Engineering:SS Ercolano

The steamer SS Ercolano plied the waters of the Mediterranean in the 1850s.

On April 24, 1854 the ship left Genoa at 2:00 PM on April 24, 1854 bound for Marseilles with eighty passengers. The steamship sank after a collision with Sicilia in the Gulf of Genoa. The passengers included Thomas Plumer Halsey MP, who was drowned along with his wife, youngest son, and two servants. Sir Robert Peel, MP, another passenger, survived by swimming ashore.. In all about thirty-six passengers and twelve crew members were lost. Two survivors were later plucked from the wreckage near Nice.

References

• Robin and Terry Harris, eds. 'The Eldon House Diaries: Five Women's views of the 19th century' Toronto: Champlain Society, 1994
• "Lecture by Sir Robert Peel.- Most Interesting Account of His Shipwreck" Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle March 31, 1855
• "Foreign Intelligence" The Times April 28, 1854
• "The Loss of the Ercolano" The Times May 2, 1854
• "The Loss of the Ergolano -- M. Samson" The Times May 3, 1854