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Lot Essay
The three vessels named in this attractive work comprise Lascelles, General Elliot and Busbridge, all of which were of comparable size and measured between 755 and 758 tons. Although all three had departed Portsmouth on different days during March 1785, they had rendezvoused at St. Helena in order to sail in convoy on the second and more hazardous leg of their long journey to China. Busbridge, commanded by Captain Alexander Todd, was built at Blackwall in 1782 and this was the second of her seven voyages out east prior to being broken up in 1805. General Elliot, under Captain Robert Drummond, was built at Rotherhithe – also in 1782 – and undertook six voyages up to 1796 when she was sold into the West Indies trade, where she remained for six years until scrapped in 1802. Lascelles, under Captain Thomas Wakefield, was built at Deptford in 1779 and did eight voyages out east until 1798. Briefly used as a West Indiaman thereafter, she was then sold to the Admiralty for use as a storeship and broken up at Plymouth in 1807. The two other East Indiamen depicted in the group (although unnamed in this work) are the Atlas and the Barwell.
The island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic was discovered by the Portuguese on St. Helena’s Day, 21st May 1502. Afterwards held by the Dutch, the British East India Company briefly settled there in 1651 and even though the island changed hands again during the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the middle of the century, it had reverted to the British Crown by 1673 when, on 12th December that year, Charles II granted it to the East India Company for use as a port of call for their homebound ships. St. Helena’s barren appearance when approached from the sea was in marked contrast to the luxuriance of its many deep valleys, the town and anchorage for the Company’s ships being situated below St. James’s valley at the northern end of the leeward side of the island. Apart from drinking water and the obvious shelter from the weather, the island regularly supplied ships with beef and lemons (to combat scurvy) whilst in return, the Company provided St. Helena with grain which would not grow there.
We are grateful to Michael Naxton for compiling this entry and for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
The island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic was discovered by the Portuguese on St. Helena’s Day, 21st May 1502. Afterwards held by the Dutch, the British East India Company briefly settled there in 1651 and even though the island changed hands again during the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the middle of the century, it had reverted to the British Crown by 1673 when, on 12th December that year, Charles II granted it to the East India Company for use as a port of call for their homebound ships. St. Helena’s barren appearance when approached from the sea was in marked contrast to the luxuriance of its many deep valleys, the town and anchorage for the Company’s ships being situated below St. James’s valley at the northern end of the leeward side of the island. Apart from drinking water and the obvious shelter from the weather, the island regularly supplied ships with beef and lemons (to combat scurvy) whilst in return, the Company provided St. Helena with grain which would not grow there.
We are grateful to Michael Naxton for compiling this entry and for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.