Robert Dodd

(British, 1748-1816)

The merchantman Delaford outward bound from London and approaching Greenwich Hospital as she sails down-river

Footnotes

Provenance
Probably commissioned by the vessel's original owner Mr Samuel Boddington to mark her completion in 1788.
With Tennant Galleries, Los Angeles, 1980.
Private collection, US.

The 393-ton merchantman Delaford was built on the Thames at Blackwall in 1787. Despite her place of birth however, she was not an East Indiaman – virtually all of which emanated from the same Blackwall yards – but, rather, was designed as a three-decked West Indiaman intended for trade with the rich 'sugar islands' of the Caribbean. Completed in 1788 with 'no expense spared', her total cost was £3,739, not only a massive sum at that time but also, in fact, the largest amount expended on any vessel (excluding East Indiamen) launched from Blackwall in the fifty years between 1749 and 1799. Owned for most of her surprisingly long life by Mr. Samuel Boddington of London, Delaford's first master was Captain G. Young and she sailed exclusively to St. Vincent well into the 1820s. By 1802, and now under Captain W. Young, her hull had been copper-sheathed (in 1796) and she had acquired 2 4-pounder guns for protection during the seemingly endless French Wars. By 1807, her armament had increased to 2 6-pdrs. and 4 4-pdrs. and it was noted by Lloyd's Surveyors that same year that she was in "good repair", a state maintained throughout Boddington's long tenure of ownership. Sometime later in the 1820s, she was sold into the Mediterranean trade and although her demise is unconfirmed, a vessel of this very distinctive and unusual name was driven ashore in Dundrum Bay, Co. Down, Ireland, in 1831 and declared a total loss. Whilst the precise date of wreck is also unknown, the stranded ship was said to be on passage from Liverpool to Lisbon and since she was the only recorded vessel of this name at this time, it seems highly probable that this is where the Thames-built Delaford of 1787 met her end.

Delaford's portrait was also painted by W.J. Huggins and this work is currently held at the National Maritime Museum, ref. BHC 3283, and measures 31.5 x 50ins. (80 x 127cms).

We are grateful to Michael Naxton for his assistance with cataloguing this lot.