La Bourgogne Passenger Manifest: The Terrible Turk

Yusuf Ismail was better known by the moniker “Terrible Turk”. 

As a wrestler he was a force to be dealt with. At 6’2”and 250 pounds he was known for his massive size and strength. In a four year wrestling career started in 1894 he was undefeated in the ring. 

 

Early in 1898 his new manager brought him to the United States, where in a New York theatre $100 was offered to anyone who could survive in the ring with him for fifteen minutes. A well known lightweight wrestler took up the challenge but paid the price. Many years later he recalled the event:

He was a modern Hercules and he knew how to apply his punishing strength, as he was as quick as a jungle cat and master of all holds. Youssuf came at me like a bull. He rushed me right off the mat into a bunch of chorus girls in the wing. The first thing I knew I found myself helpless. The Turk picked me up as if I was a kitten. Never before have I felt such terrible strength. Before I could give a wiggle or squirm he dashed me down on the boards with terrific force, knocking all the strength and wits out of me… They told me that after I had landed, Youssuf rolled me over with his foot, looked out over the audience, gave a contemptuous snort and walked off the stage. When I came to, I was a sadder, but wiser young man. Somehow or other I got into my clothes, hobbled out into the street and started to walk up Third Avenue towards my home. Youssuf had given my neck such a wrench that he almost tore it from my shoulders. It was several days before I could look in the direction I was headed.

In July 1898 he boarded La Bourgogne returning to Europe to open a cafe.

La Bourgogne launch

 

The four masted steamship La Bourgogne was launched in 1885, the second of four large steamships commissioned by Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. The other three ships, La Champagne, La Bretagne and La Gascogne, were likewise named after old French provinces.

All four ships were built to identical dimensions: 7,400 gross tonnage extending 500 feet, almost the length of two American football fields. Two funnels towered over the iron and steel construction and 8,000 horsepower allowed her to sail upwards of 17 knots or 20 miles per hour. Her design accommodated cabins for 390 first class, 65 second class and berths for 600 third or steerage passengers. 

There were four decks, promenade, main, cabin and steerage. Curiously on the main deck were places where heavy marine guns could be placed. For what contingency was not revealed. 

 

Captain Oscar Hilmore Henderson

Commanding the Cromartyshire was Captain Oscar Henderson. In the early morning of 3 July 1898, he was summoned from the pilot house by his wife, Clara Maud Henderson. She was an early riser and at 5:00 a.m. she thought she had heard a ship’s whistle in the distance.

Nothing could be discerned through the dense fog, so she and her husband walked forward and listened. Seconds past. Nothing. A whole minute passed without a sound.

Captain Oscar Hilmore Henderson and his wife

Clara Maud Henderson, aboard the Cromartyshire, 4 July 1898

 

And then they heard something approaching from the port side of the bow.

The Cromartyshire’s Foghorn or What La Bourgogne heard before the collision

To warn ships of their presence in a dense fog, the Cromartyshire used a Norwegian Pattern Foghorn:

Norwegian Pattern Foghorn

 

A sailor on watch carried the valise size box to the bow, cranked several times until a loud mournful sound penetrated the mist.

 

To hear what the crew of both the Cromartyshire and La Bourgogne actually heard at 4:56 a.m. on 4 July 1898 click here 

 

 

La Bourgogne leaving New York

Below is an earlier image( four masts) of La Bourgogne I animated.

La Bourgogne’s structure was later modified from four to two mast, presumably to reduce fuel consumption and make her faster on her trans-Atlantic route.

La Bourgogne Posters

On the La Bourgogne, First Class passengers were entitled to preferential accommodations and the privilege of seating with the Captain at dinner. In addition you were in 19th century version of “Who’s, Who”  for the voyage.

Below are two folders distributed to the First Class passengers:

Listing of Passengers (French Version)

 

 

Listing of Passengers (English Version)

SS La Bourgogne Book Update

I’m making significant progress with the research of the La Bourgogne book including contact with the family of the only woman survivor, Victorie LaCasse.

 

Victorie Lacasse

(Photo courtesy of Patricia Pinner)

 

Victorie’s rescue was noted in newspaper’s worldwide…the “One Woman”.

If all goes well I expect to have a final draft to the publisher in December, 2020.  Distribution will be in eBook form so links will be available. I expect it to be available on Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords and other on-line outlets.

The SS La Bourgogne disaster of 1898

The SS La Bourgogne sailed from New York on 2 July, 1898. Her destination was Harve, France. Two days later she steamed at full speed despite the fog she enveloped the Grand Bank.

 

Heading on a northeast course was the British Sailing ship, Cromartyshire, at reduced speed and sounding her Norwegian foghorn at regular interval. The La Bourgogne was no match for the steel hulled Cromartyshire.

The Cromartyshire

The latter met the steamship perpendicularly, inflicting a large gashing below the water line.

The SS La Bourgogne had minutes before she would descend 9,000 feet to the ocean floor. She would take with her 550 lives and the disaster would be recorded in newspapers across the world.

 

 

But there was much more to the story.

Although speed and negligence were the primary contributors to the accident, the actions occurring on the SS La Bourgogne’s deck were the most notable. Those events contributed to the great loss of life and provided a contrast of human behavior in times of crisis, both the positive and negative.

 

But that’s a story for another day.