Lot 228: John Warkup Swift (British, 1815-1869)

The Amoor running under reduced sail in the Channel off Dover
signed and dated 'JW Swift 1868' (lower right)
oil on canvas
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.5 cm.)
painted in 1868

with Colin Denny, Ltd., London.

PROPERTY FROM A CORPORATE COLLECTION

The three-masted Amoor was built at Dundee by the Tay Shipbuilding Company in 1868. Owned by William Taylor & Co., also of Dundee, she was registered at 306 tons, measured 122 feet in length with a 26 foot beam and began life trading out of her home port to China. After only four years in service, Amoor ran aground and was wrecked on the Kentish Knock Sands, in the Thames Estuary, on 30 t h November 1872 whilst on passage from Granton (Scotland) to Cardenas (Cuba) with a cargo of coal.
As this work is dated 1868, it is probable that it was commissioned to mark her completion and maiden voyage.