The Northern Belle was an American transatlantic ship which ran aground near Thanet, England, on 5 January 1857. No lives on her were lost, thanks to heroic rescue efforts, in blizzard conditions. However, another ship sank, en route to the scene, the Margate lugger Victory which was lost along with her crew. The Belle was constructed in 1853, under the ownership of J. P. Whitney and Co. of New Orleans. Her common routes were New Orleans to Liverpool and Le Havre, carrying wheat on the outbound run. A barque of 1,150 tons burden with a crew of 23, she was on a voyage from New York to London, with a cargo of wheat, flour, and linseed cake, when as a result of an unusually heavy gale had to put into Kingsgate, Kent. She anchored 3/4 of a mile from the shore, however by 6 am she was riding heavily, the sea occasionally breaking completely over her. The storm was so ferocious that the main and mizzen masts were cut away by the crew at 6.30am. The Margate lugger Victory, along with the Ocean, and the Eclipse attempted a rescue and possible salvage. The Victory was lost along with her crew at 11.30 am. The storm raged all day and local lifeboats were not able to launch. The Belle parted from her anchors at midnight, and was driven onto the rocks beneath nearby cliffs, at Foreness Point. The crew lashed themselves to the one remaining mast and were spotted from the beach at dawn. Two lifeboats, the Mary White and the Culmer White made three trips to rescue them. The lifeboats and crew were from Broadstairs and Margate. The Mary White had to be hauled and dragged two miles over fields of snow to bring it to a place from which it could be launched. Captain Tate and his crew from the Northern Belle were all saved. On 15 January 1857 (Thursday) the Illustrated Times of London advertised that they would print five engravings of the tragedy and portraits of the crew the following Saturday. It was reported on 22 January, in a letter to the London Evening Standard, that the ship and cargo were still on the reef, in good condition, and were salvageable. News of the disaster was broadcast world-wide, as far as the Sydney Morning Herald who picked up the story from the New York Times. A benefit