Wreck of S S Atlantic

[bluenoser]

Hello;
On April 1st,1873 the White Star liner Atlantic wrecked with the loss of over 550 lives . She was heading to New York from England when off the coast of Nova Scotia they became concerned that their coal supply was running low so the captain decided to divert to Halifax to take on more. Due to an error in navigation the great ship ran aground off Mosher's Island near Prospect about 20 miles from Halifax and sank.. It is now a popular dive site . There is a mass grave and a monument in Terrance Bay (a near by fishing village )where 277 victims of the sinking were buried.

[Bruce Carson]

The greatest loss of life at sea up until that time.
With the 'Titanic', a double header for the White Star Line.

http://www.ns1763.ca/hfxrm/ssatlanhrm.html

[JoyceW]

A long time ago I bought a book about this disaster, and apart from recalling the events it provides a lot of technical information about the coal, where it was acquired from, the quality, the actual amount consumed etc with speculation as to why the engineer thought he was running short. But the sad fact is that no women survived, and only one child aged 12. The author, C H Milsom, starts the tale by mentioning that it was a time of 'great agitation for an increased measure of safety at sea'. In the previous year, 1872, 704 British ships were lost due to stranding, 242 foundered, 79 failed to arrive at their destination and were listed as missing, 60 sank after collision and 63 were lost due to other causes (this all excluded fishing vessels!) 1,148 altogether. 2,073 seaman and 105 passengers lost their lives. It's a sobering thought.

[bluenoser]

Hello;
I have visited the wrecksite many times and especially in the spring when you enter the water you can feel the cold even through a dry suit ! I have often imagined as I decend the 70 ft or so to the ship's remains what it must have been like for those terrified people wearing only light clothes and being swept into that freezing cold sea in the pitch dark. bluenoser