19th Century Victorian Maritime Watercolour – The Barque Vandalia Wrecked Off Brighton 1889

An intriguing Victorian ink and watercolour marine study recording a celebrated Sussex maritime disaster, titled along the lower mount "The 'Vandalia' Wrecked Off Brighton. March 8th 1889."  Executed in fine pen-and-wash detail, the artwork depicts the 1,422-ton barque Vandalia wallowing off the Brighton coastline following her tragic Channel collision with the steamer Duke of Buccleugh on March 7–8, 1889. Carrying thousands of barrels of petroleum bound for London, the waterlogged Vandalia drifted past Shoreham before stranding off the Hove/Brighton seafront, causing a sensation as hundreds of oil barrels washed up on the beach.  Housed in a black-painted Victorian frame with gilt inner slip.