2-913-979 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wreck of "The Forerunner" African Mail-Steamer, at Point St. Lorenzo, 1854. Steamship '...on its homeward passage to England from the west coast of Africa...having on board her Majesty's mails, passengers, and merchandise...The Captain...bent her course to northward, when the vessel instantly struck, while going at full speed, on a sunken rock...water was rising in the engine-room, orders were given to lower the ship's boats...Captain Johnstone...saw the ship's steward, a boy, and the boatswain's mate trying to move the safe (which contained a large amount of gold)...At this instant the Forerunner was found to be sinking, and sliding off the reef. She went down suddenly, head foremost into about twenty-eight fathoms of water...drowning fourteen persons...The Captain can scarcely tell how he was so fortunate as to escape'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.