"End of an Era - The "President Warfield" by Paul McGehee depicts the famous Old Bay Liner "President Warfield" in July, 1942 docking at Old Point Comfort, Virginia for the final time. The busy landing in front of the Chamberlin Hotel, overlooking the waters of Hampton Roads, saw the docking of many steamboats through the years, but none so important in the pages of history as the flagship of the Old Bay Line, the "President Warfield". The gleaming white, 320' long "Warfield" was launched in 1928 and spent 14 years running passengers and freight from Baltimore to Old Point Comfort and Norfolk and back...but as World War II loomed, the US Government needed ships, and "President Warfield" was permanently pulled from passenger service on the Chesapeake Bay after her July 11th run north to Baltimore harbor. During the war she was used by the British in preparation for the D-Day invasion, and with the United States Navy during the 1944 invasion off of Omaha Beach in Normandy. Decommissioned after the war and destined to be scrapped, the "Warfield" was purchased by representatives of Haganah, the Jewish Underground set on using her to help populate the far-off shores of British-held Palestine. Renamed the "Exodus 1947", the former "Warfield" entered the pages of history, setting sail for the Promised Land across the Mediterranean Sea, exactly 5 years to the day after her final passenger run as the "President Warfield"...July 11, 1947. She met heavy resisitance from the British Naval blockade, many were injured and some aboard the ship perished in the effort to establish a Jewish homeland. The British arrested and shipped the Jewish immigrants back to camps in post-war Germany...some located right next to the death camps from which they had been liberated just 2 years earlier by the allies. The outrageous incident made it into the world press and helped to sway votes in the United Nations...by the following year, the State of Israel was officially recognized. For that reason, the "President Warfield"/"Exodus 1947" is known as "the ship that launched a nation". She met her end in a dramatic and mysterious fire while moored in Haifa harbor in Israel in 1952. In 2017, on the 70th anniversary of the Exodus voyage, a permanent memorial is to be placed in Haifa to the "Exodus 1947" and the brave souls who, against all odds, triumphed...like a modern day David felling the giant Goliath. "End of an Era - The "President Warfield" is faithfully reproduced from Paul's original color pencil acrylic paint artwork as an archival quality print issued in a strictly limited edition of only 2,000 pieces each hand-signed by the artist. Print image size 11" x 20".