Lot 246: LAI FONG (ACTIVE 1880-1910) THE CLIPPER EASTERN MONARCH

Oil on canvas

62.5 by 88.5cm., 24 5/8 by 34 7/8 in.

THE CLIPPER EASTERN MONARCH

The large iron clipper 'Eastern Monarch' was one of the four sister ships built by Mounsey & Foster at Sunderland. Launched in March 1874 and built for the Royal Exchange Shipping Company for their emigrant as well as normal passenger traffic to colonies such as Australia and New Zealand, the Eastern Monarch was a profitable passenger business throughout the 1870s and 1880s. By 1888 she was sailing both Australian and trans-Pacific routes, and her last completed passage was 75 days from Talcahuano (Chile) to Swansea in 1896. During the course of her next voyage, she was abandoned at sea and never salvaged.