I see the Ellan Vannin story was covered in the Gray Lady yesterday, quoting the International Herald Tribune from 1909.
1909 Steamer Hits Buoy in Gale
LONDON Though the fierce gale which, as reported in yesterday’s Herald [Dec. 4], caused so much havoc all over the United Kingdom and around the coast had abated yesterday, reports from various parts of the country told of snow and frost and wild weather. The most serious disaster of all was that which happened to the Isle of Man steamer Ellan Vannin, when she was almost near the end of a stormy voyage from Ramsey to Liverpool. The vessel, it has been ascertained, drove on to a buoy at the entrance of the Mersey and went down so quickly that there was apparently no time to launch lifeboats, and not one of her twelve passengers and twenty-one of the crew was saved. Two lifebelts bearing the name Ellan Vannin were seen floating past the Formbay lightship. (pretty sure that should be Formby, KM)
