"The Bark CONCORDIA is shown under full sail departing New Bedford on her maiden voyage on December 7, 1867. At the time she was considered the ultimate in whaleship design. Unfortunately, the CONCORDIA never returned as she was caught in the Great Arctic Disaster of 1871 when 32 whaleships were trapped by ice on the Alaskan coast and abandoned." (flickr)
The unsigned painting is attributed to William Edward Norton and is titled 'Outbound Whaler, Dropping the Pilot." I'd say they picked a tough time to do it.
I love the stark clarity of early photographs:
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/...alth:rr173546h
Click the zoom + for even greater detail.