Off She Goes by Leigh Lambert

True to form, Leigh painted this scene based on a real ship, place and event that took place in the North of England, although I’m not sure an ice cream van would have been there lol.

Workers, friends, family and passersby gather by the quayside to wave the ship off.

You can just make out the ship is labelled ‘Esso Northumbria,’ with the ‘Esso’ logo on the top part of the vessel’s tower.

This is a large crude carrier ship launched on 2nd May 1969 by Princess Anne and at the time was the biggest ship ever built in Britain, the event making the national news and local press.

‘Esso Northumbria’ was built by Swan Hunter at Wallsend, of course on Tyneside, and the ship was decommissioned in 1982.

A nice touch is the VW Beetle in the picture, with Leigh’s nod that we are still in the 1960s!