The Shoeblack and the Countess, is a story based on the sinking of a Liverpool-based training ship, on which two hundred and fifty young sea cadets lived. Set in the late Victorian era, this well documented incident on the River Mersey serves as a basis for what is a truly remarkable story. It is a tale that not only reflects the harshness of life aboard a remand ship, but also the many hardships of city street life that were encountered by the majority of the ship's young occupants.