SS Ercolano

The steamer SS "Ercolano" was a passenger steamship which plied the waters of the Mediterranean in the 1850s.
The vessel was operated by the Neapolitan Line, operating from Naples to destinations such as Genoa, Marseille and Malta.
Sinking.
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On April 24, 1854 the ship left Genoa at 2:00 PM on April 24, 1854 bound for Marseilles with eighty passengers. The steamship sank after a collision with "Sicilia" in the Gulf of Genoa, somewhere between Nice and Antibes. The passengers included two British politicians: Thomas Plumer Halsey MP, who was drowned along with his wife, youngest son, and two servants; and Sir Robert Peel MP, who survived by swimming ashore. In all, about thirty-six passengers and twelve crew members were lost. Two survivors were later plucked from the wreckage near Nice.
The "Sicilia" was a newly built steam yacht, on a transfer voyage from the shipyard to Italy when it struck the "Ercolano". Its maiden voyage to the United States was cancelled and the vessel was sold to Messageries Impériales. On 9 September 1854, the "Sicilia" sank in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
"The Household Narrative of Current Events" of May 1854 reported:
A survivor of the sinking stated that the captains of neither vessel were on deck at the time of the collision and that the event was due to their negligence.