Orion was a G & J Burns paddle steamer

Paddle steamer

A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...

 built by Caird & Co in 1847, which sank off Portpatrick Lighthouse, Wigtownshire

Wigtownshire

Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown is a registration county in the Southern Uplands of south west Scotland. Until 1975, the county was one of the administrative counties used for local government purposes, and is now administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway...

, Scotland, in June 1850 on its way from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 to Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, with the loss of 50 lives.

The captain was found guilty of the "culpable bereavement of the lives of the passengers" and was imprisoned for 18 months. The 2nd mate was transported

Penal transportation

Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...

.

The eminent surgeon John Burns

John Burns (surgeon)

John Burns FRS, was a Scottish surgeon.He was the eldest son of Rev. John Burns, who was the minister of the Barony Church until his death....

was one of the passengers killed in the accident.