Tag Archives: LaCasse

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.

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.

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.

SS La Bourgogne

I have been able to locate a number of images of the “other” ship, the Cromartyshire, before and after the collision.

Image of the Cromartyshire from French Newspaper shortly after the accident.

The Cromartyshire’s bow after towed to Halifax. Nova Scotia

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.