Mohegan (ship)
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The Mohegan was a passenger ship put into service in 1898 by the US shipping company Atlantic Transport Line , which was built for transatlantic passenger traffic and transported passengers and cargo between London and New York . The American shipping company operated from Great Britain , where their ships were registered. On October 13, 1898, during her second Atlantic crossing , the Mohegan ran aground off the coast of Cornwall on the reef The Manacles due to a faulty course determination and sank within twelve minutes. With 106 dead, it is the biggest accident in the history of the shipping company.
Furnishing
The Mohegan was designed as a safe and modern ship and was equipped with eight watertight doors , a pump system, emergency lighting, three compasses and eight lifeboats for 59 people each. Lloyd's Register of Shipping placed the Mohegan in the highest possible category, 1A.
The steamer could carry 120 first class passengers and had space for up to 700 cattle in its holds. He was insured for £ 112,000. A music salon decorated with gold leaf and a smoking salon clad in polished oak were available to passengers . Her sister ships were the Menominee , the Manitou ¸ the Mesaba (I) and the Marquette (all 1898).
history
The passenger and cargo ship Mohegan was built at Earle's Shipbuilding and Engine Company in the English city of Kingston upon Hull for the London-based shipping company Wilson & Furness-Leyland Line. It was launched on April 6, 1898 under the name Cleopatra . Godmother was Enid Wilson.
On July 31, 1898, the ship left London on its maiden voyage to New York, where it arrived on August 12, 1898. After arriving in New York, various defects such as leaks and a malfunction of the boiler cooling were found, which were attributed to the hasty completion. The passengers complained to the shipping company about the poor condition of the ship, but praised the good behavior of the crew. After returning to London, renovations and repairs were carried out that took 41 days. Further test drives and an inspection by the Board of Trade followed , which declared the ship to be seaworthy . In addition, Cleopatra was renamed Mohegan (after the North American Indian tribe of the same name).
The Wilson & Furness-Leyland Line was not satisfied with the ship and sold it during the renovation work to the Atlantic Transport Line, which was buying up new ships to replace some of their own ships used by the US government as troop carriers for the Spanish -American War requisitioned.
The last ride
beginning of the journey
On Thursday, 13 October 1898 at 14.30 which ran Mohegan in Tilbury from their second voyage to New York. She had 97 crew members, 57 passengers and seven cattle herders on board and was commanded by the 46-year-old captain Richard Griffiths.
The 1286 ton cargo included spirits , beer , 3,000 tin plates , antimony , linoleum , books, and groceries such as cheese, rice, prunes and coffee. At 7.30 p.m. the ship docked in Dover , where the pilot , DT Mulley, disembarked. At around this time, the captain had already received a report from one of the engineers that minor leaks and other technical difficulties had occurred.
Disastrous change of course
After the Mohegan the county Kent had surrounded and in the English Channel ran, she picked up speed. As she passed the Cornish coast she stayed close to the land. Some officers and other crew members noted that Eddystone Lighthouse was too far away and the coast too close, as a result of an incorrect bearing .
As the steamer neared the entrance to Falmouth Harbor , it turned towards the mouth of the Helford River and set course for The Lizard Peninsula . A top speed of 13 knots was maintained. The Coverack Coast Guard noticed this and tried to use missiles to warn the Mohegan of the nearby rocks. On board the Mohegan , however, this was not noticed or ignored. The captain of the Porthoustock rescue ship, James Hill, also saw the brightly lit ship pulling towards the dangerous cliffs of the granite reef, The Manacle, and notified his crew.
Collision and sinking
The crew on board the Mohegan had meanwhile also been alerted. At 6:50 p.m. the order was given to stop the engines, but the ship was already too close to the reef. The Mohegan hit Vase Rock at full speed, breaking the rudder and tearing open the hull . The engine room was immediately flooded. The steam pipes broke and the crew members immediately fled to the higher decks. As the ship sank, it drifted toward the cliffs of Maen Varses.
Dinner was just being served in the dining room. Many travelers were unaware of the gravity of the situation until the lights on board went out and the passengers had to find their way to the boat deck in the dark. It was almost impossible to launch the lifeboats , as Captain Griffiths had an additional safety rail attached to prevent the boats from swinging in heavy seas. This railing now hindered lowering. Of the two boats that could still be launched, one overturned due to the high waves.
The evacuation was carried heavy list more difficult. Initially the ship leaned to port, then to starboard. In addition, the ship was very new and most of the crew members were not yet familiar with the life-saving appliances. Twelve minutes after hitting the rock, the Mohegan sank , killing 106 people. Captain Griffiths and all the officers went down with the ship. After the sinking, the chimney and the mast tips still protruded from the shallow water. The Charlotte , Porthoustock's rescue ship, was operational within 30 minutes and picked up the survivors.
Passengers
Among the passengers on this trip were:
- Joseph Charles Duncan, banker and mining entrepreneur from Sacramento , father of actress Isadora Duncan (died with his third wife Mary and their twelve-year-old daughter, Rosa)
- Richard F. Kipling, Parisian jeweler and relative of Rudyard Kipling (died)
- Rear Commodore John Hyslop, Official Yacht Surveyor for the New York Yacht Club (survived)
- John Le Lacheur, director of the Guille-Allès Library on the island of Guernsey (died with his wife and son)
- FM Lockwood, International Representative for Standard Oil Company (died with wife and daughter)
- Francis Rawley Pemberton, New York banker, son of John C. Pemberton and business partner of William Gibbs McAdoo (survived with wife, two sons and nanny)
- Maud Roudez (real name Maud Roudebush Barling), American opera singer at the Metropolitan Opera ; performed as a singer at the Grand opéra in Paris (survived; lost her mother)
- Amelia Compton Swift, president of the National India Relief Administration charity (survived)
Aftermath
A large part of the recovered bodies was buried in the churchyard of the parish of St Keverne. The Atlantic Transport Line had a stained glass window installed in the church to commemorate the victims. Several other bodies were brought to London while eight victims were shipped to New York on the Menominee, a sister ship of the Mohegan .
The Scottish poet William McGonagall immortalized the misfortune in his poem The Wreck of the Steamer Mohegan.
The sinking of the Mohegan and that of the American steamship Paris off Lowland Point in the following year led to the introduction of a rescue ship in the port city of Coverack. The ship's wreck remains a popular destination for divers to this day. Occasionally, items such as portholes or pottery and brassware are still recovered.
During the investigation into the accident, it was found that the change of course in front of the Eddystone lighthouse at 4:17 p.m. had been a major factor in the accident. It was later rumored that Captain Griffiths survived the sinking and fled. He was a partner in the shipping company and was in financial difficulties, so he deliberately destroyed the ship in order to receive the sum insured. These allegations turned out to be baseless. Griffiths' headless body washed up on the coast of Caernarfon Bay three months after the disaster.
To date, the sinking of the Mohegan is the worst disaster in the history of the Atlantic Transport Line. The loss of the ship hit the shipping company all the more because it had already had to surrender several of its ships to the US government. The Mohegan tragedy is featured in an episode of the BBC Coast series , which started on July 19, 2009.
Web links
- Memories of eyewitnesses to the tragedy
- Poem "The Wreck of the Steamer Mohegan" and other information
- Description of the Mohegan on Submerged, a UK diving website
- Passenger and crew list of the last trip
- ATLANTIC LINER MOHEGAN LOST (Report in the New York Times of October 15, 1898) (English)
- TWO MORE BOATS MAY BE SAFE (Report in the New York Times of October 16, 1898) (English)