拍品专文
The brig Lady Octavia was named in honour of the wife of Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, Bart., whose home - Ardgowan House, Inverkip, Renfrewshire - is shown within the wooded landscape to the left of this painting. Built early in the nineteenth century from designs by Cairncross, Ardgowan is a large house raised on a terrace overhanging the Firth fo Clyde with commanding views across the busy estuary.
Regrettably, the Lady Octavia is not listed in Lloyd's Registers, a not uncommon occurrence before about 1880, and thus no other information about her is available. The usual reason for registering a ship with Lloyd's was to obtain adequate insurance for her; if however, her owners did not require insurance - perhaps because her intended routes were so localised or her cargoes not of any significant value - the vessel did not need to be surveyed and consequently did not appear in the Registers. Given this situation and since it is known that the Shaw-Stuart's income in the mid Vistorian period was derived partly from quarrying, it seems perfectly plausible that the Lady Octavia was owned and operated by the family for the local transportation of stone cut from their own quarries.
Regrettably, the Lady Octavia is not listed in Lloyd's Registers, a not uncommon occurrence before about 1880, and thus no other information about her is available. The usual reason for registering a ship with Lloyd's was to obtain adequate insurance for her; if however, her owners did not require insurance - perhaps because her intended routes were so localised or her cargoes not of any significant value - the vessel did not need to be surveyed and consequently did not appear in the Registers. Given this situation and since it is known that the Shaw-Stuart's income in the mid Vistorian period was derived partly from quarrying, it seems perfectly plausible that the Lady Octavia was owned and operated by the family for the local transportation of stone cut from their own quarries.