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Talk:List of shipwrecks in May 1866

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Principessa Clotilde

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Hey @Mjroots:, can you tell me what exactly the source states on this entry? I've been working on Italian corvette Principessa Clotilde and have come across a number of contemporary sources that place the ship in Italy in early May 1866 (and I find it questionable that Italy would have sent any of its vessels out of the country after having signed the treaty with Prussia). Is it clear they're talking about a warship? I wonder if there's a merchant vessel of the same name. Parsecboy (talk) 01:29, 24 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Parsecboy: - I've tried searching the Gale News Vault, but it's not returning that exact entry. However, she was definitely in the area at the time.
"The Italian screw corvette Principessa Clotilde 20 guns, 400 horsepower, Captain Pauli Casselli, three days from Brest, on a cruise, put into Spithead on Wednesday morning to take in a supply of coal. On anchoring at Spithead the Principessa Clotilde exchanged salutes with the main battery of the Portsmouth garrison, and with her Majesty's ship Victory...
...The corvette is an unarmoured wooden vessel, something nearly akin to our Raccoon class. In approaching the Isle of Wight from the Channel she struck the ground once heavily off St. Catherine's, but she is believed to have sustained no damage. ... ("Naval and Military". Hampshire/Portsmouth Telegraph. No. 3524. Portsmouth. 26 May 1866.).
So, definitely the corvette and not a merchant vessel. Mjroots (talk) 05:50, 24 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for taking a look and confirming, much appreciated. Just seemed odd to me that they'd have sent their most-recently completed corvette off when they were clearly planning for war with Austria (though I suppose a corvette isn't exactly a first rate, and the Italians had a dim view of the Austrian navy at the time). Parsecboy (talk) 09:54, 24 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]