7:00 pm
Who hasn’t heard of the RMS Titanic? Hardly anybody.
But who has heard of the SS Atlantic? From the same owners as the Titanic and built in the same yard, she was wrecked on Nova Scotia’s shores not far from Halifax in Canada's second worst shipping disaster. It was a notorious, puzzling loss. How could a large, relatively new, state of the art steamship, in perfect working order, in good weather, with the latest charts aboard, managed by officers from the world’s leading seafaring nation end up on the rocks, woefully off course?
Bob Chaulk, who co-authored a book on the dramatic story of the Atlantic, has a unique perspective on the loss of this fine ship. He has been diving Nova Scotia’s waters for 30 years and has explored the underwater site of the event many times. In a visual presentation rich with detail, Bob will recreate the story from when the Atlantic left Liverpool in late March of 1873 until she was inexplicably run onto the rocks at Lower Prospect. Some 550 perished within a stone’s throw of the shore, while another 400 found salvation, thanks to the heroic efforts of a small group of Nova Scotians.
In addition to the award winning SS Atlantic: The White Star Line’s First Disaster at Sea, Bob is the author of Time in a Bottle: Historic Halifax Harbour from the Bottom Up and The Chain Locker, a story about two survivors of the sinking of the SS Viking, cast adrift on an ice floe. He has also published more than fifty articles about his experiences diving the waters of Atlantic Canada.
If you've never heard of the Atlantic, you will find this talk interesting and informative and if you're familiar with the story, you will gain new insights into why it happened.
For additional information:
Richard MacMichael
902-424-8897
richard.macmichael@novascotia.ca