It was the good ship ‘Chesperus’
That sailed the wintry sea,
And Chesper had taken Herbert W. Cobb
To bear him company.
- Chester Fuller and dog aboard the ‘Chesperus,’ 1898
The poem above is written on the back of the photograph, and while it is a little cryptic (did Herbert W. Cobb take the picture from his own boat? is Chesper the name of Chester Fuller’s dog?), it lends a special air of mystery to another great dog portrait from the Local History Room Collections.