11 DECEMBER 1909, Page 3

Among the many shipping disasters caused by the gale at

the end of last week the most terrible was the wreck at the mouth of the Mersey of the mail steamer Ellen Vannin.' It appears that she left Ramsey in the Isle of Man for Liverpool early on Friday morning, and after making her way to within fourteen miles of her destination sank very suddenly at the bar of the Mersey. Whether she was overwhelmed by the heavy seas or was lost through a collision is at present uncertain, for not one of the thirty-three persons on board survived the disaster. The wreck of a mail steamer off the English coast is a tragic event, and fortunately also a rare-one.