Emigrant ship puzzle

The wooden jigsaw puzzle from Germany around the mid-century depicts life aboard an emigrant ship of the period. Perhaps a little rosier in outlook than the reality it shows a schoolmaster with a group of students around him, conducting a lesson. They are watched perhaps, or it may be merely a convenient vantage point, by an older man seated on the upturned boat. At the stern of the ship another group of emigrants gathers around the galley waiting to collect their daily ration.

The picture appears to be based on one by J Skinner Prout published in the Illustrated London News 20 January 1849, page 40. Prout emigrated to Australia in 1840 and eventually established himself in Sydney as an artist, producing a number of illustrated guides: Sydney illustrated (1842-3), Melbourne and Tasmania. He and his family returned to England in 1850 and he published A voyage to Australia, and a visit to the gold fields in 1852.

Dissected puzzles were invented in the mid-18^th century generally using maps and were used to encourage geographical learning. 100 years later more general prints were being used in puzzles for children. A scene such as this may have been intended to show that the long sea voyage to Australia could still be enjoyable and that the children's schooling would not be neglected.

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