Vince Thurkettle

In the early hours of 26 October 1859, on the final leg of her voyage from Melbourne to Britain, steam clipper, The Royal Charter was wrecked off the North Wales coast, in one of the worst storms to ever hit the UK. 460 passengers went down with her. If the scale of human tragedy was almost inconceivable, so too was the wealth; the ship was carrying £80 million in Australian gold.