The Old Print Shop

Balaou.

  • ARTIST:

  • MEDIUM: Lithograph, hand-colored,

    DATE: c.1840

  • EDITION SIZE: Image size 6 5/16 x 8 3/4" (161 x 221 mm).

  • DESCRIPTION: The Balaou was originally an American schooner named Exchange, owned by John McFaddon and William Greetham of Baltimore. In 1809 the vessel sailed for Spain, but on December 30, 1810, it was seized by order of Napoleon Bonaparte as part of France’s decrees against neutral shipping. The French navy armed and commissioned the ship under the new name Balaou. In 1812, after being driven by storm into the port of Philadelphia, the ship became the center of a major legal dispute when its former American owners filed suit to reclaim it. The resulting case, The Schooner Exchange v. McFaddon, was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and established the foundational principle of sovereign immunity for foreign military vessels in American ports. Roux’s lithograph depicts the Balaou under sail, an image recalling both the ship’s American origins and its later service under the French flag.

  • ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • CONDITION: Good condition.

  • REFERENCE:

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