The Dead Of Summer

From the lighthouse-keeper’s diary, the island of Gotska Sandön, August 1864

In the early-morning hour of 25 August, at ten minutes after midnight, on the south-east side of the island, the Russian steamship Vsadnik ran aground with a crew of one hundred and forty, of which three officers and twelve seamen drowned; all of the others were rescued. A hard easterly storm with rain.