A maritime painting by a Whitehaven artist has sold for £79,000 at a West Cumbrian auction, breaking its saleroom record.

The antiques and fine art auction at Mitchells in Cockermouth featured The Frigate William Fell off Greenock by Whitehaven-born artist Robert Salmon.

It was the first lot to be sold on the second day of the sale last Friday.

A Mitchells spokesman said: "In front of a packed and hushed saleroom, a protracted bidding war played out between 15 telephone bidders before the painting eventually sold for a breathtaking £79,000 to a private buyer in America.

"This makes the painting the highest selling lot ever to be sold at Mitchells and substantially exceeds their previous house record set in the autumn last year by an early 17th century English School portrait sold for £52,000."

Robert Salmon (1775-1858) is often considered to be American, but he was born in Whitehaven and emigrated to the US in 1820 where he found fame and fortune as a maritime artist, particularly of Boston seascapes.

Some of his US paintings have sold for sums in excess of £280,000, but the oil on canvas at the Mitchells auction, from a Whitehaven house was painted before he emigrated in the early part of his career.

Experts gave it a conservative estimate of £5,000 to £8,000.

Auctioneer Mark Wise said: "It was the only item of real value among the house contents and it’s likely that the painting had never left the artist’s home town.

"It’s a superb work of art and in a completely untouched state from a restoration point of view which greatly adds to its value.

"The American buyer is a private collector who wants to remain anonymous

"He already owns two paintings by Salmon and was quietly determined to get this one.

"He just calmly waited for all the other bidders to drop out before he started bidding and eventually won the painting in the end. There are always surprises in any auction but this is a real highlight for me in my career as an auctioneer."

The sale also featured lots belonging author Hunter Davies who had recently sold his Loweswater home, including paintings by Sheila Fell and Percy Kelly, correspondence and first editions by Beatrix Potter and original drawings and character sketches by Wainwright.

The paintings by Sheila Fell were Allonby, which sold for £21,000, Farm near Mosedale, Cumberland, which sold for £17,000, a moorland scene which sold for £11,000, Harvest Scene, Cumberland, which sold for £7,600 and Aspatria under Snow III, which sold for £6,500.

Percy Kelly paintings included Loweswater Church, which sold for £6,000 and Barn Near Lorton sold for £2,600.