The Public Be Damned One Black Week in 1875

[Jim Kalafus]

Today, at Gare Maritime, we have added an article about two disasters that took place within a week of one another in November 1875. The loss of the Pacific, off the coast of Washington, and the City of Waco, off Galveston Harbor, represented the nadir of Victorian era sea travel. One would think that it would be difficult, in terms of corporate loathesomeness, to surpass an event in which a liner so rotten that its wood could be scooped up with a shovel was allowed to put to sea with at least 275 persons on board, until one reads of a second liner, stuffed to the limit with an explosive and illegal cargo, that had the misfortune of catching fire less than five miles from "home." As many as 550 people may have been aboard those doomed liners, including the brother in law of Jefferson Davis, and only two survived.

http://garemaritime.com/features/pacific/index.php

 

[George L. Lorton]

Hello Jim, I started reading your article before bed and all I can say is what a double whammy and record of sheer thoughtlessness. It's like the shipping companies just thought F***'em and I see the Government didn't pick up on it that much either. There was indeed a gigantic disregard for human life and that money makes the world go around and the owners paid out a lot not to get punished.

I find the case of the intuitive Fannie Palmer particularly odd including her horrific postmortem journey. That girl was born under a dark prophetic star. D**n now I can't sleep. I wish I'd caught this sooner. Lot of food for thought here.