Tag Archives: shipwreck

Rothsay Castle

In August 1831, the steamer Rothsay Castle was following its routine excursion from Liverpool to North Wales. It was the height of summer and one hundred plus passengers were traveling to Beaumaris for an evening of festivities before the annual regatta the following day. The fifty-mile journey should take about five hours and the four-man band was aboard to entertain the passengers.

However, a negligent and drunken captain sat below deck for almost the entire voyage down the Mersey. Although the weather changed dramatically as the vessel entered the Irish Sea, Captain Atkinson was dismissive of the urgent appeals of his passengers to turn back to Liverpool or find the nearest safe harbor. In his own words:

“I think there is a d.—d deal of fear on board, and very little danger. If we were to turn back with passengers, it would never do—we should have no profit.”

He, his crew, and passengers would pay dearly as they approached Dutchman’s Bank in the middle of the night. More details of the disaster can be found here.

Disaster at Dutchman’s Bank; The 1831 Loss of the Steamer Rothsay Castle is available on Amazon:

E-book

Lady of the Lake

No Fighting Chance recounts the 1833 “Little Titanic” disaster when 250 Irish emigrants suddenly found themselves abandoned by their captain in a sinking ship in the waters off Newfoundland. Earlier that day, the Lady of the Lake struck an iceberg, an accident easily avoided as will be revealed.

But once the ship’s wooden hull was gouged, there was no time for most of the passengers to transfer into a boat.

The disaster would claim the lives of over two hundred individuals including many extended families looking to start life anew in the newly touted lands of North America.

So how could a ship strike a large iceberg that could be easily seen miles away on a calm and clear morning? The answer lies in the state of incapacity of both the captain and his crew that early morning.

But despite their inebriated condition, the crew and their captain were able to save themselves. And although a handful of passengers were able to join them, over two hundred men, women, and children would be swallowed into the ocean’s depths within fifteen minutes.

Yet, despite the shirking of the captain’s responsibilities immediately before and after the Lady of Lake’s demise, his actions would grow more treacherous and darker in the days that followed. He would turn on the few survivors hoping to eliminate them as witnesses to his cowardliness.

No Fighting Chance is more than just another story of tragedy and survival at sea. It provides insights into the motivation of 1833 Irish emigrants and why they would choose to leave their homeland, risk a journey across the ocean, only to arrive on a continent with formidable challenges and hard to quantify opportunities.

At the end of each chapter in No Fighting Chance, another event is described which provides another lens into the Irish and British conditions. At the same moment that Irish emigrants were crossing the great expanse of the Atlantic in May 1833, England and Ireland were preparing for the boxing championship of Great Britain. The English champion was deaf from birth; the Irish champion had once before killed another man in the ring. Their fight would be one of the most brutal in the history of the sport and establish records, that still exist today, for both the number of rounds (99) and the length of the battle (3 hours and 6 minutes). In the conclusion, one man would reign as the champion, the other would die from his wounds. Ireland would sustain two great blows to its collective soul in one month in 1833.

Unfortunately, Ireland would sustain two great blows to its collective soul: the loss of the Lady of the Lake and the death of Simon Byrne.

No Fighting Chance, Ireland’s Lady of the Lake Disaster of 1833 is available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-book

John Minturn

In 1845 all was quiet along the Eastern seaboard of the United States; no hurricanes or tropical storms were recorded. But the residents along the coast knew it was an aberration; Mother Nature keeps a ledger and things need to balance out over time.

When 1846 finally arrived, the quietude of the previous year disturbed the shore inhabitants causing them to turn a weather-eye for the next nor’easter.

The storm in all its fury arrived on Saturday, February 14th pounding the East Coast from the Carolinas to Maine. But special punishment appeared to be reserved for New Jersey.

Nine vessels would be thrown upon the shore and scores of deaths were recorded.

The “Minturn Storm” not only claimed the brig John Minturn but eight other vessels: The Register, Pioneer, Mary Ellen, Arkansas, Antares, New Jersey, Alabama, and Lotty.

Undiminished Violence details the days leading up to the storm as well as the destruction it caused along the entire east coast of the United States.

Undiminished Violence; The John Minturn storm of 1846, part of the New Jersey Shipwreck Series is available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

Great Isaac

The ocean-going tug Great Isaac tows a WWII Liberty Ship north of the New Jersey coast towards the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1947. Dense fog descends near Barnegat where a freighter heads southbound. The three meet early in the morning.

The collision and wreck is one story. But two greater connections to U.S. and World history are revealed.

The Fog Shrouded Sea; The Demise of the Great Isaac, part of the New Jersey Shipwreck Series is available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

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.

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.