The steamer SS ''Ercolano'' was a passenger steamship which plied the waters of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

in the 1850s. The vessel was operated by the Neapolitan Line, operating from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

to destinations such as

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Sinking

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 Gulf of Genoa (''Golfo di Genova'') is the northernmost part of the Ligurian Sea. This Italian gulf is about wide from the city of Imperia in the west to La Spezia in the east. The largest city on its coast is Genoa, which has an important p ...

, somewhere between

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes department of southeastern France, on the Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is in the commune of Antibes and the Sop ...

. The passengers included two British politicians: Thomas Plumer Halsey MP, who was drowned along with his wife, youngest son, and two servants; and

Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

MP, who 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."Foreign Intelligence" ''The Times'' April 28, 1854 The ''Sicilia'' was a newly built steam yacht, on a transfer voyage from the shipyard to Italy when it struck the ''Ercolano''. Its maiden voyage to the United States was cancelled and the vessel was sold to Messageries Impériales. On 9 September 1854, the ''Sicilia'' sank in the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

. '' The Household Narrative of Current Events'' of May 1854 reported: A survivor of the sinking stated that the captains of neither vessel were on deck at the time of the collision and that the event was due to their negligence.

References

Citations

Sources

*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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ercolano Steamships of Italy Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Passenger ships of Italy Shipwrecks of Italy Ships sunk in collisions Maritime incidents in April 1854