Ken was delighted by John's interest in the painting, and the the two pals decided to solve the mystery. The house flag, they were able to determine, belonged to Thomas Dunlop and Sons, of Glasgow, who although no longer trading, had owned the Queen Line of steamships.  They learned too, that although T.D.& S. Ltd. had never owned a Queen Margorit, they had owned two vessels called Queen Margaret.  To those familiar with the Glasgow tongue, Margorit is easily recognisable as Margaret--if the artist had been a crewman from Glasgow such a misspelling would have been understandable. And what of the two Margarets?  The first (97656), built by Alexander Stephen and Sons, Linthouse, Glasgow, in 1890 was 310 feet long, 41 feet beam, and 1732 net tons.  The second (133093), built by Robert Duncan and Co. Ltd., Port Glasgow, in 1912, was 405 feet long, 53 feet beam, and 3197 net registered tons.  Dunlop sold the first Margaret in 1902 to E. Possehl & Co. Ltd., of Lubeck, Germany, and the second was sold to the Barr Shipping Co. Ltd., of Glasgow, in 1922. The painting is assuredly of one of those vessels, but which one?  Nobody has been able to determine with certainty, although the tendency is to think that it is more likely to be of the 1890 vessel.  And the artist, what of him or her? The initials BE, appear above the O in Glasgow on the life belt, and it is reasonable to suppose that they are the artist's initials.  All ship's crew sign Crew Agreements before setting out on a voyage, and a few of those for the period of interest have survived either at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, or at the National Archives, Kew.  A search was made of the Crew Agreements available, and it was found that a Robert Erskine of Paisley had sailed as 3rd Engineer on the 1890 vessel in 1894/1895.  Robert may have been known as Bob, and that would produce the initials, BE.  Unfortunately, however, there are no Erskine's in Ken's lineage. If the painting wasn't completed by one of Ken's family, that might mean, might it not, that it was given to one of Ken's family by the artist? However that may be, and whoever BE may have been, it is more than likely that s/he executed other paintings, and is known to have done.

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