Whaling barks Desdemona and Rousseau at New Bedford, Massachusetts

Title supplied by cataloger. Handwritten on back of mat: "Rousseau was built in 1802 at Philadelphia by Stephen Girard and for many years ran as a packet between Liverpool and Philadelphia. This plate was made in 1889. The vessels were afterwards broken up to get the copper used in building them." Secondary sources indicate that the Rousseau was condemned and broken up in 1893. The Desdemona was built as a ship at Middletown in 1823 and was classified as a whaling bark by 1865. She was wrecked at Rowes Welcome, Hudson's Bay in 1896.