Lot 1492
‡FOLLOWER OF THOMAS BUTTERSWORTH (1768-1842) THE WRECK OF THE EARL TALBOT, SOUTH CHINA SEAS, OCTOBER 1800, THE HOUGHTON SENDING UP FLARES Oil on canvas 42.5 x 59.5cm. Provenance: Lady Mary Talbot; by bequest to the Hybart family * "Earl Talbot" was a fine large East Indiaman built in Perry's yard on the Thames at Blackwall and launched on 12th January 1797. Owned by the London merchant William Moffat, she was measured by her builder at 1,428 tons and was 144 feet in length with a 44 foot beam. Her maiden voyage to the East lasted from March 1797 until October 1798 after which, under Captain John Dempster, she sailed from Portsmouth on 7th January 1800 bound for Bombay and China. In October the same year, in a heavy gale, she struck the Pratas Reefs in the China Sea and foundered with the loss of all aboard her. Before sinking, the wreck was sighted by another East Indiaman, the "Houghton", on passage from China to Bombay but she could do nothing to assist due to the strength of the gale. When she arrived at Bombay and reported the wreck, two rescue vessels were sent out immediately but neither survivors nor wreckage were ever found. We are grateful to Michael Naxton for his assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.
*Droit de Suite does not apply to this lot.
