2-914-027 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wrecks at Balaclava, 1854. Crimean War: ships wrecked in bad weather. '...in 2 hours 11 transports have been wrecked and 6 dismasted, and rendered unfit for service. The most terrible disaster was the total loss of the new magnificent steamship Prince which had arrived a few days previously with the 46th regiment and a cargo valued at £500,000, and indispensably necessary for the prosecution of the siege...of a crew of 150 only 6 were saved. This splendid vessel...was...full of most valuable stores and munitions of war. Everything is lost. With the exception of the troops, everything remained in her at the time she was dashed on the rocks. The whole of the winter clothing for the men went down - 40,000 suits of clothes, with undergarments, socks, gloves and a multitude of other articles...vast quantities of shot and shell, and not least in consequence the medical stores...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.