§16§"The opening of the year 1866 will long be memorable for that dismal series of disasters at sea, which it ushered in with a frequency and fatality that were truly appalling. But disaster seemed indeed to crown disaster, when it was rumoured that the London had foundered in the Bay of Biscay, and that not a soul had escaped. It seemed impossible ... It is seldom that a Message from the Sea has borne the character of that mysterious and sublime one which the sinking London wrote ere she went down."§Fascinating account of the tragic wreck of the steamship "London" while on her way to Australia in the year 1866.§Reprint of the original edition from 1866, published in 1866, shortly after the wreck.
