3-065-824 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wreck of the steam-ship Queen Elizabeth at Calaparra, near Gibraltar, 1874. A cargo ship '...on her voyage home from Calcutta, was wrecked...[off] Cabrita Point, the western headland of Gibraltar Bay. She had seventy persons on board, crew and passengers, with a valuable cargo of indigo, raw silk, jute, tea, shellac, and other Indian produce...the ship ran upon a ridge of shingle, 400 yards from shore, with deep water between it and the beach. Her broadside was exposed to a heavy rolling sea...The life-boat..., being overcrowded by sailors jumping in, was upset. Twenty-three persons were drowned...On the next day, after much accidental delay, the rocket apparatus [arrived]. By means of the rocket a rope was passed to the ship, and Colonel Gordon's raft was sent to and fro, with four or five persons each time, until all were landed, including the stewardess and two ayahs, or Hindoo nurses. Fires were lighted, food and coffee were prepared, and dry clothes were given to the poor starved and chilled people, under a shelter made of blankets in a nook of the cliffs. They were afterwards taken to Gibraltar, and everything was done for their relief. Some attempts have since been made to recover part of the ship's cargo'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.