2-888-746 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The "Orion" Sinking, 1850. The Orion paddle steamer struck a submerged rock near Portpatrick Lighthouse, Wigtownshire, Scotland. 41 of the 200 passengers on board died. View of the ship '...as she appeared just before she went down...Not many minutes after she struck, the bows went down under water, and she heeled over to the starboard side, so that no one could stand except by holding by the sides: all was confusion around me; the ladies screaming and men crying for help from the shore. Some went down to their cabins to save some part of their clothing, and never came up again alive. By this time the vessel had sunk about half; those that could swim jumped into the water, and others were saved by shore-boats, which had now come in numbers, and did every thing to rescue them from drowning'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.