A Massive Thomas Willis Silk and Canvas Picture of the Steam Yacht Aztec, Signed T. Willis/NY Early 20th Century. The massive canvas with moulded brown wood frame depicts the Steam yacht Atztec. ;The ship is depicted in silk in great etail including the two masts, single funnel, bridge and all the other parts of the ship as well as numerous figures on board. The Aztec was a steam yacht built in 1902 at Elizabethport, N.J., by the Lewis Nixon Co. and was acquired by the Navy on a free lease basis from A. C. Burnage, on 29 June 1917; and placed in commission on 30 June 1917, Lt. Jason H. H. Milton in command. Dimensions: 44 inches x 26 inches A photo of her can be seen here from the Department of the Navy Naval Historical center (Photographed prior to World War I by Edwin Levick, New York. U.S. Navy photo NH 93937-A) The Naval Hisotrical Center writes: USS Aztec (SP-590), 1917-1919. Originally the Steam Yacht Aztec (1902). Later HMCS Beaver (Canadian Patrol Ship, 1941-1946) USS Aztec, a 848 gross ton patrol vessel, was built in 1902 at Elizabethport, New Jersey, as the steam yacht of the same name. She was leased by the Navy in June 1917 and placed in commission late in that month. Following post-commissioning overhaul, Aztec spent the rest of World War I, and the first months following the 11 November 1918 Armistice, as flagship of the First Naval District, headquartered at Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to making inspection cruises around northern New England, she also was employed for escort and patrol duties. In late December 1918 Aztec carried Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Victory Fleet Review in New York Harbor. She was decommissioned in mid-March 1919 and returned to her owner in August 1919. In the early 1930s, after more than a decade of further yachting, Aztec was laid up at Boston. She was sold to a Canadian owner in 1940 and, in May of that year, taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy. Commissioned as HMCS Beaver in March 1941, the ship performed escort, patrol, tender and transportation missions in the Canadian Atlantic provinces until September 1944, when she was drydocked for repair of serious defects and, shortly afterwards, decommissioned. Beaver had no further active service and was sold in January 1946. In the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a15/aztec.htm) Aztec ; A Mexican Indian tribe who, in the 15th and early 16th centuries, ruled a large empire in what is now central and southern Mexico. ; (Yacht: dp. 848: l. 260'': b. 30''; dr. 8''; s. 12 k.; cpl. 96; a. 2 3", 2 Aztec (SP-590)— a steam yacht built in 1902 at Elizabethport, N.J., by the Lewis Nixon Co. — was acquired by the Navy on a free lease basis from A. C. Burnage, on 29 June 1917; and placed in commission on 30 June 1917, Lt. Jason H. H. Milton in command. ; After undergoing extensive overhaul and repairs, Aztec was designated flagship of the 1st Naval District and stationed at Boston, Mass. In this role, the vessel made inspection tours of naval bases within the district. She also escorted submarines sailing from Boston to New London, Conn., and British troop ships steaming from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On one occasion, Aztec was called to the assistance of a foundering British transport. She lowered her boats and rescued several hundred troops from the ill-fated British ship. ; During the last three months of World War I, Aztec patrolled the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. On 24 December 1918, she proceeded to New York City and, on the 26th, with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt on board, participated in a Fleet review honoring the American battleships returning from duty in European waters. ; Aztec continued serving in the 1st Naval District until she was placed out of commission on 15 March 1919. The ship was returned to her owner on 7 August 1919. ; After the death of her owner in 1931, the ship was laid up at Boston and remained there until purchased in early 1940 by Mr. T. H. P. Molson, Montreal, Canada, in order that she might be requisitioned for service in the Royal Canadian Navy. The ship was taken over by Canada on 28 May 1940 and fitted out for naval service at Halifax Shipyards Ltd. She was commissioned as HMCS Beaver in March 1941. ; For the next one and one-half years, Beaver served as an antisubmarine patrol and convoy escort vessel based at various times at Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Saint John, New Brunswick. On 27 December 1942, she was reassigned to duty as a tender to HMCS Cornwallis, which was based at Halifax. In early 1943, Beaver was moved to Deep Brook, Nova Scotia. ; From 9 February until 24 June 1944, the ship underwent a refit at Halifax. At some point during this time, the Royal Canadian Navy decided to use Beaver as a transport for naval personnel between Halifax and St. John''s, Newfoundland. She served in this capacity through late September, when serious defects caused the vessel to be placed in a dockyard at Halifax for repairs. ; In view of the condition of the ship and the war situation, the repair work was not carried out, and Beaver was paid off on 17 October 1944. The ship was declared surplus on 13 July 1945 and ultimately sold on 7 January 1946 to Mr. Wentworth N. Mac-Donald, Sydney, Nova Scotia Albert C. Burrage (1859-1931) Albert C. Burrage Biography by Robert J. Baptista, September 6, 2006 (http://www.colorantshistory.org/AlbertBurrageBio.html) (Photo: ;Men of Massachusetts, 1903) Albert Cameron Burrage was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts on November 21, 1859. ;His parents were George S. and Aurelia Chamberlin Burrage, descendants of old New England families. ;John Burrage arrived from England in 1636. ; ;When Albert Burrage was three, the family moved West. ;Throughout his life, Burrage had an allegiance both to Massachusetts and the Western states. ;Educated in California, he graduated from Harvard University in 1883 with an A.B. degree. ;He married Alice Hathaway Haskell in 1885. ;The couple had four children: ;Albert Cameron, Jr., Francis H., Elizabeth A. (Mrs. Harold L. Chalifoux), and Russell. In 1884 Burrage was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and began his career as a lawyer. ;He was named counsel for the Brookline Gas Light Company in 1892. ;Later he became president of the Boston, South Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester Gas Light companies and the Bay State Gas Company. ;In 1898, he resigned these positions because cities were starting to switch to electricity for lighting and his interest had turned to copper mining on a large scale. ;He organized the Amalgamated Copper Company and ;was one of the founders of the Chile Exploration Company and of the Chile Copper Company. ;He pursued the development of new processes for the treatment of low-grade copper ores. ;By the end of the century, Burrage had major roles in both Amalgamated Copper and Standard Oil and was regarded as one of the preeminent men of the era. ;He remained a director of Amalgamated Copper until it was dissolved during the era of President Theodore Roosevelt''s trust-busters. Burrage was active in Boston’s civic, political and social circles. ;He served on the Boston Common Council in 1892, getting approval of the "Burrage Ordinance" which prohibited city employees from being members of a political action group. ;He was a member of the Boston Transit Commission that built the Boston subway system. ;In politics he was a Republican. ;He was affiliated with many clubs including the Harvard, Union, Algonquin, Boston Art, Country and Eastern Clubs. ;In New York, he joined the Bankers Club and New York Yacht Club. A philanthropist, Burrage donated the funds to build the Burrage Hospital for Crippled Children in Boston. ;During World War I, he loaned his 260 foot, steam powered ;yacht and other personal assets, to the government to assist the war effort. However, Burrage was upset about the condition of the Aztec when it was returned to him after the war. ;He filed a claim with the government for $325,000 in repairs and $60,000 for the loss of use of the yacht. ;His attorney, the Hon. William Gibbs McAdoo, succeeded in getting $300,000........ . Thomas Willis (1850-1925) The painting is an oil on canvas with the ships created of silk and satin sails and velvet hulls. This style of painting is associated with Thomas Willis; born in Denmark, he sailed to Brooklyn in 1870. He worked for a manufacturer of silk thread until setting up a workshop with artists assisting his work on the backgrounds of the pieces, thus enabling him to focus on the sails and the yachts; he billed himself as the "Inventor and sole maker of silk ware pictures." ;Willis’ pictures are sometimes found with a ‘TW’ overlapping, but are also often found unsigned as he was the only artist working in this manner. Reference: Richter, Paula Bradstreet. Painted with Thread: The Art of American Embroidery. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem CT. 2001. p. 100

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