Wreck of the "London."

Transcriber’s Note
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THE LAST OF THE “LONDON.”
Second Edition—Revised.
LONDON: S. W. PARTRIDGE, 9, PATERNOSTER ROW.
The Publisher will be glad to receive any additional information from those who had friends or relatives on board.
The opening of the year 1866 will long be memorable for that dismal series of disasters at sea, which it ushered in with a frequency and fatality that were truly appalling. The New Year was scarcely fourteen days old when, from every part of the coast, from north to south, from east to west, the telegraph flashed the melancholy tidings of ruin and havoc among the shipping. We heard of ships being dismantled by the storm, and obliged to put back to port; of others being beaten to pieces, while their crews, escaping by the lifeboats, performed such acts of heroism that the seaman’s name was covered with fresh renown. Since the year 1859 never had such tempests raged, and such deeds of gallantry been performed.
But disaster seemed indeed to crown disaster, when it was rumoured that the London —one of Messrs. Wigram’s finest vessels, laden with a valuable cargo, and having, it was first said, more than 300 souls on board—had foundered in the Bay of Biscay, and that not a soul had escaped. At first, many positively refused to credit the intelligence that the noble vessel, which had only a few days left our shores, had succumbed to the fury of the gale, and gone down a wreck. It seemed impossible. Relatives and friends were loth to receive the terrible truth that they had taken a last farewell of many, the grasp of whose hand they still felt warm within their own, and whose last words of love and friendship were still ringing in their ears. All were slow to admit that there was no hope, and there was a general clinging to the expectation that there had been some mistake. The London might, perhaps, have been injured by the tempest, and compelled to put back to port; but that she could have foundered, or even if this calamity had occurred, that her crew and passengers had been unable to effect their escape—this indeed seemed almost beyond belief!