The 188-foot, 1186-ton Boston-registered sailing vessel Golden Star, sailed from Mobile, Alabama on November 17, 1860 bound for Liverpool with 3,750 bales of cotton. Ten weeks later, she was wrecked near Carnivan Head on the south-east coast of Ireland. Captain William Staple, his wife, and sixteen of the crew drowned. Eight lucky sailors escaped when cotton bales broke loose and formed a temporary bridge to shore. (By John Osborne)