File:The yawl of the Luxborough Galley RMG BHC2385.tiff

The escaped crew are shown in the yawl of the ‘Luxborough’. The sail of the boat is shown half lowered in a strong wind as it sails in search of land and survival. They were adrift for two weeks, during which time some of the crew died and the others allegedly resorted to cannibalism to survive.

The ‘Luxborough’ galley, captained by William Kellaway, carried slaves for the South Sea Company. She was lost between the Caribbean and England on the third part of the infamous Triangular Trade. She left England in October 1725 for Cabinda in West Africa, on the first leg of the triangular route. Here the captain exchanged his cargo of Indian cottons and trade goods for 600 slaves. During the second leg of the triangle, between Africa and the Caribbean, eight crew and 203 Africans died of smallpox before arriving in Jamaica in October 1726. After selling the surviving slaves, the ‘Luxborough’ galley left Jamaica in May 1727 for England, loaded with rum and sugar. On 25 June 1727 she was accidentally set on fire when a keg of rum in the spirit room burst and the ship caught fire and sank. Kelloway and his crew were then set adrift in the mid-Atlantic. After a fortnight the yawl arrived on the coast of Newfoundland 7 July 1727 and was rescued by fishermen. The loss of the ‘Luxborough’ galley by fire was notorious because the survivors in the ship's boat had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. This is one of a set of six scenes, The Loss of the ‘Luxborough’ Galley in 1727 and the Escape of Some of her Crew. Signed I.C. 1760.