2-889-532 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wreck of the "Superb", as Seen through a Telescope, from Jersey, 1850. 'The wreck...occurred on the Minquiers Rocks [south of Jersey in the Channel Islands] and resulted in the loss of eleven persons, who perished in smooth water and in broad daylight...The Superb, which was left high and dry on the rocks by the receding tide, after the accident, has now disappeared, having sunk in deep water. A contemporary states that this catastrophe is mainly attributable to the culpable acquiescence of Captain Priaulx in the desire of some of the passengers to pass close to the wreck of the Polka. It is also asserted that if the Captain had remained on board and used his authority for the maintenance of order, no one need have had even a wet foot...instead of endeavouring to control the panic, which almost invariably follows such an occurrence, he was one of the first to originate it'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.