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Thomas Hoyne featured the L. A. Dunton in another of his paintings, “Fog Peril,” a sinister portrait of the dangers of unpredictable weather off the coast of New England. Here he portrays the Dunton in a sunnier moment, as the handsome fishing vessel heads back after a profitable day of fishing, her hold full of the sea’s bounty.

The Dunton is one of the few survivors of the New England sailing fishermen — and perhaps the best known because of its preservation at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. A Gloucester fisherman, she was built for Captain Felix Hogan by A. D. Story at Essex, Masachusetts. She was named for Louis A. Dunton, a famous sailmaker from Boothbay, Maine, and was launched in 1921. Although the Dunton was built at the time of international fishermen’s racing, she was not classed with the bigger vessels built as contenders. But she was a good sport, racing the speedy Mayflower to the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and entering the elimination races for the International Cup. Captain Hogan sailed his schooner from her home port without an engine, as was common at the time. He had used her for halibuting summers and haddocking winters, and sailed to the Grand Banks under the U. S. flag until 1935, when she was sold to Canada.

In 1960, she was converted to a coastal freight carrier with a diesel engine and only auxiliary sails. On October 8, 1963, having been protected for ten years by the L. A. Dunton Associates, she was taken over by the Marine Historical Association. Now at Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, the L. A. Dunton has been restored.

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