Lot Essay
The Lord Downshire was a magnificent iron four-masted full-rigger built by Harland & Wolff at Belfast in 1882. Registered at 2,263 tons, she was 300 feet in length with a 41 foot beam, and her hull lines were the same as for the yard's equally splendid Garfield built for Thomas Ismay. The first four-master to be launched by Harland & Wolff, Lord Downshire was exceedingly fast and turned in consistently good passages, mostly in the California trade, under Captain Dunn. Subsequently put to work on the South American nitrate run, she was involved in a collision and sunk off Pernambuco (Brazil) whilst homeward bound from Caleta Buena (Chile) in 1894.