U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy announced that the historic Christ on the Water painting will be moved out of the basement and returned to its original location in the Elliot M. See Room at the United States Merchant Marine Academy’s (USMMA) Wiley Hall. The painting, which depicts Jesus Christ guiding sailors through stormy seas, is a significant symbol of the Academy’s religious and maritime heritage. The painting, which had hung in the Elliot M. See Room for nearly 80 years, was moved to the flood-prone basement of the chapel under the Biden Administration.
Transcript of the video:
We are moving Jesus out of the basement.
To all the great midship men at the Merchant Marine Academy, you let me know how important this painting was to all of you.
Now we all know it was taken out of a place of prominence and put in down in the basement.
I worked with the Academy and because this is such a historic painting, I’m announcing that through that work with the Academy, this painting is going to go from the basement back to its place of prominence.
It will be a moment to celebrate.
Background:
In 1947 the painting was installed at the Merchant Marine Academy’s Wiley Hall Elliot See Room where it was displayed until 2023 when the Biden administration moved it because of a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Earlier this year, Secretary Duffy visited USMMA and in his speech to the mid-shipmen he addressed bringing the painting up from out of the basement.
History of the Painting:
Also known as “Jesus and Lifeboat,” this painting by noted marine artist LT Hunter Wood, USMS, portrays merchant seamen adrift in a lifeboat, presumably after being torpedoed. Wood painted it in 1944 for the chapel being built at the U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Basic School in San Mateo, California, as a tribute to all merchant seamen, especially to cadet-midshipmen (as they were then known) who had been torpedoed during World War II. The figure holding the tiller wears a midshipman’s combination cover (hat) with its distinctive anchor device. Other notable details include the tattoos on the arms of one seafarer. Somewhat unusually, the painting is on what appears to be sail canvas, likely used marine paints, and the varnish seems to have been spar varnish. Wartime shortages of artist supplies partly explain these materials, but Wood seems to have liked using marine materials for his artwork. To date, no statement by the artist has emerged about this painting to explain its composition, but maritime historian Frank Braynard described it as Wood’s most ambitious work. Due to budgetary constraints, the San Mateo campus closed in 1947, and the painting came to Kings Point, where it was installed in the chapel in Wiley Hall, which served as the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s interfaith chapel from 1942 to 1961. The painting remained there for decades until the Academy moved the artwork to the lower level of the Mariners’ Memorial Chapel in 2023, after having it professionally conserved and cleaned.
History of The Artist:
Hunter Alexander Wood (1908-1948) was the son of famous marine painter Worden George Wood. At age seventeen, Wood commenced training at the New York State Schoolship, now known as the State University of New York Maritime College. In the 1930s, Wood sailed for several steamship companies and did freelance work as an artist in advertising, allowing him to develop his own distinctive style, earn a commercial aviator’s license, and serve a stint in the New York National Guard. Wood joined the U.S. Coast Guard with the rank of Chief Boatswain’s Mate on December 17, 1941, just ten days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and saw action during the invasion of North Africa in late 1942 before serving as an artist in the Coast Guard Combat Artist Unit. In 1944, Wood took a commission as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Maritime Service (USMS) at the new U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, with occasional forays to other facilities, such as the Cadet Basic School in San Mateo, California, where he painted “Christ on the Water.” Wood remained with the USMS after World War II ended, advancing to Lieutenant Commander. In 1947, he married Mary Zizan in New York City, just months before he died in 1948 due to an automobile accident. Wood’s paintings continue to grace the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office in Washington, DC, the Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia, and numerous private collections.