SS Atlantic (1870)

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For other ships with the same name, see SS Atlantic.

RMS Atlantic.jpg
Engraving of SS Atlantic, published at Harper's Weekly in April 1873
History
NameAtlantic
NamesakeAtlantic ocean
OwnerWhite Star flag NEW.svg White Star Line
OperatorWhite Star Line
Port of registry United Kingdom
Builder
Yard number74
Laid down1870
Launched26 November 1870
Completed3 June 1871
Maiden voyage8 June 1871
In service8 June 1871
Out of serviceApril 1st 1873
FateRan onto rocks and sank off the coast of Lower Prospect, Nova Scotia, 1 April 1873
StatusScrapped at wreck site
NotesThe second ship built for the White Star line after being acquired by Thomas Ismay
General characteristics
Class and type Oceanic-class ocean liner
TypeOcean liner
Tonnage3,707 tons
Length128.4 m (421.3 ft)
Beam12.4 m (40.7 ft)
Draught11 ft (3.4 m)
Decks4
Installed powerSteam engine producing 600 hp (450 kW)
PropulsionSingle propeller, sail
Sail planFour masts
Speed14.5 knots (26.9 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried		10 lifeboats
Complement1,166 passengers

SS Atlantic was a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line that operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom, and New York City, United States. During the ship's 19th voyage, on 1 April 1873, she struck rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing at least 535 people. It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean until the sinking of SS La Bourgogne on 2 July 1898 and the greatest disaster for the White Star Line prior to the loss of Titanic in April 1912.

History[]

Atlantic was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast in 1870, as one of the four Oceanic-class liners. The other vessels were Adriatic, Oceanic and Baltic.[1] She was the second ship of the class. The four liners were built for the newly created Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, commonly referred to as the White Star Line.[1] Her primary propulsion was a four cylinder compound condensing steam engine producing 600 horsepower (450 kW) driving a single propeller giving her a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).[1] The engines were made by George Forrester and Company at the Vauxhall foundry, Liverpool.[2] To communicate from the bridge to the engine room she was fitted with a telegraph. Steering was by Forrester's steam steering apparatus, as fitted to Great Eastern.[2]

For auxiliary propulsion she was rigged as a four-masted barque.[3] With a length of 420 feet (130 m) between perpendiculars (437 feet (133 m) overall) and a beam of 41 feet (12 m),[2] she was slim with an aspect ration of 1:10. Atlantic had a depth of hold of 32 feet (9.8 m) and was 3,707 tons register.[2] She had three decks and five bulkheads extending from keelson to maindeck.[2]

The four sister ships were luxurious with a standard unseen on any previous vessel.[1] Two classes of accommodation were available. Cabin class was amidships with a saloon measuring 80 feet (24 m) long and the full 40 feet (12 m) of the ship's beam. The staterooms were forward of the saloon with provision for four berth en suite accommodation as well as double cabins. The lavatories were provided with running water and the bathrooms had water heated by steam when required. Cabin class passengers were free to come on deck. There was also provision for 1,000 steerage passengers. Single males were housed forward of the cabin class area, aft of cabin class was reserved for single females and married couples. Steerage class passengers did not have access to the decks.[2]

She sailed for New York City on her maiden voyage on 8 June 1871. For her return trip (starting on 1 July 1871) she was advertised for all classes as being "unrivalled in safety, speed and comfort". She carried "surgeons and stewardesses".[4] Atlantic completed 18 crossings with no problems other than a minor incident in 1871 when she was hit by SS Alexandria.[4]

Disaster[]

Currier and Ives lithograph of the disaster
Quartermaster John Speakman led a number of survivors ashore by swimming to nearby rocks, creating a link from the vessel to land
John Hindley, the only child survivor of the Atlantic disaster

On 20 March 1873, Atlantic departed on her 19th voyage from Liverpool with 952 people on board,[1] of whom 835 were passengers, and 14 stowaways. En route, because of heavy seas and strong headwinds slowing their progress, the captain, James Williams, became concerned that they would run out of coal for the boilers before reaching New York.[1] They in fact had more than enough remaining fuel, but the ship's engineer had been purposefully under-reporting coal reserves to increase the margin for error in favor of safety. Thus convinced they were short of coal—and unable to hoist sail as a backup because of the strong headwind—the captain decided to divert to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to refuel.[1]

During the approach to Halifax on the evening of 31 March, the captain and third officer were on the bridge until midnight while Atlantic made her way through a storm, proceeding at 12 knots (22 km/h) for the entrance of Halifax Harbour, experiencing intermittent visibility and heavy seas. Unbeknownst to the crew or passengers, winds and currents had put Atlantic approximately 12+1⁄2 miles (20.1 km) off-course to the west of the harbour. Because almost none of the crew had ever been to Halifax before, they were unaware of the dangers of the approach; no one took soundings, posted a masthead lookout, reduced speed, or woke the captain as they approached the unfamiliar coast. They did not spot the Sambro Lighthouse, the large landfall lighthouse which warns mariners of the rocky shoals to the west of the harbour entrance. As the night wore on without any sight of the lighthouse, the helmsman—the only crew member familiar with Halifax—became convinced that something was wrong, and relayed his concerns to the officers on duty, but was ultimately ignored.

At 3:15 a.m. local time on 1 April 1873, Atlantic struck an underwater rock ("Golden Rule Rock") off Marr's Head, Meagher's Island (now Mars Head, Mars Island), Nova Scotia.[5][6][7] All 10 lifeboats were lowered by the crew but were all washed away or smashed as the ship quickly filled with water and partially capsized. Survivors were forced to swim or climb ropes first to a wave-swept rock and then to a barren shore. Residents of the tiny fishing village of Lower Prospect and Terence Bay soon arrived to rescue and shelter the survivors, but at least 535 people died, leaving only 429 survivors.[8][9] The ship's manifest indicates that of the 952 aboard, 156 were women and 189 were children (including two who had been born during the voyage). All women and children perished except for one twelve-year-old boy, John Hindley. Ten crew members were lost, while 131 survived.[10] This was the worst civilian loss of life in the North Atlantic until the wreck of La Bourgogne on 2 July 1898. The Canadian government inquiry concluded with the statement, "the conduct of Captain Williams in the management of his ship during the twelve or fourteen hours preceding the disaster, was so gravely at variance with what ought to have been the conduct of a man placed in his responsible position."

Recovery of the dead[]

Winslow Homer drawing of an Atlantic victim cast up by the sea
Burial service for victims of Atlantic shipwreck, April 1873, Lower Prospect, Halifax County, N.S.

Recovery and burial of the large numbers of victims took weeks. Divers were paid rewards for recovering the many bodies trapped within the hull. According to one newspaper account, a body of one of the crew members was discovered to be that of a woman disguised as a man. "She was about twenty or twenty-five years old and had served as a common sailor for three voyages, and her sex was never known until the body was washed ashore and prepared for burial. She is described as having been a great favorite with all her shipmates, and one of the crew, speaking of her, remarked: "I didn't know Bill was a woman. He used to take his grog as regular as any of us, and was always begging or stealing tobacco. He was a good fellow, though, and I am sorry he was a woman."[11]

Wreck of Atlantic during body and cargo recovery, April 1873

Legacy[]

The Wreck of the "Atlantic" -- Breakfast to Survivors in Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1873 engraving

Atlantic was the second liner commissioned by White Star Line (RMS Oceanic being first) but carried the notoriety of being the first White Star steamer to sink (the company had previously lost the clipper Tayleur in Dublin Bay in 1854). Other White Star ships lost in the North Atlantic include Naronic in 1893, Republic in 1909, and Titanic in 1912.

Memorial donated by ship owner Thomas Henry Ismay's family at the site of the mass grave

Today, most of the ship lies heavily fragmented under 40 to 60 feet (12 to 18 m) of water.[12] Artifacts recovered from several salvage operations are on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia and also at the SS Atlantic Heritage Park and Interpretation Centre, in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia. A monument to the wreck, donated by ship owner Thomas Henry Ismay's family, is located at the mass grave near the interpretation centre in the Terence Bay Anglican Cemetery, while a smaller monument marks a second mass grave at the Catholic cemetery.

The 1929 film Atlantic was originally named Titanic, made only seventeen years after the sinking of that ship. After lawsuits from the White Star Line, the movie was released under the title Atlantic, although the film is unrelated to the earlier White Star Line disaster.[13]

P. G. Wodehouse wrote a story in 1921 called The Girl On The Boat in which six chapters of the romance take place on a White Star liner named Atlantic, crossing from New York to Southampton. As the real Atlantic disaster had occurred forty-eight years before the story and eight years before he was born, it is unlikely that he knew about it.

References and sources[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Anderson, Matthew (7 December 2016). "RMS Atlantic". Shipwreck World. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "The Times". The Times. 3 April 1873. p. 5. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  3. ^ Riodan, Katherine (13 July 2007). "SS Atlantic – 1873". On the Rocks: Find a Wreck. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b White Star Line History Website (2013). "RMS Atlantic". Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  5. ^ Author Unknown "Mars Island History", Retrieved on 21 March 2013.
  6. ^ Author Unknown "Mars Island Map", Retrieved on 21 March 2013.
  7. ^ Clancy, Dave "Shipwrecks of Nova Scotia", Retrieved on 21 March 2013.
  8. ^ SS Atlantic Heritage Park Society "SS Atlantic History", Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  9. ^ Estimates range from 535 to 560 lives lost. The official Inquiry in Halifax concluded that 535 people had perished. Exact numbers were difficult to determine due to changes in the passenger list and misspelling of names.
  10. ^ Cochkanoff & Chaulk 2009, pp. 147–148.
  11. ^ Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 26 April 1873
  12. ^ Cochkanoff & Chaulk 2009, p. 118.
  13. ^ Gareth., Russell (2019). The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. xvi–xvii. ISBN 978-0-00-826316-4. OCLC 1243502781.

External links[]

Coordinates: 44°26′31″N 63°43′55″W / 44.44194°N 63.73194°W / 44.44194; -63.73194

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