Dean Ellis (New York, 1920 - 2009) "British Captain John Marshall" Original Tempera painting on Masonite. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting is the original painting which was published on the Republic of the Marshall Islands 55c British Captain John Marshall Charts Islands, 1788 stamp issued May 2, 1996. By the late 18th century, the Pacific region had witnessed the rise and fall of the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch. Then Great Britain began to take its place in the Sun both commercially and politically. In the 1780s, numerous British naval vessels and merchantmen of the British East India Company were stopping over in the Central Pacific islands on their way to China. The British First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788 carrying a cargo of 700 convicts destined for the penal colony to be established there. Having discharged the prisoners, the First Fleet dispersed, with most ships striking north toward China. However, Captain John Marshall, commanding the Scarborough, sailed east on a course that would take him through the archipelago that he charted, and which now bears his name -- the Marshall Islands. Image Size: 8.5 x 15 in. Overall Size: 10.25 x 16.75 in. Unframed. (B15308)