![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVGKMOIGywN6L7TYXhZsrwZYDyOyEqVGfjXsj8l2LRo_b2cIgimWETgZJuAxgTNupvYYdQ9SYXo6ifC6nwduP-1UXpcIZxw5LW34nKwI4rjLeb2DraoqYgCqtKHauDk1NZnCZsnEAvqOk/s320/shipwreck3.jpg)
This is a pencil composition of seafarers in a sad plight. I found this in an old trunk where it had been undisturbed for over 50 years. I was thinking about who the artist might have been, considering the trunk and its contents were acquired from a different homestead by my grandfather. At first glance, I didn't notice a signature on the picture and assumed that the drawing was a copy of an extant painting. But today, while I was taking pictures of it, I found a very small signature to the right of the drowning figure in the foreground, a "Wm Bance." This may not be of any significance, but the drawing could very well be original. Jumping out of the drawing the way it did, finding the signature was a dramatic little moment like in a Josephine Tey detective novel, when the inspector recognizes the man in the portrait and solves the mystery. Except I haven't really solved anything, and the artist remains in the shadows.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0wR_h1PhfM3JrcT-r7QtQ1L6S8hFYnSCE9caA8pqj-pSKd9DUSQY7Z0rYi5C3nl6Lgnzogxf8MCyLJE5_rch31pQxhfRD-47L1z5yQEVRQaHEsLlKI6I4KtiUa1rx-6Be3TfrHg3XTmo/s320/shipwreck1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUhyphenhyphenFSUvCCOn-dJgeX4WsICjpbFKpdMwBLm5FiUtzaXKWClAZVzsIovtlC8lgB3FR9sDVX-ZoOM6ERohdlgJK-mxLPQnUMJUqVQUih3JG5vhQsTi9fDhKmEr8viAQ87t8qKTaufQHm8ZE/s320/shipwreck2.jpg)
Other trifles in the trunk: a red cross button from 1921, a sheaf of letters from 1915 tied with a shoe-lace, a very small key, enamel costume jewelry, old primers, woolen mittens, a Farmer's Almanac, buttons, and a homemade rose-shaped pin made of sealing wax.