Philip John Ouless - The wreck of the Channel Islands' packet steamer <i>Express</i> in St. Brelade's Bay, Jersey, 20th September 1859
<p>oil on canvas
</p><p>28 x 40.5cm (11 x 15 15/16in)
</p><p><i>Express</i> built on the Thames at Blackwall By Ditchburn &amp; Mare and completed in 1847 for the New South Western Steam Navigation Company, registered at 255 tons gross (155 net) and measured 159 feet in length with a 22 foot beam. She began her short-lived career on the Southampton to Le Havre route and  'made the headlines' the following year when, on 2  March, she brought the fleeing French King Louis-Philippe into Newhaven to begin his exile. Transferred onto Jersey services in May 1848, she later inaugurated the new Weymouth to Jersey run in April 1857. On 20 September 1859, when homeward bound from St. Helier, via St. Peter Port, her temporary master, Captain Mabb, took the risky inshore passage off Corbière where she struck some submerged rocks known as Les Boiteaux. Making water fast, her captain ran her into shallow water in St. Brelade's Bay although not before two passengers had already panicked, jumped overboard and been drowned. Apart from them, all other 108 persons aboard were saved, along with three valuable racehorses en route to Guernsey to race the following day.
</p><p>The artist in the left foreground shown painting the incident 'from life' is said to be Ouless although it is not certain whether he attended the scene.
</p>
A lithograph of this picture is in the National Maritime Museum PAH0248
<bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19958541" class="extiw" title="d:Q19958541"><span title="British painter and watercolorist (1817-1885)">Philip John Ouless</span></a>
</bdi>
1859<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1859-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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