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The Lost Story of the Ocean Monarch
“The ship was almost instantly in flames … Some jumped overboard immediately, and all was in indescribable confusion. The masts began to fall one after another, and it is supposed killed great numbers by their descent. Others, it is feared, were roasted alive, but the majority were drowned.” (Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette, 25 August 1848)
The Ocean Monarch was only a few hours out of Liverpool on 24 August 1848 when a cabin passenger shouted “Fire!” and all hell broke loose. Bound for Boston with almost 400 people on board, the emigrant ship was soon ablaze with little chance of putting the flames out. People watched helplessly from their cottages along the Welsh coast as some ships ignored the travellers’ plight while others raced to their aid. On the 170th anniversary of the disaster Gill Hoffs reveals the full story of this forgotten wreck, including tales of French royalty, an American artist, and a courageous stewardess who gave her life to save her fellow travellers. Discover what happened to the passengers and crew,
James K. Fellows, a kindly American jeweller trying to get home to his family
Jotham Bragdon, the first mate who fled the wreck then returned to shore a hero
Mary Walter and her mysterious ‘family’, escaping danger in London only to find greater peril lay at sea
Follow the murder trial of a crew of rescuers and find out the real fate of their ‘victim’ – and whether the mysterious Irish toddler ‘Kate’ found her family again.
The Ocean Monarch was only a few hours out of Liverpool on 24 August 1848 when a cabin passenger shouted “Fire!” and all hell broke loose. Bound for Boston with almost 400 people on board, the emigrant ship was soon ablaze with little chance of putting the flames out. People watched helplessly from their cottages along the Welsh coast as some ships ignored the travellers’ plight while others raced to their aid. On the 170th anniversary of the disaster Gill Hoffs reveals the full story of this forgotten wreck, including tales of French royalty, an American artist, and a courageous stewardess who gave her life to save her fellow travellers. Discover what happened to the passengers and crew,
James K. Fellows, a kindly American jeweller trying to get home to his family
Jotham Bragdon, the first mate who fled the wreck then returned to shore a hero
Mary Walter and her mysterious ‘family’, escaping danger in London only to find greater peril lay at sea
Follow the murder trial of a crew of rescuers and find out the real fate of their ‘victim’ – and whether the mysterious Irish toddler ‘Kate’ found her family again.
- GenresHistory
256 pages, Hardcover
Published August 29, 2018
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 22, 2019
Water and fire. Two elements – one of which will extinguish the other – except when the fire is aboard a wooden ship and the water is all around her. Then you are faced with little hope for escape and must decide whether to drown or burn to death.
This was the tragedy nearly 400 men, women, and children – seventy of whom were under the age of 14 – faced the day they set sail from Liverpool, England that fateful day in August 1848. Within a few hours, their ship sank off the coast of Llandudno, Wales.
The Ocean Monarch was bound for Boston and built by Donald McKay just the year before. She had three decks and was considered far safer than the coffin ships that carried many immigrants. Life boats weren’t required, although a couple were carried. What firefighting equipment she had consisted of a dozen buckets and a water pump that wasn’t up to snuff. By the time the fire was discovered, there was little anyone could do and nowhere for most people to go until other ships arrived to help.
Those who boarded the Ocean Monarch came from a variety of backgrounds. Some were Irish emigrants seeking a new homeland. Others were tourists returning from their travels. A handful possessed money and stature. The majority worked for a living or were penniless. Nearly half of them would not survive. A number of the passengers are introduced by name and followed as events unfold, such as the Dows, who were newly married; Nathaniel Southworth, a well-known miniaturist; James Fellows, a watchmaker and jeweler; and Thomas Henry, who expressly waited to sail on this ship because he knew her captain. There was also a man who abandoned his wife to run off with another man’s wife. Others are mentioned for something they did, such as a stewardess, whose name is unknown, who sacrificed her life to prevent gunpowder from exploding which would have made the tragedy even worse.
But this is more than just the story of those aboard the burning ship. It is also about her rescuers, including members of the Brazilian navy, exiled French royalty, and a man who had rescued people from another shipwreck. One of the captains had even served under Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. Then there are the pilots and a rumor of a possible murder.
In twelve chapters, Hoffs explores events and people before, during, and after the fire. She includes some black-and-white photographs, an epilogue, and personal note, as well as appendices that provide a chronology of the corpses and details about them, locations of grave sites and inquests, and a list of medals. In addition, there is a list of names of passengers, stewards, stewardesses, the captain and crew, and some who were aboard other vessels and came to the doomed ship’s aid. A select bibliography and index complete the text. Interspersed throughout the narrative are firsthand accounts and newspaper reports of what happened that day and in the days that followed.
What becomes clear in reading this story is that this travesty need not have been as horrific as it ended up being and that despite the passing of more than a century and a half, there still is no concrete proof as to how the fire started. In explaining how she came to write this story, Hoffs also demonstrates the role social behavior played in the events. She deftly shows the chaos and confusion that resulted from the fire, and her words paint a gruesome image of what the victims endured. (She does include a warning note of what pages to skip for readers who might be squeamish.) Rather than focus on just the microcosm of the ship, she elaborates on what was happening in the world at the time. Yet she also leaves readers with many questions that were never clearly answered by the inquests or investigators. By the end of the book, she does share that her research enabled her to identify six nameless victims and what happened to known survivors.
Perhaps not as gripping a tale as Hoffs’ earlier book, The Lost Story of the William & Mary, nor as clear-cut as to why the Ocean Monarch is a “lost” tale, The Lost Story of the Ocean Monarch is still an important contribution to collections focusing on shipwrecks and emigrant stories.
This was the tragedy nearly 400 men, women, and children – seventy of whom were under the age of 14 – faced the day they set sail from Liverpool, England that fateful day in August 1848. Within a few hours, their ship sank off the coast of Llandudno, Wales.
The Ocean Monarch was bound for Boston and built by Donald McKay just the year before. She had three decks and was considered far safer than the coffin ships that carried many immigrants. Life boats weren’t required, although a couple were carried. What firefighting equipment she had consisted of a dozen buckets and a water pump that wasn’t up to snuff. By the time the fire was discovered, there was little anyone could do and nowhere for most people to go until other ships arrived to help.
Those who boarded the Ocean Monarch came from a variety of backgrounds. Some were Irish emigrants seeking a new homeland. Others were tourists returning from their travels. A handful possessed money and stature. The majority worked for a living or were penniless. Nearly half of them would not survive. A number of the passengers are introduced by name and followed as events unfold, such as the Dows, who were newly married; Nathaniel Southworth, a well-known miniaturist; James Fellows, a watchmaker and jeweler; and Thomas Henry, who expressly waited to sail on this ship because he knew her captain. There was also a man who abandoned his wife to run off with another man’s wife. Others are mentioned for something they did, such as a stewardess, whose name is unknown, who sacrificed her life to prevent gunpowder from exploding which would have made the tragedy even worse.
But this is more than just the story of those aboard the burning ship. It is also about her rescuers, including members of the Brazilian navy, exiled French royalty, and a man who had rescued people from another shipwreck. One of the captains had even served under Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. Then there are the pilots and a rumor of a possible murder.
In twelve chapters, Hoffs explores events and people before, during, and after the fire. She includes some black-and-white photographs, an epilogue, and personal note, as well as appendices that provide a chronology of the corpses and details about them, locations of grave sites and inquests, and a list of medals. In addition, there is a list of names of passengers, stewards, stewardesses, the captain and crew, and some who were aboard other vessels and came to the doomed ship’s aid. A select bibliography and index complete the text. Interspersed throughout the narrative are firsthand accounts and newspaper reports of what happened that day and in the days that followed.
What becomes clear in reading this story is that this travesty need not have been as horrific as it ended up being and that despite the passing of more than a century and a half, there still is no concrete proof as to how the fire started. In explaining how she came to write this story, Hoffs also demonstrates the role social behavior played in the events. She deftly shows the chaos and confusion that resulted from the fire, and her words paint a gruesome image of what the victims endured. (She does include a warning note of what pages to skip for readers who might be squeamish.) Rather than focus on just the microcosm of the ship, she elaborates on what was happening in the world at the time. Yet she also leaves readers with many questions that were never clearly answered by the inquests or investigators. By the end of the book, she does share that her research enabled her to identify six nameless victims and what happened to known survivors.
Perhaps not as gripping a tale as Hoffs’ earlier book, The Lost Story of the William & Mary, nor as clear-cut as to why the Ocean Monarch is a “lost” tale, The Lost Story of the Ocean Monarch is still an important contribution to collections focusing on shipwrecks and emigrant stories.
June 9, 2024
1847-1848 England was a pretty ugly place to live, disease and hunger killing thousands, desperate poor people with desperate land owners trying to dispense of them, eventually leading to mass migrations of poor English and Irish across the sea to America. 1848 Boston had grown from its Revolutionary roots and its intellectual and arts centers and was then a target destination for those immigrants, the Irish in particular, leading to a cultural change there that has lasted to this day.
Against that backdrop we have the true story of the "Ocean Monarch," an American-built tri-decker carrying four hundred travelers of various backgrounds from Liverpool to Boston ... except that a few hours after setting sail the ship caught fire and half of the passengers either burned to death or drowned. Interesting tales surround the sinking; I initially started listing those here but then decided it might spoil it for readers of this review. Let's just say that a ship in the middle of the ocean packed with people who can't swim that catches on fire is already quite a frightful situation, and then there are a number of other puzzling mysteries, dashing heroes, scandalous villains, interconnected criminal investigations, tragedy and hope... and an exiled foreign prince.
Verdict: For fans of disaster flicks, Dickensian 1848 British society, or naval adventures, Hoffs does a good job quickly setting up the looming disaster, the fire's start early on page 41, and then the horror, heroism, rescue, and inquiries that follow. "The Lost Story of the Ocean Monarch" (2018) isn't as much a page-turning thriller as it is a smart and short collection of accounts that Hoffs has pulled together and laid out in a well-paced story with respect for the victims, survivors, and their descendants. A good read.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
Against that backdrop we have the true story of the "Ocean Monarch," an American-built tri-decker carrying four hundred travelers of various backgrounds from Liverpool to Boston ... except that a few hours after setting sail the ship caught fire and half of the passengers either burned to death or drowned. Interesting tales surround the sinking; I initially started listing those here but then decided it might spoil it for readers of this review. Let's just say that a ship in the middle of the ocean packed with people who can't swim that catches on fire is already quite a frightful situation, and then there are a number of other puzzling mysteries, dashing heroes, scandalous villains, interconnected criminal investigations, tragedy and hope... and an exiled foreign prince.
Verdict: For fans of disaster flicks, Dickensian 1848 British society, or naval adventures, Hoffs does a good job quickly setting up the looming disaster, the fire's start early on page 41, and then the horror, heroism, rescue, and inquiries that follow. "The Lost Story of the Ocean Monarch" (2018) isn't as much a page-turning thriller as it is a smart and short collection of accounts that Hoffs has pulled together and laid out in a well-paced story with respect for the victims, survivors, and their descendants. A good read.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
April 21, 2022
If you like disaster books and especially shipwrecks then this one is for you.
Hoffs tells a pretty straightforward story which doesn’t get too crazy until after the survivors are all off the boat. Some pilots are tried for murder for actions during the rescue and a whole lot of people die. Probably because someone forget a candle. You heard me right.
Also, it really sucked to live in 19th century England. But not as much as 19th century Ireland! Seriously, if you didn’t starve to death, not a problem, you’ll probably die of some disease. If not, you’ll probably turn to crime to survive and then either be sent to a workshop, where you’ll die, or sent to Australia, where you’ll die.
If you were super rich you’d probably be fine, though.
Hoffs tells a pretty straightforward story which doesn’t get too crazy until after the survivors are all off the boat. Some pilots are tried for murder for actions during the rescue and a whole lot of people die. Probably because someone forget a candle. You heard me right.
Also, it really sucked to live in 19th century England. But not as much as 19th century Ireland! Seriously, if you didn’t starve to death, not a problem, you’ll probably die of some disease. If not, you’ll probably turn to crime to survive and then either be sent to a workshop, where you’ll die, or sent to Australia, where you’ll die.
If you were super rich you’d probably be fine, though.
February 27, 2021
Another story of a disaster at sea. Another look at a group of passengers on the worst day of their lives. Struggling to avoid an onboard fire and death by drowning in a cold sea. Then came the heroes! Ordinary people trying to save and succor the injured and desperate souls afloat in a burning sea. Add the details of the ship’s demise and investigations of the causes and you’ve got one heck of a tale!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews