The iron fully-rigged ship Northbrook, 1,820 tons, was built by Richardson & Dack at Stockton-on-Tees in 1874. Ordered by Adamson & Ronaldson, she was later sold to Stuart & Douglas of Liverpool and, after surviving a remarkable dismasting in 1885 - following which she was re-rigged as a barque - she was subsequently sold to Finnish owners with whom she finished her days.

On 19 January 1885, Northbrook sailed from San Francisco bound Falmouth with a cargo of grain. After a near-record passage down the west coast of South America, she ran into a tremendous storm off Cape Horn and was soon in difficulties. Losing her main and mizzen masts in quick succession, it was only thanks to the courage of her two apprentices - one of whom was Quintin Rhodes - that the foremast was seved and, when the storm abated, Northbrook resumed her voyage with only this and small jury mast aft with which to sail the 9,000 miles home. After an astonishing feat of seamanship on the part of Captain Timothy, Northbrook finally made Falmouth on 18 June where she was cheered into port and her crew given a heroes' welcome. For his gallantry in saving the mast and thus the ship hersilf, Rhodes was awarded the bronze medal of the Board of Trado and also received a purse of gold form the ship's underwriters.

Sold with the painting is a fascinating archive of documentation comprising a quantity of letters and character references concerning Rhodes' conduct in 1885 as well as his later career as a captain in the Merchant Marine, together with various newspaper cuttings recounting the event of 1885 (but dating from the late 1920's when the story was publicised).