The wreck is lying with its keel orientated 060/240 degrees. The bow is to the northeast. The stern has a 30 degree list to starboard suggesting that it may have broken off. The remainder of the wreck was noted as being well broken up with the sides collapsing outwards. The highest point of the wreck above the seabed was the boilers at around 15m water depth in general depths of 24m. The ship's bell was recovered in May 1989 and reported to the Receiver or Wreck. Other items recovered include portholes, a cast-iron cannon and its carriage, a wooden deadeye, brass lamp brackets, glass bottles, a white glazed earthenware jug and a urinal.

Event and Historical Information:
The CITY OF BRUSSEL was a steamship built by Todd & MacGregor, Partick, Port Glasgow, in 1869. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 390ft length x 40ft breadth x 27ft depth; screw propulsion powered by a direct acting horizontal engine made by Laird Brothers, Birkenhead. At time of loss, the vessel was owned by Inman Steamship Company Ltd and under the command of F S Land. The CITY OF BRUSSELS and its sister ship, CITY OF PARIS,
both held the eastward and westward Atlantic crossing records for about three years. The CITY OF BRUSSELS's record was made on its maiden voyage in 1869 crossing to America from Queenstown to New York in seven days, 22 hours, three minutes, at an average of 14.66 knots. Inward bound from New York in January 1882, carrying 20 cabin passengers, 50 steerage passengers and 97 crew, the ship ran into fog off the Great Ormes Head. The master reduced speed to dead slow, and finally stopped, about 2.5 miles NE of the North West lightship and some 20 miles outside Liverpool. At 5.20 am the fog horn of another vessel was heard. Unfortunately, the fog was so dense that nothing was seen of the KIRBY HALL until it drove into the starboard bow of the CITY OF BRUSSELS, cutting the hull down to the waterline. The CITY OF BRUSSELS' boats were lowered and the passengers made their escape, assisted by boats from the other KIRBY HALL. Ten men lost their lives by drowning, two of whom were Italian steerage passengers, the other eight being crew, which included the 2nd officer Young and carpenter Woods. The number of people carried varies in differing accounts.

Sources include:
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Receiver of Wreck Droits Database 2007, RCIM6/2/5
UK Hydrographic Office Wrecks and Obstructions Database. ? Crown Copyright and database rights. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk)

WWW resources:
Baord of Trade Inquiry, number 1704, 17-18 February and 1 March 1883, Livepool,
http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports/14759.asp

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, January 2009.