In the middle of the 19th century an unsettled Europe was being drained of emigrants dreaming of a new and better life in the New World. The packet ship Ocean Monarch was carrying nearly 400 of these passengers and crew on its return voyage to Boston from Liverpool on August 24th 1848. While still in sight of the North Wales coast, the ship caught fire which swept through its timbers in record time, giving many no chance of escape. In a time capsule of the politics of the age, its rescue operation brought together all levels of society ranging from the poor who had to bring their own straw on board to sleep on to those at the top of the social scale as aristocrats.
