy seas, and the rising swells add to the tension of the scene, as the men scramble to keep control of the ship.