with suggestions that her engines had broken down, and that she had drifted out of the track of homeward bound steamers. Multitudinous and conflicting rumours passed into circulation of her wreck having been seen in various places, and a thousand speculations as to the cause and certainty of a catastrophe, and the subsequent fate of those on board, kept alive the agony of those interested in her. Her fate remains one of the sad mysteries of the ocean, as no trace of her wreck was ever discovered, nor a single survivor from the tragedy. [Illustration: New Brighton Lighthouse River Mersey] FOOTNOTES: [17] The “Annals of Liverpool” section in “Gore’s Directory” erroneously states: “1838. The steamship SIRIUS sailed from London to Cork, 27th March, and from Cork to New York, 2nd April.” [18] This date is incorrectly quoted in “Gore’s Liverpool Directory” as the 8th April. Chapter XIII. Mr. Cunard’s tender for the carriage of the British and North American Mails accepted, 1839.—GREAT BRITAIN launched, 1843.—Sails from Bristol for London, 23rd January, 1845.—Visited by H.M. Queen Victoria.—Sails for Liverpool, June, 1845.—For New York, July, 1845.—Stranded Dundrum Bay, September, 1846.—Floated off, August, 1847.—Sails to New York, 1852. In October, 1838, the British Government, being convinced of the superiority of steamships over sailing brigs, advertised for tenders for the conveyance of the North American Mails by steamers. Amongst the tenders sent in, that of Mr. Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, was accepted as being the lowest, and in many other respects the most favourable for the public. With a view of carrying out his scheme for establishing a mail steamship service between England and North America, Mr. Cunard came to London and called upon Mr. Melville, Secretary to the East India Company, to whom he was personally known. From Mr. Melville he received a letter of introduction to Mr. Robert Napier, the celebrated Clyde engineer and shipbuilder, by whom he was introduced to Mr. George Burns, of Glasgow, and Mr. David MacIver, of Liverpool. Both these gentlemen favourably regarded the proposals of Mr. Cunard, and interested themselves so energetically in the matter that in a very short time the whole of the requisite capital for the formation of the Trans-Atlantic Mail Steamship Company was subscribed. A sketch of the history of this famous Company (afterwards known as the Cunard Company) will be found in the second part of this volume.