Lot 458: The four-masted barque Beechbank under full sail

Lai Fong of Calcutta (fl.1890-1910) The four-masted barque Beechbank under full sail signed, inscribed and dated 'Lai Fong/Culcutta/1898' (lower right) oil on canvas, unframed 17¾ x 23½ in. (45.1 x 59.7 cm.)

VAT rate of 17.5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.
Beechbank was one of an identical quartet of large four-masted steel barques built for Andrew Weir's Bank Line by Russell & Co. at Port Glasgow. Completed in March 1892, she was registered at 2,288 tons gross (2,154 net) and measured 278 feet in length with a 42 foot beam. By the time she entered service, Weir's company was already trading to most of the world's major ports and Beechbank proved no exception. After a highly successful career in British registry, she was sold to Norwegian owners in 1913 although, when heading for Copenhagen in January 1916 with a cargo of nitrate, she only narrowly escaped sinking when she lost all her topmasts in a violent North Sea gale and had to be towed into Lerwick a virtual derelict. Eventually repaired, she was resold to different Norwegian owners in 1916 who renamed her Stoveren and kept her until she was scrapped in 1924.