Living in an
area where there is a shipwreck every nautical mile, I forget sometimes they
are not just a draw for divers from all over the world. Was one
of your ancestors aboard a sinking ship?
A hundred
years ago today, on May 29, 1914, the Empress of Ireland on its way from Quebec
City to Liverpool collided with the SS Storstad on the St. Lawrence River,
sinking within minutes. A total of 1,012 passengers and crew members aboard
perished.
On May 1,
1915 the RMS Lustiana left New York for Liverpool and off the shore of Ireland
on May 7th the ship was torpedoed by a German U-Boat. The ship sank within
minutes taking the lives of 1201 men, women and children.
The most
well-known disaster was the sinking of the RMS Titanic when it collided with an
iceberg on April 14, 1912, four days after leaving Southampton UK bound for New
York. More than 1500 people died in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic
Sea.
the "Bording Pass" I received to view the Titanic Artifact Exhibition was in the name of Mme Juliette LaRoche, who boarded in France and was ravelling to Haiti with her usband and two daughters. Her husband was Joseph Philippe Lemericer LaRoche, born to a wealthy family in Haiti, hoping to get a better paying job in his home country. I walked in Juliette's shoes as I wandered through this magnificent and emotional exhibit, seeing what may have been their 2nd class accomodations, the dishes they ate from, and the many personal items that had been carried by her and her fellow passengers. If you haven't yet seen the exhibit, I highly recommend it.
the "Bording Pass" I received to view the Titanic Artifact Exhibition was in the name of Mme Juliette LaRoche, who boarded in France and was ravelling to Haiti with her usband and two daughters. Her husband was Joseph Philippe Lemericer LaRoche, born to a wealthy family in Haiti, hoping to get a better paying job in his home country. I walked in Juliette's shoes as I wandered through this magnificent and emotional exhibit, seeing what may have been their 2nd class accomodations, the dishes they ate from, and the many personal items that had been carried by her and her fellow passengers. If you haven't yet seen the exhibit, I highly recommend it.
Another
preventable disaster was that of The Sultana, a Mississippi River
steamboat that left Vicksburgh on the way to St Louis carrying over 2400
passengers – a ship that was meant to carry only 376 people. Most of the
passengers were Union soldiers just released from Confederate prison camps near
the end of the civil war. On April 27, 1865, just a few miles after
leaving Memphis the boilers exploded. The casualties were estimated to be about
1800 men.
In the 1800’s there were many lesser-known shipwrecks that, while their casualties were not in the thousands, they had been carrying beloved ancestors of someone.
In the 1800’s there were many lesser-known shipwrecks that, while their casualties were not in the thousands, they had been carrying beloved ancestors of someone.
Graveyard of the Pacific
(interactive site)
Check out The Ships
List for other wrecks in the 1800’s and their passenger lists
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