Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
December 10, 1806
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 19
Additional Source Text:
"After being ship wrecked on the Island, staid three weeks in the cave."
Notes:
St. Paul's grotto is the place in Rabat, Malta where according to tradition St. Paul lived and preached during his three-month (not three-week) stay in 60 CE after he was shipwrecked while traveling from Crete to Rome to be put on trial in front of Julius Caesar.
William Cutbush was serving as a midshipman on the frigate USS Philadelphia when it ran aground and was captured by Tripolitan forces in October 1803. The crew remained captive until the Barbary Wars ended in June 1805.
