The merchant ship Lockwoods caught in a gale off Liverpool, a paddle tug arriving to assist

The Lockwoods was a full-rigged three-masted English wooden merchantman built in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1840. Registered at 776 tons, she was first owned by G. Walker of Liverpool although, by 1846, she had passed into the hands of Scott & Co. of Cork [Ireland] who kept her for the rest of her life as a working vessel. Although she plied no regular route, she sailed from various British ports, including Liverpool, to Quebec, New York and also New Orleans so was no stranger to the perils of the North Atlantic. Last listed in the early 1860s, she thereafter disappears from record although there is no indication that she was wrecked. It seems probable therefore that she survived the storm depicted in this particular painting and was safely towed into Liverpool by the tug which is shown coming to assist her.