2-914-105 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wreck of the Troop-ship "Charlotte", in Algoa Bay, 1854. British soldiers lost at sea off the coast of South Africa, during the Crimean War. '...she drifted in towards the shore, and eventually struck on the rocks at the end of Jetty-street...Manby's apparatus was then brought down, and a rope was thrown several times over the vessel, but the communication was lost...the men were standing up to their waists in water, and no warp or rope could be obtained...The vessel was now evidently breaking up fast...In less than half an hour...the bow of the vessel turned completely over, and every soul in that part must have perished...At daylight not a vestige of the ill-fated vessel was to be seen where she was wrecked...lost - 62 soldiers, 11 women, and 26 children [as well as 17 members of the crew]'.From "Illustrated London News", 1854.