The British bark ‚Veronica‘ under plain sail off the South Stack lighthouse, Anglesey, North Wales, William Howard Yorke, 1884

On 11th october 1902, under the command of the elderly and rather deaf captain alexander shaw, she sailed out of the gulf of mexico bound for montevideo with a cargo of timber. Aboard her were two officers assisting captain shaw, a cook and eight seamen. Some time later, the steamer brunswick picked up the cook and four sailors from one of the ship's lifeboats, the survivors claiming that the veronica had been destroyed by fire. During the voyage home to liverpool however, the cook and another crewman separately confessed to killing their captain and the six other persons aboard, and then setting the vessel ablaze to hide what was undoubtedly a particularly brutal murder for no apparent reason. Once back in liverpool, the five survivors from the veronica were tried, convicted and hanged for what was, at the time, a sensational and highly publicized crime. [1] ↑ bonhams. Object Type: painting. Date: 1884. Dimensions: height: 20 in (50.8 cm); width: 30 in (76.2 cm). Medium: oil on canvas. William Howard Yorke - The British bark ‚Veronica‘