Lost at sea: one tragedy after another

On this day in 1812: A ship bearing Theodosia Burr Alston, 28-year-old daughter of former vice president Aaron Burr, is lost at sea, most likely to a storm off Cape Hatteras.

She and her husband, South Carolina Gov. Joseph Alston, had just lost their 10-year-old son to malaria, and she was eager to leave their rice plantation and spend time with her father in New York.