In the English Channel, the 506-ton coastal passenger steamer Bruiser was sailing from Hull to London with 110 passengers and 18 crewmen when the 500-ton Sunderland bound collier Haswell rammed her amidships around three o'clock in the morning. The Bruiser sank as soon as the Haswell backed away and ten of her passengers and three crewmen were killed or drowned.  In calm seas the Haswell lowered her three boats and along with other vessels picked up the survivors. The first mate of the Bruiser later faced trial for negligent homicide. (By John Osborne)

Queen Victoria sent a telegraph message from Osborne House on the south coast of England to the White House in Washington, DC to congratulate President Buchanan on the completion of the Atlantic Cable.  Buchanan replied immediately hoping that the cable "may serve to perpetuate peace and amity between the Government of England and the Republic of the United States."  The President's message took sixty-nine minutes to arrive at Osborne House from the Newfoundland terminus.  (By John Osborne) 

The evening before, the Great Eastern, after a journey during which she laid almost 3,700 miles of telegraphic cable, arrived in the late afternoon hours in a foggy Trinity Bay, in Newfoundland.  The cable was quickly landed and connection made. At 8:43 a.m. on this next morning, an exchange of messages between Ireland and Canada, at a rate of 7.36 words a minute, proved that the transAtlantic cable was now in operation, and commercial and private use soon commenced. (By John Osborne)

In the English Channel, at around one in the morning, the 1081-ton warship H.M.S. Amazon and the 400-ton passenger and freight steamship Osprey collided violently.  The smaller vessel sank almost immediately with the loss of ten passengers while its nineteen man crew were able to scrmable aboard the warship.  The Amazon foundered more slowly, allowing the two crews and surviving passengers to take to her boats.  The overloaded boats stayed afloat till morning, when fishing boats picked them up and took them into Dartmouth, eighteen miles away.  (By John Osborne) 

In northern England, a Cheshire coal mine suffered a heavy underground explosion at eight in the morning, two hours after seventy-two miners had begun the morning shift.  Dozens of men and boys were able to ascend to safely, some badly injured, but the death toll was later confirmed at thirty-seven.  (By John Osborne)

The Welwyn Tunnel on the Great Northern Railway, twenty miles north of London was more than half a mile long. Just after midnight, a unloaded freight train headed north broke down in its middle. Soon after, a loaded goods train entered the tunnel and smashed into the first train.  Almost immediately, a third train loaded with meat for London hit that wreckage and a fire broke out. So, three trains were wrecked in one tunnel and the resulting fire burned all day.  Scores of workers then cleared the wreckage, remarkably, in time for Monday's rail traffic.  Two railroad men were killed in the accident.  (By John Osborne)  

A fire in central Dublin broke out in a row of shopfronts in the commercial district and trapped the family of a merchant tailor who lived in the upper floors.  Firefighters approached the house but through inefficiency and the nature of the fire were unable to rescue a wife, three daughters, a maid, and a male visitor from the upstairs window.  Reportedly, this failure of the fire brigade caused anger and resentment for some time in the neighborhood and across the Irish city.  (By John Osborne)

The small town of Ottery St. Mary in southwest England was struck with a devastating fire when a blaze broke out around noon in a school and quickly spread across the neighboring thatched roofs. A stiff breeze helped the flames across the Devonshire town till they were checked in the late afternoon.  A careful survey the next day counted 111 buildings destroyed with around 500 people made homeless, though no serious injuries were reported.  (By John Osborne)

With perhaps 200,000 people, including the Prince of Wales, watching, the eighty-seventh running of the Derby took place at Epson in England. The favorite, Lord Lyon, ridden by Harry Custace, won a relatively slow race, coming from behind on the final straight to win by a head from the outsider Savernake. Third was second favorite Rustic three lenths back.  The purse was worth £7,550. (By John Osborne)