Help - ship sunk in the Mersey

A friend of mine has been doing some research on her family tree and came across a possible distant relative who survived a ship wreck in the Mersey. This occurred possibly in 1840 to 1870. The ship sunk near to Formby and the passengers were mainly Italians going to America. Apparently one small child survived, who was washed ashore in Formby.

I've no idea about what the name of the ship was, nor the date it went down. 1840 to 1870 sounds very early for emigrants going to America, but I could be wrong.

Does anyone know about this shipwreck? Sounded like an urban myth to me....but I hope I'm wrong.

There were more than a few ships, wrecked along the Mersey! I'd suggest logging on to one of the many sites, that specialise in this sort of thing. Just type in something like "Mersey shipwrecks!
Happy hunting :) Steve.

Been readin "The Wrecks of Liverpool Bay" by Chris Michael.
2 Suggestions are 1=City of Brussels (but this was inbound) or 2=Ocean Monarch (caught fire off the welsh coast)
A search for info on the Ocean Monarch might prove fruitful.

some links
http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/OCEANMONARCH.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Monarch