Shipwrecked on the River Irwell
The forgotten story of the sailing barge Emma and her 300 passengers
It was 29 February 1828 and crowds were gathering along the banks of the River Irwell to watch a leap year spectacle.
The New Quay Company was floating a new boat — a Mersey “flat” named the Emma.
Two years before the world’s first intercity railway line connected Manchester and Liverpool, these barges …
