A portrait figurehead from a Whitehaven ship has sold for nearly £18,000 in London. 

The artefact is from the Brigantine Emily Burnyeat 1862, named after the spouse of William Burnyeat founder of the eponymous Whitehaven firm. 

It was bought for £17,400 by a European private collector following a sale this week at Charles Miller Ltd, a specialist auction house for maritime and scientific antiques. 

The Emily Burnyeat, built at Gowan’s Yard Berwick, was a wooden brigantine of 128 tones which with her consort barque, Sarah Burnyeat, piled a steady trade for over 30 years. 

It was lost by collision with the ship Wiscombe Park, of Liverpool, on May 7, 1904. 

In the auction brochure it stated: "A violent storm took place during an Atlantic crossing bound for the Mersey which disabled the ship’s crew (except the Master) including the 14 year old cabin boy. 

"In a remarkable feat of endurance, the Master managed to single-handedly navigate his ship to the Mersey and ran it aground on the Sloyne before collapsing from exhaustion.'' 

The figure is carved from laminated yellow pine and shows a three-quarter length lady clutching her chest, her hair tied in a ribbon and decorated bodice skirts.