The German ocean liner Schiller struck the Retarrier Ledges near the Isles of Scilly in dense fog in May 1875. Heavy seas frustrated rescue efforts, and more than 300 passengers and crew died. The wreck intensified concern about navigation, lifeboats and safety around the islands.

The Schiller disaster generated German and British elegies, newspaper verse and hymns mourning families lost within sight of land. Its commemoration illustrates how steamship disasters sustained older ballad traditions even during an age of industrial travel.