Frederick Pansing was born in Bremen, Germany in 1844. At the age of 16, he became a sailor and spent 5 years at sea before settling in Hoboken, New Jersey. There, in in 1865, he established his career as a marine painter and ship portraitist. Additionally, he worked in Manhattan and Brooklyn painting names on steamboats and illustrating sheet music. He was an excellent draftsman, and came to work for American Lithography in Jersey City in the late 1890's. A number of his marine paintings, with their detailed lines and architectural accuracy, were used as images for publication as chromolithographs.

In the late 19th C., New York Harbor was at that time the busiest port in the world, filled with passenger liners, clipper ships, steam ships, commuter yachts, ferryboats, and tugboats. Public demand for marine paintings such as portraits of newly launched vessels and scenes of yacht races grew tremendously. Pansing received numerous private commissions for ships portraits and the Cunard and White Star Lines commissioned him to paint their growing fleets. His work was often printed as illustrations in Harper's, The Rudder, as well as other publications, and was printed on posters and maritime related promotional materials. From 1910 to 1911, Fred Pansing served as the manager of the Arts Club of New Jersey, and he died in 1912.