Shipwreck (Distinctive Press)

On a warm day in July 1883, a crowd gathered for the launch of the newest steamship added to the fleet of the Glasgow, Dublin and Londonderry Steam Packet Company. At 11:25 a.m., a champagne bottle shattered across the bow, christening of the 500-ton SS Daphne. As the Daphne began to leave her slip, she accelerated toward the Clyde while a hundred men aboard waved to the crowd of onlookers. Within seconds of entering the river, 124 men and boys would quickly lose their lives.

In August 1831, the steamer Rothsay Castle was following her routine excursion from Liverpool to North Wales. It was the height of summer and one hundred plus passengers were traveling to Beaumaris for an evening of festivities before the annual regatta the following day. The fifty-mile journey should take about 5 hours and the four-man band was aboard to entertain the passengers. However, a negligent and drunken captain sat below deck for almost the entire voyage down the Mersey. Although the weather changed dramatically as the vessel entered the Irish Sea, Captain Atkinson was dismissive of the urgent appeals of his passengers to turn back to Liverpool or find the nearest safe harbor. In his own words: "I think there is a d.-d deal of fear on board, and very little danger. If we were to turn back with passengers, it would never do-we should have no profit." He, his crew, and passengers would pay dearly as they approached Dutchman's Bank in the middle of the night.