The ill-fated journey of the two and a quarter ton miniature schooner John T. Ford, which planned to reach the Paris International Exhibition, had begun with great ceremony at the Pratt Street Wharf in Baltimore Harbor two months before, on June 22, 1867. With a crew of three seamen and a cabin boy, all from Baltimore, the small vessel had reached the Irish coast where it capsized in a storm when its ballast shifted. The British ship Aerolite spotted the wreckage four days later and rescued the single survivor. (By John Osborne)
"Sailing of the Yacht John T. Ford, from Baltimore for Europe," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 20, 1867, p. 280.
"Rescue of the Only Survivor from the John T. Ford," in C. G. Rosenberg (ed.), The Wonders of the World: Comprising Startling Incidents, Interesting Scenes ... (San Francisco, CA: A.L. Bancroft & Company, 1882), 119-120.
