Search Results for 'Robert Leitch'

On Saturday October 6 1860 approximately one hundred miles out from Boston, the PS Connaught, one of the biggest and most spectacular transatlantic ships of its day, hit a storm, and sprung a leak. As water poured into the engine room, an auxiliary coal-fired engine was started which sparked a fire which rapidly spread out of control. Flames and smoke forced the 591 passengers and crew on to the top deck.

We get an idea of the perilous position at sea that confronted Captain John Wilson of the Minnie Schiffer, his two-masted brigantine, laden with a full cargo of fruit and wine, as he was sailing from Marseilles to Boston, from this dramatic painting.