Lot 429: The Luxborough Galley on fire

John Cleveley, the Elder (c.1712-1777) The Luxborough Galley on fire signed with initials and dated 'J C 1759' (lower left) oil on canvas, unframed 20 x 25 in. (50.8 x 63.5 cm.)

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
This fascinating painting by John Cleveley, the Elder, depicts the dramatic loss (by fire, in the North Atlantic) of the Luxborough Galley on 25th June 1727, which was followed by the subsequent nightmarish voyage of the survivors, in the ship's yawl, to Newfoundland where they arrived in an exhausted state on 7th July.

The whole sequence of events was carefully recorded in a diary kept by the ship's surgeon Thomas Scrimsour, himself one of the survivors, which includes a particularly harrowing and gruesome account of the cannibalism to which the survivors were reduced in order to keep themselves alive pending their deliverance.