Lot 93: Joseph Heard (British, 1799-1859) The full-rigged Lord Ashburton foundering in a hurricane off Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, 19th January 1857

The full-rigged Lord Ashburton foundering in a hurricane off Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, 19th January 1857
oil on canvas
61 x 92cm (24 x 36 1/4in).

The full-rigged Lord Ashburton was built at Workington in 1854 for Girvin & Co. of Liverpool and measured at 897 tons. During her short life she traded out of Liverpool to North America, mainly the Maritime Provinces of Canada. She was however in Gibraltar in December 1856 from where she sailed for Toulon to load a cargo for Saint John, New Brunswick. On 19th January 1857, when nearly at her destination, she was caught in a savage hurricane off Grand Manan Island, in the Bay of Fundy, just a few miles out from Saint John, and sunk. All her officers were drowned with only eight of twenty-nine crew saved.