The son of the late merchant mariner whose painting of Jesus at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy has garnered widespread attention expressed his gratitude for the support from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the midshipmen at the academy.
Hunter A. Wood II told The Christian Post that he was “surprised, and I’m heartened and very honored by that,” referring to the viral footage last month showing midshipmen erupting in applause when Duffy called for the USMMA’s ‘Christ on the Water’ painting to be brought up from the basement where it was placed during the Biden administration.
He added, “I’m sure my father would be very honored by the fact that so many people have taken such an interest in it.”
The painting hung in the USMMA’s Wiley Hall for 76 years before a 2023 letter from Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, demanded its removal, claiming it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
After last week’s announcement that Duffy had hung a replica of the painting in his office at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Duffy reiterated his commitment last Thursday, saying, “this painting is going to go from the basement back to its place of prominence.”
Maritime historian Frank Braynard described ‘Christ on the Water,’ also known as ‘Jesus and the Lifeboat,’ as Wood’s “most ambitious work,” which he painted in 1944 as a tribute to merchant seamen who faced torpedo attacks and dangers during World War II. Wood was a Christian, and he often incorporated themes of hope into his work.
“There’s been shipwrecked men waiting for rescue throughout history, especially during World War II,” Wodds explained. “And he had an ability to portray the despair they had, but also the hope they had. And Christ on the water, standing over and watching over the men in the dinghy waiting to be rescued, I think that just means there’s always hope.”
Wood’s comments follow a letter from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sent last week expressing his appreciation for Duffy’s decision to restore the painting to a more prominent place at the academy.
Cruz wrote, “Your public acknowledgment of the painting’s spiritual and historical significance was a powerful moment of moral clarity and leadership — one that resonated not only with the midshipmen in attendance but with countless Americans who care deeply about preserving our nation’s religious and military heritage,” adding, “Thank you for your principled leadership, for defending our nation’s religious heritage, and for working to ensure that this government-commissioned memorial is returned to its rightful place.”
Hunter Alexander Wood, born in 1908, studied at New York State Schoolship and freelanced as an artist while working for steamship lines in the 1930s. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard shortly after Pearl Harbor in 1941, served in North Africa in 1942, and was a part of the Coast Guard Combat Artist Unit. Tragically, he died in a car accident at age 39 in 1948, three months after his son was born.
His artworks are displayed at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office in Washington, and the Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia.
