Lot Essay
Ordered for the newly-established Liverpool firm of Robertson, Cruikshank & Co., Crown of Italy was the last of five 'Crown' named vessels built for the company between 1883 and 1885. One of the two ships constructed in the yards of Ramage & Ferguson at Leith, Crown of Italy was registered at 1,551 tons and measured 251 feet in length with a 38 foot beam. Unlike all four of her sisters who survived until the outbreak of the Great War, Crown of Italy's life was a short one and she was wrecked near Cape San Diego, Tierra del Fuego, late on 23 December 1891. Abandoned early the next morning, her crew made a landfall on Christmas Day and were finally picked up by H.M.S. Cleopatra 83 days later.