The Cambria was lost, with all but one of those on board, off the coast of Ireland on September 19th, 1870. The only survivor of the disaster was a sailor named M'Gartland. He stated that notwithstanding the heavy weather encountered on the voyage, everything went well until the very moment of the wreck, which occurred about ten o'clock at night. The Cambria was under full sail and steaming rapidly, when she suddenly struck on Inishtrahull Island, a small rocky island ten miles west of Donegal, and thirty miles west of Londonderry. The vessel instantly began to fill through the large holes stove in the bottom, and the fires were soon extinguished. It became evident that the steamer was hopelessly lost, and the efforts were therefore directed to save the lives of the passengers, who were massed upon deck. Four boats, crowded with passengers, were launched, and put off from the sinking steamer. Mr. M'Gartland entered one of these, and he saw no more of the ship or the other boats. Almost instantly upon getting into the boat it capsized, and he lost consciousness. Upon reviving he found himself in the sea, but grasping the gunwale of the boat, which had righted, he succeeded in getting in a second time, and found therein the dead body of a lady dressed in black silk. Mr. M'Gartland was tossed about many hours, when lie was picked up. Later accounts, by telegraph, give details of the finding of fragments of the other boats, which left no doubt that all the rest of the crew and passengers were lost.
The Cambria was built at Glasgow, of iron, in 1869. She was bark-rigged, had two decks and a poop ; was 324feet long, 35 feet breadth of beam, and 22 feet depth of hold, and registered, British measurement, 2140 tons. She was a screw boat, propelled by two engines built at Glasgow, each of 750 horse-power [Harpers Weekly, 1870]
