.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The first and fastest vessel built for Thomas Law & Co Ltd, Cromartyshire proved to be a great success. In 1887 she made Calcutta from Cardiff in eighty-six days, however fine sailing was not to be her only epitaph: Becalmed in a fog bank in June 1898 Cromartyshire's jibboom and bow were smashed by the French liner La Bourgogne. As her passengers and crew prepared to lower boats it transpired that, although badly damaged, she was not sinking. La Bourgogne however had recieved a mortal blow by the engine compartment and, within ten minutes, had foundered with the loss of 549 souls. Three hours later the Allan Line steamer Grecian took Cromartyshire and the 190 rescued by her boats in tow to Halifax, Nova Scotia, some 200 miles distant. Cromartyshire was refitted and continued to serve until she herself was wrecked enroute from Australia to Iquique in October 1906.