Jan Mooy “Janson”, 1819. Courtesy of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2016
The Janson was a ship built in Dighton Massachusetts and registered to Joseph S. Martin and Samuel Greene Arnold in 1820. This watercolor of the vessel was painted in 1819 by Dutch artist Jan Mooney (1776-1847). It sank in 1820 “within two cable lengths of New Dieppe” off the coast of Holland according to Captain Benjamin Mayo. A full account of the ship’s wreck was published in the Providence Daily Journal on March 15, 1820. Mayo recounted that drift ice “struck the ship on her starboard bow, and in 20 minutes she went to the bottom in 15 fathoms of water. We nearly escaped with our lives… “There is nothing saved except for the stern boat.”
