Marine Artist William J Leathem,

I have found some information about marine artist William J Leathem 1815-1862, written in the Molong Express of all places, I have not found a lot on him and this story does shed light on the type of man he was.

He may be related to our line as they come out of England as well, as compositors printers Newspapermen.

This is a part from the article talking of William Leathem

Molong Argus (NSW: 1909 - 1921) Friday 18 April 1913

Recollections of Long Ago.

Of Voyaging and Tramping by land and Sea,

[By " COOYAL."]

MAKING THINGS PLAIN.

So I won’t to say good-by to my old school master who patted me on the back kindly and hoped I'd " go to the war and bag lots of prize-money"; and also to Mr Leathem (a name I believe not unknown in Molong), who was a marine artist, and had a studio over our school.

It had often happened during the master's afternoon nap that the boys played up considerably, and made so much noise and racket that the artist had to come down and mildly protest.

On these occasions" doctor senior' used his influence, and order was restored.

Thus I had another good friend in Mr Leathem, whose career was a remarkable one. 

He had served before the mast in the same ship that my uncle and the schoolmaster were in at Navarino, and long after they had retired he was serving in China, and elsewhere, until he was finally Wrecked in a seventy four gun ship off Scilly, homeward bound to Portsmouth with silver specie from China—being part of the indemnity wrung from tho Chinese. 

Mr. Leathem hailed from Brighton, and there met my uncle and the schoolmaster, to whom he told the story of the wreck so graphically that they interested themselves on his behalf.

They introduced him to a friend of theirs, and organ builder, and a man of artistic tastes, besides being a leading citizen. They were in this gentle man's workshop, and when relating to them the details of the wreck Mr Leathem took up a piece of chalk and rapidly sketched the ship's position when foundered.

The organ builder looked on in amazement, and when Leathem was about to obliterate the chalk marks, Mr B--- held his hand, “No, don't do that, my man; you're an artist. I'll saw off that piece of board and show it to my artist friend of mine downtown."

Leathem laughed heartily as he exclaimed, “IF I'm an artist, I never knew it; but thank you, Sir, all the same.''

(To be continued),

Who is Mr B?  I wonder, do you know?? and I wonder who " COOYAL." really is, history mystery's to unravel.