Whilst talented, it should be recognised that OFP is seen and termed as a “gifted amateur”.   Might his reputation change as a result of a general growing appreciation of his work?  Hopefully this website may play a part in this.

Over the years I have attempted to list and categorise the various OFP paintings and etchings held by family and friends. It is clear that Canadian Pacific employed his art skills for a range of company publicity; two large oil paintings hung on the walls of Canadian Pacific offices in Montreal (and are hopefully retained their successors?) I have details of some commissioned works. Occasionally I have noticed an OFP painting appearing at art sales/auctions and finally this web site has attracted those people who own and value items of OFP art work to get in touch.  All these I have attempted to list below.

OFP’s art work falls into four categories : Etchings – Cartoon work – Oils – Watercolours

Etchings  – where OFP learned this specialised technique is not known but before WW1 he had produced two series based on square riggers : The Sea Shanty Series and the Famous Ship Series.  He continued to produce etchings throughout his sea going career, mainly of square riggers, liners and scenes of the exotic sites visited during his Canadian Pacific liner postings; indeed it is thought that he took a printing press on board each ship with him as part of his dunnage.  Several of his old copper plates are retained by the family and, though worn, can still produce prints; sadly his printing press was given away.

Cartoon Work – I spent over a year visiting the British Library Colindale Newspaper Archive searching for evidence of OFP’s drawings.  Despite the 1914 comment that “… his work is well known to the nautical profession throughout the country …  lively sketches and cartoons!”  I could only find his art work in the Liverpool Journal of Commerce.  This was a weekly edition in which OFP produced a variety of cartoons : full page lampoons of the Kaiser; naval lower deck life; illustrations of stories; caricatures of well known naval & military figures; cartoons to enhance reader’s jokes etc  For over a year OFP produced copious drawings and cartoons on a weekly basis; too many to list. Insert some examples*****

Oils and Watercolours – mainly of ships, sail and steam. It is clear that OFP, having served and obtained his commission in square riggers (like most CP officers) retained a love of these vanishing ships and captured many of the remaining fleet. Two oil portraits of OFP and his wife exist in isolation; however OFP is also known to have painted watercolour likenesses of liner passengers.

The OFP Etchings –

The Two Series :

The Sea Shanty Series comprises five etchings :  “Blow The Man Down #55” – “Rolling Home #56” – “Lee Fore Brace” – “The Weather Leach #48” – “Wet Work In The Waist #58” – two upright / three oblong – all depict tarpaulined & sou’westered seaman hauling sheets or fighting canvas in very heavy conditions with huge seas rolling in-board. The five named prints above are contained in a folder, prefaced with a Brown, Son & Ferguson advertisement and selling at 12s 6d each, mounted ready for framing and “personally printed and signed by the artist himself”. Four have a stanza of a relevant chantey attached. None of these prints are dated – four are numbered – see list below…. In some cases OFP created  different print versions with the same title!

Main brace Haul

The Famous Ships Series comprises six oblong etchings of square rigged ships : “CUTTY SARK – China Tea Clipper” – “DREADNOUGHT – American Mail Packet” – “GARTHPOOL – Last British Windjammer #47” = “LAKE ERIE – Canadian Emigrant Ship #43” – “STRATHEARN – Canadian Emigrant Ship #46” – “WHITE STAR – Australian Passenger Ship #28 & #44”. Again these six prints are advertised as above but priced at 7s 6d each.  Some of ships above are missing from the folder but can be deduced from the list below – the Cutty Sark does not appear – possibly it was #42 ?

Numbered Etchings

The majority of OFP’s etchings contain a small circle with a number and “OFP”; I have therefore left gaps where particular etchings are yet to be discovered.  Many of his prints are labelled and/or signed – where this is not the case I have had to describe the print. Some of the prints have been coloured.

No                                          Description                                                           Location

4.                                     EMPRESS of AUSTRALIA                                SJM/JGP
7.                                     MADERIA   check. out JPG 7a ?….                          JPG
8.                                 In the Arab Quarter,  ALGIERS                             SJM/JPG
9.                       View from the Lower Terrace, MONTE CARLO  check         JPG
10.                               COLOMBO, the Galle Face – check                       SJM/JPG
12.                                          TAJ MAHAL                                                   SJM/JPG
14.                                  APPROACHING  CHIN WANTOA  check                    JPG
15.                                SWATOW FISHING JUNKS    check                            JPG
16.                                        JAPAN  Inland sea                                          SJM/JPG
17.                                EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA  check                            JPG
18.                                EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA  check                            JPG
19.                              Un named steamer – number 19 unclear                      SJM
20.                              EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA                                           SJM
21.                              EMPRESS OF BRITAIN                                                 SJM
23.                          Un named liner – probably Empress of Britain                  SJM
28.                       WHITE STAR – Austtralian Emigrant Ship                          AR/ZP
29.                      STRATHEARN – Canadian Emigrant Ship                        SJM/AR
34.                       Un named – Gaff Rigged Schooner                            SJM/AR/RG
36.                              EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA                                         SJM
37.                                 YACHT HUSSAR   NYYC                                          SJM
38.                             Un named  – a tropical house                                         LD
39.                          THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS – VENICE                              LD/TR
41.                                 THE CANAL – TUNIS                                              SJM
43.                             LAKE ERIE – Canadian Emigrant Ship                      SJM
44.                            WHITE STAR – Australian Emigrant Ship                 SJM/ZP
45.                            DREADNOUGHT – American Packet Boat              SJM/ZP
46.                          STRATHHEARN – Canadian Emigrant Ship                 ZP
47.                           GARTHPOOL – Last British Windjammer               SJM/DP
48.                               THE WEATHER LEACH                                      SJM/ZP
50.                            RMS EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA                              SJM
52.                               EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA                                    SJM
55.                                BLOW THE MAN DOWN
56.                              ROLLING HOME – Capstan Chantey                       SJM
58.                               WET WORK IN THE WAIST                                    RG
62.                                        THE PYRAMIDS                                          SJM/ZP
63.                               EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA
64.                                       CARRADALE                                              GT
65.                        MOSQUE OF OMAR – JERUSALEM                         LD
66.                             THE RIALTO BRIDGE – VENICE                        SJM
67.                             Un named- Venitian Gondola                              SJM
68.                          GEIRANGER FJORD – MEREK                             AR
70.                             EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA
71.                      Un named – Full Rigged Ship                                      SJM

UnNumbered Etchings

•   LADIES IN WAITING – timber schooners          FN/ZP
•   M.Y. OWL   – small motor yacht                        SJM
•   Un named – twin towered cathedral                    SJM
•   UPAIA GATEWAY – RABAT                                DP

In doubt – to be checked : Barque Carradale – AR/GT ; Lee Fore Brace – AR ; Lee Fore Brace – RG  ; Maderia – DP/TR ; Mosque Gateway – DP

OFP created an etched 1918 New Years Greetings Card – the front cover has a picture of HMS Kidwelly Castle – the inside consists of the faces of 35 officers plus their names with the inscription :” Greetings fom the Officers of the Mine-Sweepers, Patrol Trawlers and Drifters of the Portsmouth Command” – owned by his daughter LP.

Location Key =

• AR = Avrille Robb
• CM = Claude Meldrum
• CES = Chris Embleton-Smith
• DFJP = DFJ Pennington
• DP = Don Powel
• GT = Gordon Turner, Canadian author
• FN = Fay & Howard Nash
• JM = John Monro
• KD = Ken Demerling
• LP = Lilian & Des Dowding
• RG  = Roland Gehrke
• ZP = Ziggy Pennington
• SJM = Stuart & Jeni Morgan
• TR = Tracey Robb
• VO = Victoria Osbourne

OFP WATERCOLOURS

• Clan McFarlane – three mast square rigger –            VO
• HMS Rugby                                                                SJM
• Parisian                                                                       CM
• Portrait of a girl laughing                                               AR
• Romanoff                                                                   DFJP
• Sobraon                                                                      CES
• Ventura – sailing ship –                                                ZP
• WW2 Arctic convoy – possibly Winnipeg II               SJM
• WW2 Destroyer – unnamed –                                     ZP
• Canadian Corvette K170                                          KD
• Unnamed 4 masted ship                                          CES

OFP  OIL  PAINTINGS

• Beaverdell – GT
• Beaverglen – GT
• Claverdon – square rigged ship – whereabouts unknown
• Cutty Sark – commissioned 1945 for a Dr AL Lynch of Vancouver
• Empress of Australia II – whereabouts unknown
• Empress of Britain – whereabouts unknown – once hung in CP’s Southampton offices
• Empress of Canada – CP Ships Montreal # 130
• Empress of Scotland – CP Ships Montreal # 49
• Empress of France – AR ?
• Lightning – square rigger – JM
• SS Metagama Leaving Liverpool – Stornaway Museum, Isle of Lewis
• Ship Glenholm – square rigger –  LP  – can be dated to 1952 from this photo

•  Square Rigged Ship   unnamed  –      SJM
• Two Square Rigged Ship paintings – unnamed  – AR
• Self Portait in naval uniform – AR
• Portrait of OFP’s wife Lilian – LP

• Lee Fore Brace – HQS Wellington – these three paintings were donated to 
• Down Fore Tack – HQS Wellington  the Honourable Company of Master
  
• The Weather Leach – HQS Wellington  – Mariners and are hung on the main deck of their Headquarters Ship on the Thames – may be viewed by appointment.

Commercial Prints 

Brown Son and Ferguson of Glasgow still market the following prints. I have inquired as to the whereabouts of the original paintings but they have no information.  I believe that they commenced selling these works in the 1920s.

• Harbinger
• Cutty Sark
• Mount Stewart Passing the Needles
• Carradale
• HMS Arethusa
• Sobraon
• Machrihanish

OFP ART WORK SOLD AT AUCTION

Over the years I have noticed several OFP items that have been sold at various art auctions; sadly always after the event and so have not been able to bid.

• Cattle Watering in a River Valley – by OFP, Bonhams, Jan 2007; I emailed them – no more information – perhaps this is by his father ?
• Clipper Under Full Sail – sold Mallems, Oxford 10/10/2008
• The Storm – sold by Live Auctioneers, New York in Jan 2009
• SS Montrose with Tugs in Attendance – Outhwaite & Litherland 1995

Oswald F Pennington was born on 8^th April 1885 in Lancashire, the son of Oswald Pennington, surveyor and Lillie Pennington nee Franklin, living at 52, Cemetery Road, Southport. Little is yet known of his early life until shortly after his 17^th birthday when he signed on the steam ship LYCIA, registered London, 2116 tonnage, trading to Montreal, probably as a midshipman

Over the next three years he served on five other steam ships : FORT SALISBURY, MEMNON, PORT MORANT, BAVARIAN & IONIAN before taking to sail as an ordinary seaman in the barque VENTURA. He spent over a year on a voyage to Melbourne and the west coast of South America in the nitrate trade before returning via Cape Horn to Liverpool and successfully taking his 2^nd Mate’s certificate in 1907.

He then shipped as 2^nd Mate in the square rigger GLENHOLM again round the Horn to South America for over a year, before serving on two steamships: MUNCASTER CASTLE & CLAN MACPHEE. In 1912 he took and passed his 1^st Mate’s ticket which he used to good effect as 4^th Officer on SS GRAMPIAN and as 2^nd Mate on SS ONTARIAN. In December 1913 O.F. Pennington achieved the pinnacle of academic nautical success by taking and passing his Master in Sail foreign going ticket. It is clear that Oswald had been developing his artistic skills whilst at sea and contributing cartoons and art work to the “leading seafaring magazines”. In June 1914 he was appointed as “artist and draughtsman” to the Liverpool Journal of Commerce, a new weekly edition featuring news, articles and humour for all branches of the mercantile profession; it’s first edition states : “The above photo is of Captain Oswald Franklin Pennington who has been appointed as the artist and draughtsman to the weekly Journal of Commerce. His work is well known in the nautical profession throughout the country, not only by reason of some extremely graphic sea pictures such as “Lee Fore Brace” but also because of his lively sketches and cartoons which have emanated from his pencil – some to be found in this publication.Captain Pennington, a native of Southport, has had a long and varied experience of the sea in all classes of ships, from sailing vessels to mail liners. Before retiring from the sea he was a frequent contributor to several important London magazines well known to the majority of merchant officers.”

He remained at the weekly Journal of Commerce for one year, producing many political and humorous cartoons and rising to be its editor but in July 1915 as The Great War escalated he was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant in the RNR.

OF Pennington trained at Gunnery School but then appears to have served in the Mine Sweeping Service at Portsmouth. He is believed to have commanded HMS Rugby. On 2^nd July 1917 he was gazetted as Mentioned in Despatches and in the Second Supplement to the London Gazette on Tues 16^th of April 1918 can be found :

“The King has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the following honours, decorations and medals to the under mentioned Officers and Men in recognition of their services in Mine Sweeping operations between 1^st April and 31st December 1917”

To receive the Distinguished Service Cross: “Lieut. Oswald Franklin Pennington RNR”

He probably remained in minesweeping duties post the WW1 armistice since there was much clearance work to be done. As he later recalled in the Canadian Pacific house magazine, he then faced the choice of a career at sea or staying ashore and attempting to develop his art work commercially. It is probable that he had already produced the The Sea Shanty Series, five etchings of seamen working on square riggers. His choice was to return to the sea.

His initial employment for Canadian Pacific appears to have been in evolving a distinctive colour scheme for the different ships taken into the C.P.S.S. post WW1.

In 1920 OF Pennington served as 3^rd Officer on C.P.’s SS METAGAMA. In July of 1921, “there being a surplus of officers” his services were dispensed with. However in 1924 he returned as 3^rd Officer on the EMPRESS OF FRANCE, remaining until 1928. His CP career then progressed through a variety of Canadian Pacific liners and freighters, mainly the EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA where he rose to be 1^st Officer by 1936 through to the second World War. Oswald Pennington also served on the EMPRESS OF CANADA, the MONTROSE, the DUCHESS OF BEDFORD, the DUCHESS OF YORK and the MONTCALM. In the first two years of WW2 he continued his service as Chief Officer on CP ships until December 1941 when he took command of the Empire Magpie on convoys to Russia from Dec 1941 to 7^th Oct 1942. On July 7^th he was commended for war services. On 13^th Oct 1942 Captain Pennington took charge of WINNIPEG II from Liverpool bound in convoy for US. Thirteen days later on 26^th Oct she was hit by a torpedo mid Atlantic from U boat 443. Every one of her 138 passengers and crew were got away in lifeboats with no loss of life although dreadful seasickness was suffered in the rescue corvette HMC MORDEN, who took the majority of the survivors to St Johns NF. Two reports exist of the sinking, one from OFP and the other from her chief officer, G. Mc. C.White, who ended with :

“The Captain was perfectly calm and level headed throughout, his cool bearing setting a fine example to his crew, all of whom behaved exceedingly well.”

Captain Pennington was now hospitalised for an extended period and on his release was employed by the Canadian Navy in charge of boom defences.

His wife was at last able to rejoin OFP in Canada in 1944 and they then lived in Montreal until 1952. During this period Oswald was accepting painting commissions.

In 1952 with OFP’s health declining the Penningtons returned to London, taking a studio in Notting Hill where he continued to paint. He died on 12th May 1953 and is buried at Gunnersbury Cemetery which we visit regularly.

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OF Pennington is my wife’s maternal grandfather and the above information represents a précis of many years of collating facts and tracing his various paintings and etchings – most information has come from his daughter (my mother-in-law) Mrs Lillian Dowding, nee Pennington, who sadly died on 10th February 2015.   

In July 2015 we held an exhibition of OFP’s art works at the Cow Byre, Ruislip to commemorate the centenary of his joining the Royal Navy in 1915. I managed to collate over 100 of his pictures loaned mainly from family, plus photos of other paintings from around the world. The mayor of Hillingdon attended plus a number of owners of his work and many local people.  

Research will continue on all aspects of his life and work and it is intended to expand this web site into more detailed areas covering :

known family – antecedents / descendants / addresses etc

merchant naval career to 1914 – ships / voyages / general conditions

Liverpool JOC employment – I have copied all of his published
political & humorous cartoons from research at the Colindale
Newspaper

WW1 service – commendations/decorations

Canadian Pacific career inter war – ships / voyages

WW2 service …….. torpedoing

Canadian / Montreal years ……

Last year / death / grave in London

Art Work ………. breaks into the known oil paintings, etching prints and watercolours – and the probable art work deduced from letters & adverts

Anyone accessing this site who is able to further the research by contributing more known information, photos, facts, or indeed general helpful comments that they wish to have included here should email

This site is dedicated to Captain Oswald Franklin Pennington, D.S.C., 1885 to 1953, naval officer and artist.

It is intended to describe here the details of his career in steam and sail prior to the first world war; his artistic and editorial year with the Liverpool Journal of Commerce; his service with the Royal Navy in mine sweeping which lead to the award of the D.S.C. in 1918; his years as a ship’s officer with Canadian Pacific in the 1920/30s; his Second World War service and the torpedoeing of SS Winnepeg under his command in 1942; and his subsequent years in Montreal and London.

A catalogue of his life’s work of etchings, water-colours and oil paintings with examples of each genre will be published.

Comments and contributions should be emailed to : stuart@oswald-f-pennington.co.uk

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Related articles

• ART WORK of Oswald Franklin Pennington
• Introduction