SS Ellan Vannin (1883) those who were dependants of the deceased, the Steam Packet contributed £1,000 to this fund. It was set up by "The Daily Telegraph" at writer Hall Caine’s instigation. Caine headed the list of contributors and wrote a poem "The Loss of the Ellan Vannin". The crew of 21 included one woman, a Mrs. Collister, of Crosby, Isle of Man, who left one child. The 20 men were survived by 18 widows and 70 children. All but two of the crew lived on the Isle of Man. Five of the passengers came from off Island, the rest from the north of
Portrait of a Lady Known as Smeralda Brandini Portrait of a Lady Known as Smeralda Brandini The Portrait of Smeralda Brandini is a tempera on panel painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli of about 1475, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum no. CAI.100). The identification of the sitter is based on the old, but probably not original, inscription on the windowsill at the bottom of the picture "Smeralda di M.Bandinelli Moglie di VI... Bandinelli", who has been identified as the grandmother of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. It is likely that the inscription was added at a later date, as the sculptor only took that