African Royal Mail Steamer, Lagos, Dyson Weston Commander, 19th century (Watercolour)

A watercolour by Albert Ernest Markes of 'The Lagos' a ship with Kent connections which was sailed in with Dyson Weston (1844 -1931) as commander. The watercolour shows the ship with sails and steam up on a turbulent sea. Dyson Weston was made commander of 'The Lagos' in 1871 in Liverpool. Dyson Weston served in Mercantile Marine Service from age of 16 . The watercolour is accompanied by a typescript of the family history giving dramatic descriptions of the passage and wreck of the Herculean in 1860; the voyage of The Soudan, commanded by Dyson Weston in 1873, time of the Ashanti War (and a meeting with Henry M Stanley at Sierra Leone), who invented the bilge keel (letter to The Times May 26th 1916). Other ships (including the Lagos) and one passenger was Cecil Rhodes (aged 24). There are also detailed descriptions of journeys, one to Canada, including a 2000 mile train journey, a journey to Italy and, with his own family, coachman, servants and governess he sailed to Tasmania in 1891 to Tasmania where they stayed for a year. The account ends with the plans to return to England.