[1] The French play under the title La Priére des Naufragés was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique and debuted on 20 October 1853.
In London, it debuted at the Adelphi Theatre under the title The Thirst for Gold, or the Lost Ship and the Wild Flower of Mexico on 4 December 1853, with Benjamin Nottingham Webster as Carlos.
The big draw was a scene where the mutineers of a ship strand the captain and his family on a sea of ice which then breaks up.
[2][3] However, because Webster had simply pirated the play from the French version, once this was exposed a number of copycat translations popped up.
[4] Webster revived the play in 1874 under the title Prayer in the Storm where it ran for 143 performances (28 March - 11 September 1874), and featured Geneviève Ward.