The 797 ton, 148 foot American square-rigger St. Nicholas had been built in New York in 1841 to sail the packet route of the Boyd and Hincken Company between New York and Le Havre in France. Sailing from Le Havre on March 14, 1861, the vessel was wrecked on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. Of the 23 people aboard, the captain and eight crewmen were lost and fourteen others rescued. (By John Osborne)