The Cruel Sea

 

  

Coal driven steam engines powered ships across the Atlantic now in one to two weeks.  Under sail, it generally took about six weeks to sail from New York to England or Europe. Steam ships still carried a full complement of masts and sails both to provide movement if the engine failed or to conserve use of coal. Running a paddle wheel on one side of the ship faster than the other side allowed precise steering.

    Newspapers printed lists, not only of which ships arrived and which departed, but also which ships had been “spoken,” that is, sighted at a particular time.

    Despite progress, hazards remained the same. 

    Storms and hurricanes were unpredictable. Icebergs lurked in the far northern waters.   

    Ship travel increased dramatically and so did the loss of life.

    Demand for better safety measures increased.

 January 1, 1857 Baltimore newspaper

Dec. 9th, 1855

Supposed Loss of a Ship With 500 Souls On Board--The fate of the ship Guiding Star, which has been missing several months is now exciting the most painful interest and it is feared that the worst has befallen her and her live freight. Under the command of Capt. McClelland, an experienced seaman, she took her departure from Liverpool for Melbourne on the 9th of January last, with upwards of 400 passengers or emigrants--men, women, and children, which with crew, officers and seamen, made the whole number on board 500 all told.

Life jackets were not provided by the ship.  It was the sort of item you couldn’t just wait until you needed before buying. Passengers bought their own before the voyage to carry aboard.

And, if not a life vest, then a Life Raft

The Life Car was considered the ultimate lifeboat. A barrel was to be shot to shore carrying a stout rope.  The Life Car would then be attached to the rope and hauled ashore.

The Life Car from Harper's Magazine 1851

Harper's reported the first design of the life car forced people to lie flat. A redesign allowed them to sit upright.  In both designs, there was no way for air or water to come in and no way to see out. 

In this old illustration the life car is barely visible, so I circled it in red brown and circled the people pulling it ashore in blue.

Near Disaster of the Edinburgh

Ice bergs were another hazard—the Titanic was by no means the first ship to hit a berg and sink with great loss of life. 

The ship Edinburgh hit an iceberg June 4,1859, and barely made it to land.

A woman passenger wrote her husband an account of the incident.

St. Johns N.F. June 7 1859

MY DEAR HUSBAND—Since I parted from you, I have passed through fearful peril, and never expected to see land again. We were steaming along last Monday night at the rate of eleven miles an hour, through a dense fog. About twenty minutes past eleven I was on deck, looking over the stern of the vessel, and had just remarked to a fellow passenger that the air seemed unusually cold and chilly. At that moment I turned around a fearful scene met my view. Mountains of ice lay on the lee side of the steamer.  It was so foggy we could that we could not see fifty feet around us; and though the vessel’s head was immediately turned we passed so near the iceberg I could have thrown an apple upon it. We said that was wonderfully narrow escape, and thought that we were safe, when suddenly there was a cry, “The ship is sinking!”  All the boats, eight in number, were cut loose, and furnished with blankets and provisions. We were about one hundred and seventy miles from lane at that time. The passengers and crew were distributed in watches of two hours each, and thus worked for thirty hours.  The women also worked, and among others I helped at the pumps for three hours without stopping. The captain was as calm as though nothing was the matter. We passed a dreadful night. We were all numbered for the boats, to which at any hour to be forced to enter. The rain came down in torrents, and the ship labored so we thought every moment it would sink. At last, to our great relief, the day dawned, and at eleven o’clock the fog, which had all the time continued, cleared away. The captain then took an observation and found we were about forty-seven miles from land.  There were no more icebergs visible. About four o’clock our signals for a pilot were answered and at seven o’clock we reached St. Johns.” 

Life Boat services were set up along the American and Canadian coasts. In fact, Dorothea Dix, the tireless advocate for the mentally ill, contributed money and time to update lifesaving gear in Nova Scotia after a brief visit there in the1850s. Dix was soon gratified to hear from a woman who wrote to say her son had been saved by that same equipment the day after it was put in service.   

Life saving services of all sorts were in demand. Below, clippings from a New York newspaper December 31, 1849 listing ships known lost that month.