Tag Archives: Titantic

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

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 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.