Steamship (1f/4m).
L/B:
435 × 40.9 (128m × 12.5m). Tons:
3,707 grt. Hull:
iron. Comp.:
140 crew; 1st 166, 3rd 1,000 pass. Mach.:
compound engines, 600 hp, single screw; 14 kts. Built:
Harland & Wolff, Ltd., Belfast, Ireland; 1871.
The second ship built for Thomas Ismay's White Star Line—formally known as the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company Ltd.—the luxuriously appointed Atlantic sailed between Liverpool, Queenstown, and New York. Although it was intended that she enter service to Chile in January 1873, the company's plans to develop that route were abandoned and she continued in transatlantic service. On March 20, 1873, Atlantic left Liverpool on her 19th voyage. Four days out she encountered the first of a succession of severe storms and on April 1 Captain John A. Williams decided to make for Halifax to replenish her coal, as required by company regulations. At 0312 the next morning, Atlantic drove hard onto the reefs of Marr's Island, east of Halifax Harbor (44°26N, 63°44W). Beaten by the waves, within 10 minutes the ship was heeled over about 50 degrees and passengers took to the rigging to avoid being swept into the sea. In the ensuing chaos, the bosun managed to swim ashore with a line along which an estimated 250 crew and passengers crawled to land. A handful of others got away in one of the ship's lifeboats, and the remainder of the survivors were rescued the following morning by fishermen. Accounts differ as to the number of lives lost, with estimates running from 454 of 981 passengers and crew, to 560 of only 931. Incredibly, not one of the survivors was a woman, and only one was a child. A court of inquiry found Captain Williams negligent for running the ship towards the land at speed and for failing to sound the bottom as he neared shore. However, in recognition of his outstanding conduct during the rescue operations and following the accident, his license was suspended for only two years.
Eaton & Haas, Falling Star.
