Shipwrecked on the River Irwell
The forgotten story of the sailing barge Emma and her 300 passengers
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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 …