This photo was taken several years ago and appeared in the August 1979 Crown Jewels. I think this shows quite clearly what the insulators looked like when I received them. The white line on the cobalt Tillotson to the right was bleeding from a fine crack in the glass.

The following article appeared in The Hartford Courant Monday morning, January 12, 1874, on page 3 in the "By Telegraph" column under the sub heading THE SOUTH:

WILMINGTON, N.C. Jan. 11 -- The Steamship Sherman from New York for New Orleans spring a leak on the 6th inst., at 2 p.m. and sank yesterday in ten fathoms of water twelve miles south of Little River bar. The captain, crew, and all the passengers were saved, as was also a considerable portion of the luggage and cargo. The steamship was owned by Frederick Baker of New York. She was built in Glasgow and was formerly owned in Boston.