Humber is one of 31 regions in The Shipping Forecast, a broadcast that has been providing weather information to mariners for the past 150 years. Like many things, there was a spark that ignited it - in this case, the ‘Royal Charter Storm’ of 1859, which claimed the lives of 800 people around the British Isles - 450 of whom were on the steam clipper ship Royal Charter.
She was one of the fastest and most famous emigrant ships on the Australian route and was at the end of a two-month voyage from Melbourne. After safely navigating a long ocean voyage full of perils, they were in sight of land when disaster struck.
It was autumn and the storm had intensified over the previous days, hitting Cornwall in the afternoon of October 25 and moving north to Anglesey, with 100mph winds battering the as she approached her destination, Liverpool.
