A series of paintings that disappeared from the Island four decades ago have been returned after resurfacing in the US.Five watercolours depicting US Civil War blockade runners were turned over to the Bermuda National Trust by a lawyer in Portland, Oregon.Lawyer Marc Sussman was unable to disclose how the paintings came to Oregon but said he had been entrusted to return them.He told the Trust he believed the paintings were taken from a Bermuda museum around 40 years ago.The Trust later discovered the paintings had disappeared from the St George’s Historical Society collection decades ago.They were part of a collection of 34 paintings donated to that organisation by the late Sir Stanley Spurling in 1930.Jennifer Gray, executive director of the Trust, said: “We were excited to have the opportunity to bring these paintings back to Bermuda, but a little disappointed to learn that they were not ours.“Thirty paintings were recorded in the St George’s Historical Society collection. Eight were missing.“Records show that descriptions of these particular watercolours were deposited in the archives decades ago, but not the art itself.”Some of the paintings were featured in a chapter on blockade runners in the 1961 centenary edition of ‘The American Neptune’, a journal of maritime history and arts. Two paintings also appeared in the ‘American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War’, first published in 1960.Blockade runners played a notable role in the US Civil War, illegally supplying the Confederacy in exchange for cotton and other goods.The St George’s Historical Society plans to make copies of the paintings for public display. The originals will be stored with the rest of the collection.Useful website: www.bnt.bm.