Customer Reviews

The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is evocative of the sorrow and loss at sea of which Walt Whitman wrote so emotionally. In contrast to Whitman's poem however, here the vessel - the steamship Arctic - did not make it to port, and rather than a son mourning for his lost father it was the other way around. The Captain of the Arctic, James C Luce, was grief-struck as he helplessly watched his son and the vast majority of the passengers drown in the frigid north Atlantic some fifty miles off Cape Race, Newfoundland.

The story has its origins in competition between the UK and the US. In 1840 Britisher Samuel Cunard inaugurated steamship service on his Royal Mail Steamship Line (the Cunard Line). In 1848 he brought the competition to the US by making New York his base for transatlantic crossings. By now Cunard was operating a fleet of ten ships that provided a regular schedule of steamship service between Liverpool and New York. Cunard had also raised the ire of US officialdom. Shaw quotes a US Senator as saying "America will soon become tired of being informed now of British maritime supremacy." Shaw says the response was "a new breed of steamships, stamped with American ingenuity and backed with the might of the US Treasury [whose] sole purpose was to 'cast this man Cunard from the sea'". Three such steamships built for this purpose were the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Arctic. They belonged to the United States Mail Steamship Company or the Collins Line as it was more popularly known - named after its owner Edward Knight Collins. Collins we are told was a man bent on "maintaining schedule and setting records whenever possible." The Arctic was a 3,000 ton, wooden paddle-steamer and was the largest, most luxurious, and fastest of the line. She set a record in 1852 making the New York to Liverpool crossing in ten days.

The fateful voyage of the Arctic took place in September 1854. In command was Captain James C Luce. There were over 400 aboard with more than 300 being passengers; the rest comprised the "black gang" (as the stokers for the boilers were called) and the ship's officers. Among the passengers was Luce's son and E.K Collins' wife Mary and two of their children. Everything was routine as the Arctic set off from Liverpool but she shortly ran into a rolling fog bank. Luce maintained his course and speed of thirteen knots, but unknown to him, a French steamer called the Vesta had also entered the fog. The Vesta was a much smaller ship at 250 tons but she had iron cladding and when the two collided bow on, the larger wooden Arctic came off much the worse. This wasn't immediately apparent and Luce, fearing he had crippled and sunk the smaller ship, lowered one of his lifeboats as rescue. What was supposedly a mission of mercy to another ship soon became a desperate attempt to save his own as Luce soon discovered that the Arctic had been pierced in three places and the ship was taking on heavy water through a five-foot gaping hole.

Shaw's description of the ensuing events is where the book is at its compelling best and we are caught up in it. As the reality that soon THE SEA SHALL EMBRACE THEM all sank in, the best and worst of humanity emerged. Cowardice and bravery were on display, more of the former than the latter. Captain Luce ordered full speed ahead, but while she was still some twenty miles offshore with land tormentingly just in sight, the ships paddles stopped as the engines flooded. The Arctic quickly began foundering and Luce gave the order to abandon ship with women and children to be put in the boats first. There were not enough boats for all those remaining and the stokers were not inclined to wait while a raft was hastily built. They mutinied and brushed passengers aside and stormed the lifeboats. One brave officer pulled his pistol but before he could restore order a stoker bashed his head in with a vicious hit from a shovel.

Forty-five persons made it into the raft before the Arctic sank and all told only 85 were eventually rescued. Captain Luce lived but was witness to what he described as "a most awful and heart rendering scene" as "men, women, and children were struggling together amidst the pieces of the wreck of every kind calling on each other for help, and imploring God to assist theem." Neither Luce's son, nor Collins' wife, only daughter, and youngest son were rescued. Tragically there was not one woman or child among those saved.

What became of the survivors? The Vesta made it to port with minor loss of life. As is usually the case with such tragedies, where blame can not be properly ascribed, it falls on the Captain. Luce received a minor official reprimand and gave up the sea for a job ashore in maritime insurance. Of much greater pain would be the personal anguish of losing his son and the accusatory words of E.K. Collins ringing in his ears. The ships owner said Luce "had practically murdered his family".

If you like sea stories, naval history and geography, with a little bit of 18th century US and British industrial and shipping history thrown in then you'll thoroughly enjoy this well written and thrilling tale of a little known maritime tragedy.

This new book by David Shaw tells the story of the tragic sinking of the United States Steamship `Arctic' in 1854. The `Arctic' was one of the new generation of ocean travelling boats offering the paying public comfort and speed whilst crossing the Atlantic. Involved in a race against the liners of the British owned and operated Cunard Company the `Arctic' was set to break all records, travelling full steam ahead regardless of weather or any other considerations.

Sadly on September 27, 1854, the `Arctic' collided with a new ironclad vessel, the `Vesta', off the coast of Newfoundland and then within a short period of time plunged to the bottom of the sea, sparing only 87 of her 408 passengers. The book tells the sad story of this collision, the sinking and the terrible actions of the crew and some of the passengers trying to survive in the cold sea of the Grand Banks. This incident was a foretaste of the epic `Titanic' sinking which was to occur some fifty years later.

The author also tells the story of the competition between the British Cunard Company and the United States Collins Company in the race to provide the best and fastest service in crossing the Atlantic, which led to this terrible tragedy. The account of the boat sinking as the crew fails in their duty and desert, leaving just a few duty bound men, including the Captain with his sickly 11-year-old son is quite harrowing. In the end most of the crew escape with the few lifeboats available, leaving behind the stricken passengers, which resulted in the death of every woman and child aboard.

This is great, and at the same time, very sad story and although quite short, only 220 pages of narrative, it is well told and gripping throughout. The author utilises numerous first hand accounts to convey the feelings at the time and also provides a number of black and white photographs. Overall this was a very satisfying book and I am sure anyone who enjoys reading about maritime history will be quite taken with this story.

It's always refreshing to find a book that tells me about a little known incident in American history. This book, concerning the 1854 sinking of the steamship Arctic, is one of those books. As an added bonus, it's extremely well-written, reading almost as if it were a novel. There are a lot of nautical terms thrown about, but there is a glossary to help those, like myself, who are unfamiliar with them. We get a capsule history of the Great Race across the Atlantic between competing British and American companies, and a bit about ship design 150 years ago, when most were wooden, with side paddle wheels. The story about the collision of the Arctic with another ship, and the subsequent tragedy that happened because many crew members ignored the adage "women and children first" is heartbreaking. The astonishing survival of some of the folks from the ship, including the captain, is quite riveting, in large part because of the excellent writing involved. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to others.

When 1,503 people died on the Titanic in 1912, the world was shocked. By that time, however, North Atlantic passenger ships had had been losing large numbers of passengers for a good many years. One of the earliest of these tragedies was the loss of the wooden paddle steamer "Arctic" and it is her final voyage which is the subject of this book.

On 21 September 1854, the Arctic left Liverpool for New York with 382 people on board (246 passengers and 136 crew). Six days later, some miles off Cape Race, she was steaming through dense fog when she collided with the French steamship "Vesta." At first, those on both ships thought the Vesta was about to sink and the Arctic only damaged. The reverse, however, turned out to be the case.

It was, therefore, only after the Vesta had disappeared from sight that those on board the Arctic realised it was they who were in serious trouble. Holed in 3 places and taking on water fast, Captain Luce set a course for the nearest land - estimating a journey of some 5 hours duration. Just 30 minutes later, however, the engines were flooded and all power was lost. Despite his best efforts, Captain Luce was powerless to quench the panic which then overtook his crew who became intent on saving their own lives at all costs. Without power, launching the boats was difficult - often almost impossible, and some were smashed or swept away when a disciplined approach would so easily have provided a different result.

Captain Luce had on board his own disabled son and could not even save his own boy's life. But why should he have been any different? After all, not one single woman or child from that ship survived whereas many of the crew made it safely to shore!

Altogether, 323 people died. Although Captain Luce went down with the ship, he surfaced amongst the wreckage before becoming one of the few who were eventually saved.

On board the Vesta, one man was killed by the collision and another 12 were lost when one of the two boats she launched (also in panic!) disappeared into the fog and was never seen again.

This is a harrowing story but it is one which is well told by an author who has an engaging and very readable style of writing. With extracts from letters and 12 contemporary photographs/engravings, this is a thorough account of the loss of a ship which brought shame upon the Merchant Navy. Once started, it is very hard to put this book down until it is finished.

NM

David W. Shaw has given us a gripping account of the steamship Arctic, which sank in September 1854 while making a crossing from Liverpool. The book is informed by his wide knowledge as a seaman, and his grasp of the economic competition between U.S. ship company owner Collins and his British rival, Cunard. The steamship was traveling as quickly as its boilers could take it, even in inpenetrable fog, when it collided with a smaller vessel, the French steamship, Vesta.

Ironically at first, it looked as it the Vesta was fatally damaged, and Captain Luce of the Arctic had to make one of the toughest decisions a mariner must face: He had to try to save his own passengers and crew and leave the people on the Vesta to their fates. But it soon became apparent that the Arctic was sinking quickly, without nearly enough lifeboats for all the people on board. In the chaos that followed, all the women and children passengers were lost. Only the strongest and most agile survived, most of them crew members. As for the Vesta, although many suffered loss of life, the ship was able to limp into Newfoundland days later.

Shaw writes well, although occasionally his foreshadowing is heavily overdone. This can be partially excused, since we know the tragic outcome of the tale, but it gives his work an amateurish quality. Overall, this harrowingly sad sea yarn will hold your attention throughout.

This book contains a fact-based account of a tragic accident in the Grand Banks in 1854. The US steamship Arctic, charging through the fog at top speed (as was customary in the days when transatlantic speed records were a matter of national pride), collided with a smaller but hardier ship that ripped a fatal wound in Arctic's hull. Captain Luce made a mad dash for land, but there wasn't enough time to save his ship, and Arctic was seriously lacking in lifeboats. This desperate situation brought out the worst in some of the crew, whose cowardly actions helped cause the death of every woman and child on the ship (so much for the idea of noble seafarers). The crew wasn't the only problem; try to imagine the dread that passengers felt as they blew up inflatable life jackets only to see the defective items deflate seconds later. The ensuing chaos in which over 300 people died is described by the author in gruesome detail.

So why give this book only two measly stars? I should say that the author obviously has a vast knowledge of and love for the sea. But his writing style is ponderous and overblown, especially in the first half of the book when nothing much is happening. It is as if Mr. Shaw is afraid we will lose interest, so he empties his thesaurus in our general direction. The book is stuffed to the gills with pointless adjectives, blatant foreshadowing, and mind-melting statements such as "At sea, the ceaseless motion, the salt in the air, and the relentless ocean swells transport one's sense of identity, some say to the sublime." Huh?

Adding to my discomfort is the fact that although this book is advertised as a historical account, much of the filler material leading up to the collision is fabricated. Captain Luce isn't around anymore to tell us whether he "walked to the rail and gazed off into the gloom, shivering slightly from the dampness." We can imagine that Luce might have done that, but by blurring this and other hypothetical statements with the facts, Shaw has transformed the real-life captain into a boring fictional character. I didn't care about Luce as much as some of the other more minor but more real people in the book because I figured he would be back for the sequel.

I continued reading past about page 40 only because I wanted to see how bad the book could get. Fortunately, I was rewarded for my "patience" with a compelling description of Arctic's last hours. The horror of the events finally catches up to the horror of Shaw's writing around page 95. If you're going to buy the book, start reading at that point and spare yourself the harrowing experience I had.

With an eye to maritime history, David W. Shaw recounts the heady days of the American fleets' domination of the high seas...and the dreadful price paid because of pride and ignorance. The details are well written and there are several people who come to life, especially captain James C. Luce who made the voyage with his sickly son. Using the available newspaper reporting, as well as the testimony of surviving eyewitnesses, this book is a harrowing tale of the perils of the seas and a engrossing read.

Author David Shaw does himself a grave disservice when, in his introduction, he compares himself to the late Walter Lord who wrote "A Night to Remember," one of the great nonfiction works of the 20th century. Shaw very clumsily tells us that his book won't be as good as Lord's retelling of the Titanic disaster because he didn't have any living eyewitnesses to interview. Well, neither did Lord when he wrote "The Dawn's Early Light," his 1972 account of the War of 1812 that has all the breathless immediacy of on-the-scene reporting. The simple fact is that Walter Lord was a brilliant writer with an eye for illuminating detail and telling quotes. David Shaw has, I'm afraid, the merest shadow of Mr. Lord's talent.

Over and over again the considerable suspense generated by the steamship Arctic's predicament is spoiled by Shaw saying things like (paraphrase), "Little did they know that every woman and child would soon be dead and only 24 male passengers would survive to tell the tale" -- and this as the main action of the story is just getting underway. Talk about ruining your own punchline! Furthermore, he seems to mistake verbiage for detail, loading his sentences down with long lists of adjectives in what seems to be an attempt to make his short book longer. And speaking of detail, one wonders where it is, until the appendix, where Shaw casually reveals interesting tidbits about such subjects as the final moments of some of the key players. This stuff and more of it needed to be in the main text, not tossed in the back like a discarded beer can. The story of the Arctic is one of high drama, whose bare facts make for good reading. But this drama was not well served by David Shaw. For a harrowing tale, see "Women and Children Last," written on the same subject some 40 years earlier. And for brilliant nonfiction writing, read anything by Walter Lord.

Everyone has heard of the British Cunard line; few have heard of the American Collins line. Yet in the mid-19th century the American trans-Atlantic lines dominated. The end of that dominance has much to do with the tragedy of the Arctic.

The Arctic was hit bow-on by an iron-clad vessel as it sped recklessly through the foggy and heavily-travelled Grand Banks. But there were no musicians playing on the deck, as on the Titanic. Instead, there was a vicious fight for survival in which not one woman or child survived, and 400 passengers and crew died.

The captain took his son to the wheelhouse and prepared to go down with the ship. A series of incredible events followed which I won't divulge here, and the captain survived. The scandal that broke out when he returned to New York and incriminated the crew kept the headlines buzzing for a month.

This is an excellently written book, which not only tells a compelling story but also gives a vivid feeling for life in the maritime trades in 19th century America, as the nation was coming into its own and sail was giving way to steam.

This somewhat insubstantial volume is about the loss in 1854 of the American steamship Arctic in a collision on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. This tragedy somewhat prefigured the more famous 1912 Titanic disaster in many respects. One of the big differences, though, is that out of 87 survivors (from roughly 400 people on the ship), only 22 were passengers, and all of those were men. This is because the crew bum-rushed the lifeboats and took off as quickly as possible, and the women weren't strong enough to claw their way through the frenzied masses.

The book takes a somewhat novelistic approach, which I find awkward. It features some dialogue, but evidently only as drawn from primary sources. Still, there are a lot of references to minor details that seem pretty clearly made up just for atmosphere. It may be nit-picky of me, but I don't want to hear about the captain staring at himself in the mirror and looking at his scar and thinking about his lost child unless a document can be cited that that is exactly what happened.

Also, the author is a sailing dude, so he made sure to lard his book with phrases like "Under a stiffening breeze, the crew had no choice but to let the biffenboffer spank the stalwart broadsheet." Okay, I get it--you know all about sailing. That doesn't mean you have to go showing off in front of the laypeople. (A glossary is provided in the back, but I didn't know that until too late.)

Overall, it's a fair effort, but really only of interest for those who want to pack their libraries with maritime disaster stories.