Fife and Scotland - the offbeat perspective

A Different Historical Perspective

If the entire history of Planet Earth could be measured on the face of a twenty-four hour clock then the whole of human history would represent a modest fraction of the last second of the last minute on that clock! Indeed, far more has occurred and changed on a global scale in the last few centuries than in the previous ten thousand years! What follows then is a series of selective and condensed histories starting from the Ice Age and moving progressively towards the present time. It's a deliberately different and radical perspective on major events which describe some of the successes and the failures of different periods. Although brief mention is made to some parts of Scottish history, more detail is offered in a separate section of this web site.

American Wars Of Independence

The European discovery of the American Continent presented many opportunities for pioneers seeking to begin again with a 'new life' or hoping to establish a new order. Such a swift and massive migration presented shocking challenges for the indigenous population. European settlers brought smallpox and other diseases to America for the first time and where original Americans, not blessed with resistance, sucumbed and died in their millions. Local people were robbed of riches, land and even dignity. Prior to the the arrival of European settlers, the indigenous population had largely lived harmoniously with nature and where the killing of a bison was a sacred undertaking in which no part of the carcass was wasted and where homage to the life of the animal was celebrated. Bison provided meat, skins and tools and the notion of slaughtering whole herds of these mighty beasts and leaving the carcasses to rot must have seemed abhorrent in their eyes. The rush to fell whole forests, some of which had existed for many centuries, so houses, towns and cities could be built must have challenged their core beliefs and understanding to an incredible degree. It is thus hardly surprising that initial friendship between the 'white men' and the indian tribes fell way to hostility and conflict.

Following a Papal decree designed to minimise the risk of conflict between European countries, the continent of America was split into Northern and Southern regions with Spain and Portugal being granted 'ownership' of the South while other European nations were granted lands north of Mexico. For the indigenous population, there was nothing; not even the chance to express a viewpoint! Today, the consequences of this eddict explains why so many South American countries are Catholic strongholds and where most people speak variant forms of Spanish. By constrast, most North Americans are more likely to speak English, French or German as their first language.

Brevity forbids too much detail about South American history other than to say that Spanish and Portuguese rule was harsh and brutal with initial exploration largely related to conquest and the theft of Inca and Mayan Gold. Spanish Conquistadors like Cortez remain legend in these regions and where much of South American history is about how the people eventually threw off the shackles imposed by their alleged masters to form their own future and destiny. In global terms though, South America can be be regarded as a 'quiet continent' and which has made far less impact elsewhere in the World. North America, by contrast, would eventually make a striking difference to the future of the World despite many initial hardships within their own borders.

North America quickly became the favoured destination of many people from all parts of Europe. Many came seeking a new way of life in preference to the one they had lived and in search of land and opportunities. Some crossed the wide ocean to escape political or religious persecution but it didn't take long for European governments to realise the potential of establishing new colonial territories in the 'New World' and where much of the old traits and 'baggage' became entrenched within the new settlements. French colonists quickly occupied tracts of land in the centre and took time to trade and communicate with the indigenous tribes. In conflict against the competitive interests of other European nations, the French encouraged local Indian 'scalphunters' to receive generous bounties whenever they presented the severed head of an opposing settler, usually British, and thus promoting further mistrust of the local Indian population.

In a short period of time, the settlers continued to move westward and expanded their territories at the expense of the Indian people and where opposition and conflict became inevitable. 'Custers Last Stand' at the Battle of the Little Big Horn is one of the few victorious acts of Indian resistance against a better armed and organised force using modern weapons. In most cases, the Indians came off worst in armed encounters and were eventually incarcerated or else granted lands deemed worthless by settlers. In some cases, such agreements have backfired in modern times and where oil or valuable minerals have been found on Indian land.

There were many migrants to America who hated former European influence on this 'new found soil' and how so much of the political structures were steadily becoming repetitive copies of those they had sought to escape from. For many, it was disappointing to see European political influences fight with each other in an attempt to expand their territorial lands and where the expectation of taxation to pay for such conflict was demanded by the old European nations. British settlers in Massachusetts eventually expressed their anger over 'taxation without representation' and where a small number of Americans, resenting the tax on tea in 1773, boarded three ships in Boston harbour and dumped their cargoes of tea into the harbour. It became known as the 'Boston Tea Party' and the foundation from which thirteen states of America declared their intent of independence from Britain.

The subsequent American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783 began when the thirteen colonies revolted against Britain over taxation without representation within the British Parliament. It ultimately drew in several rival European countries including France, Spain and the Netherlands and where warring factions often fought at sea. In large measure, the war of independence was brought about by the British response of sending armies to America and describing American colonists as traitors and as 'states in rebellion'.

The Americans responded by formally declaring their independence as a new nation called the United States of America, claiming sovereignty and rejecting any allegiance to the British monarchy. In support of their conviction, they established the Continental Army and placed overall command in George Washington. In 1777, the Continental Army captured a British army, leading to France entering the war on the side of the Americans in early 1778, and effectively counter-balancing the military strength with Britain. Spain and the Dutch Republic, French allies, also went to war with Britain over the next two years.

Throughout the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture and occupy coastal cities but any control of the countryside and where 90% of the population lived, largely eluded them due to their relatively small land army. French involvement proved decisive, with a French naval victory in Chesapeake Bay leading to the surrender of a second British army at Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and where the independent sovereignty of the United States was recognised over territory bounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west. This event marks the start of the United States of America and where the next stage of expansion involved the purchase of land from France.

In 1803, the cost of Napoleon Bonaparte's military adventures had led to serious economic difficulties in France and where the country was desperate to secure income. Bonaparte suggested that should sell off their American lands and perhaps fearing the French Americans might follow in the steps of their British counterparts. It led to a situation known as the Louisiana Purchase and where thirteen French colonies were merged together including all of present day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Minnesota, most of North Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, Northeast New Mexico, Northern Texas and portions of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado plus Loiusiana on both sides of the Mississippi. The purchase included small parts of land that would eventually be integrated within the Canadian States of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The price amounted to about four cents per acre and may be regarded as the finest investment ever in financial history. Upon completion of the agreement, Napoleon Bonaparte is alleged to have said, "This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride." Prophetic words since the US Navy is now many times larger and more powerful than the Royal Navy.

In 1835, a minor skirmish between settlers and soldiers of the Mexican government resulted in the Texan War for Independence from Mexico. In 1836, an army under command of Mexican President Santa Anna advanced into the area now called Texas and a small group of 'Texicans' and including many others of different race decided to make a stand at the small Alamo Mission located in the present day town of San Antonio. In all, they numbered a mere two hundred against an army of thousands. Among them were famous pioneers Davy Crokett and Jim Bowie. Although Jim Bowie was in initially in command, a sudden illness caused command to pass to Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Travis. Almost immediately, Travis requested help from General James Fannin based at Goliad but Fannin hesitated before making a weak attempt and later abandoned any attempt to support the Alamo.

In the early hours of March 6th 1836, the Mexican army launched a major assault on the Alamo and Travis was one of the first to be killed. The defenders beat off this first attack and a subsequent one but on the third assault, they were compelled to retreat inside the long narrow barrack rooms and where the fighting became hand to hand within the confined space. The odds had always favoured the attackers and defeat for the Texicans was inevitable. Crokett and Bowie died with their men while just six or seven Texicans surrendered and were murdered soon afterwards on Santa Anna's orders. Wives and children of the Alamo were released after interrogation and a slave called Joe was deemed a non-combatant and released alive.

This author visited the Alamo in 1999 and was immediately struck by its tiny size. The Hollywood portrayal of this event in a film called 'Remember the Alamo' and starring Richard Widmark depicts a much larger and more spacious construction than is actually the case. No cameras are allowed in the chapel area but I can tell you that flags of many nations hang there, each depicting the racial origin of the men who died there. There are two Saltires.

In current times and with the considerable advantage of hindsight, it's hard to understand why Santa Anna wasted thirteen days at the Alamo since the location had little strategic importance and provided Texan General Sam Houston with a golden opportunity to train and organise the Texan army in expectation of the Mexican army. If Santa Anna had merely ignored the Alamo as a distraction then Texas might have been part of present day Mexico!

Estimates vary wildly as regards how many Mexican troops were killed at the Alamo but the most conservative puts this at about five hundred and this is perfectly creditable and likely to be fairly accurate. The main bodies of the Texan and Mexican armies finally met at San Jacinto, located about twenty miles from present day City of Houston. It took six weeks for the Mexican army to advance to this point and news concerning the massacre at the Alamo preceded their arrival. It created panic and fear, causing many families to retreat into the North-East and away from the advancing Mexican force. At San Jaccinto, many Texicans adopted the battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" in a battle lasting just eighteen minutes.

The Mexican army was routed and soundly beaten and in a desperate attempt to flee from the battlefield, Santa Anna ripped off his medals and fine uniform and tried to pass himself off as an ordinary soldier but he was easily identified when his own men insisted upon saluting him on the following day!

The Alamo and San Jacinto remain as important events in US history since it not only won freedom for Texas, not officially part of the US at that time, but to long term annexation of many states collectively covering nearly a million square miles of territory and including New Mexico, Nevada, California and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Oklahoma. It effectively created the southern border still in use today between the United States of America and Mexico. Today, at San Jacinto, there is a huge black stone monolithic spire whose base is large enough to accomodate a substantial museum at ground level. It's called the Sam Houston memorial and the modern city established nearby bearing his name has more than five million residents.

The American Civil War

It has to be to our eternal shame that nations like Britain actively engaged in and supported the capture of African people for transport to America and where those captives were forcibly sold into slavery. Conditions suffered by these imported workers were horrific and where many slave owners were apt to give greater affection to livestock or pets!

The election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1861 brought this issue to the fore. Any change of policy was greatly resisted in Southern States where slave labour was deemed an essential part of the economy. The notion of a 'negro' or 'niger' (with apologetic usage of these disgusting terms) being regarded as equal to others ran contrary to what many many prominent and influential land owners in the South believed. What they saw were uneducated people, seized from a jungle existence and behaving in a way they might have if left alone and where each represented an asset bought and paid for in hard cash.

Even before Lincoln had been sworn into office, seven states had declared a desire to be independent from the Union and four more followed after Lincoln's inauguration. Despite best political efforts to avert Civil War, a new Confederate government was established at Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of Jefferson Davies. On April 12th 1861, Confederate forces bombarded the US installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina in what became the opening chapter of the American Civil War, a war often regarded as the first 'modern war' and on account of the many new weapons and techniques seen for the first time.

In the land war, a new generation of rapid reloading 'repeating rifles' had already proved deadly in the wars with native Indian tribes and was to prove equally deadly in this conflict. The new rifles were more accurate and capable of greater accuracy and distance than before and giving rise to a popular tale whereby an unamed General is said to have chastened his soldiers lying in a ditch after sighting a sniper. He is alleged to have said, "He couldn't hit a barn door at that...." just before he was shot and killed.

Similar comments could be made of Field Guns with rifled barrels and firing shells more accurately and over longer distances. In some cases, accuracy was enhanced by aerial reconnaissance using balloons and where the fall of shot could be seen and appropriate adjustment of aim could be made. New weapons like the rotating multi-barrelled Gatling Gun made their debut in this war and was capable of stopping a major offensive charge by hundreds of soldiers or a cavalry charge in a hail of bullets. In this war and for the first time, the old and proven practice of a cavalry charge to overrun the enemy lines became increasingly challenged and ultimately translated as tantamount to suicide.

In the face of such weapons, infantry sought natural protection in ditches or forests where they existed or else dug holes and ditches where they didn't. Fifty years later, Europeans would refer to this as 'trench warfare'.

There were many battles but in 1863, the Confederate Army, led by General Robert E. Lee, had reached the River Potomac and was close to Washington. On July 1st-3rd, the Union Army under command of Major General George Gordon Meade fought off repeated attacks by Confederate forces in and around the town of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. It was a hard-fought campaign leaving Meade's army exhausted and close to collapse but the Confederate advance was halted with their own forces left in a similar battle weary condition. In secret letters that were never sent and discovered after his death, Abraham Lincoln expressed a strong desire for Meade to follow and finish off the enemy but Meade and his army were in no fit condition to do so. They'd performed valiant service to the Union, halting the Confederate advance in a battle claiming more than fifty thousand lives. From the letters though, it seems as if Lincoln blamed Meade for letting the 'enemy slip away' at such a crucial moment of time. Lincoln appointed General Ulysses S. Grant as Supreme Head of the Union Army shortly afterwards.

Within weeks of his appointment, Ulysses S. Grant began to apply a series of policies designed to limit or destroy the Southern States ability to wage war. In a strategic and tactical sense, the Confederate States were regarded as being like an island with the Mississippi River in the West, Atlantic Ocean to the East, Gulf of Mexico to the South and a hostile US to the North.

According to his plan, and for the Confederate States to continue their ability to wage war, the flow of food, arms and ammunition had to be contained, minimised or even eliminated completely. Supplies crossing the Mississippi or arriving in Confederate seaports from supporters had to be curtailed or eliminated. In practice, blockades of Confederate seaports soon limited the level of supplies reaching the front line while Union control of the Mississippi similarly reduced supplies. By 1864, the daily life of a Confederate soldier had grown to be tough and with each battle, the Confederate army was steadily weakening and less able.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee formerly surrendered on April, 9th 1865, at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia, and knowing his soldiers had limited supplies of ammunition and were starving. Many of his soldiers still begged him to continue the fight but it remains to his credit that many lives were saved by this action and concluding a war that had already claimed around six hundred and eighty thousand souls in just four years - perhaps more than all European wars fought in the previous five hundred years!

On leaving the courthouse, Lee mounted his horse and slowly made his way among the Confederate Army survivors and doffed his hat in recognition to their loyal service then rode off into blissful obscurity. The war was over! The Union had survived its mightiest test but not without huge cost. Abraham Lincolm was assassinated just a few weeks after cessation of hostilities and the central issue of racial equality being enacted soon died with him. It was to take nearly a century and many martyrs like Martin Luther King to illustrate Shakespeare's maxin that 'the pen is mightier than the sword'. At this time of writing in 2011, President Barrack Obama is the first US President who is black in terms of skin colour and demonstrates how far things have changed in the US since the Civil War.

Emergence of Super Power USA

The American Civil War had presented a steep learning curve with many hard lessons to be learned and learned quickly. For some, it seemed incredible how one of the newest societies on the planet could have engaged in a war among its own citizens and had nearly managed to ravage itself within such a short period of time. The will to become involved in any dispute involving foreign nations was tempered with arguments demanding neutrality and separatism and where promoters of this latter political stance pointed to the size of the United States and where rich abundance of raw materials permitted trade with others less fortunate and in exchange for raw materials that could be bought and stored in quantity for use in times of war. On balance, this viewpoint was accepted and the National Stockpile was created to minimise disruption of American industry in such circumstances. In addition, American politicians and military leaders began to speculate about possible conflicts with other countries and with the British Empire.

The posture of 'forward defence' became a core part of US military thinking and where any battle involving US interests would be fought on foreign soil rather than inside America. To deliver such a strategy, America needed the ability to project military power at great distance from the homeland and that meant a strong navy with port facilities located in friendly nations.

In the nineteenth century and as part of this defence strategy, Congress authorised the construction of two pre-dreadnought warships namely USS Texas and USS Maine. The keel of the latter was laid down in 1888 and commissioned into the US Navy in 1895. In 1898, the USS Maine was sent to Havana in an effort to protect US interests at a time of local insurrection and public unrest. On the night of February 15th, three weeks after the Maine had anchored in Havana harbour, a huge explosion tore through the heart of the ship and forward sections. The ship sank in the harbour and two hundred and seventy-four American sailors died. A subsequent enquiry concluded the ship had been destroyed by a bomb placed beneath the hull yet evidence of this remains scant. A modern examination suggests a different cause in that coal in bunker A16 may have spontaneously combusted and heat from this fire caused the forward magazine to explode.

Whatever the cause, Spanish rebels were blamed and this event led to the outbreak of hostilities between the US and Spain. It was largely a naval war that lasted just 109 days and was concluded by the Treaty of Paris in which Spain relinquished control of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam. America was permitted to purchase the Philippines for $20 million. In such a short war, America had extended its global influence by great measure and competition between the emergent superpower and the British Empire was inevitable. The two pictures shown here are of the USS Texas, sister ship of the USS Maine.

In 1880, the United States of America conducted a population census which took eight years to count and evaluate before the results were known. By then, much of tha collected data was useless and outdated. It prompted the US Census Bureau to issue a challenge and reward for anybody to find a better way to make the process more meaningful and accomplish the task in a much shorter time. The tabulator device presented by Herman Hollerith used punched cards similar to those used in a Jacquard Weaving Loom. It was chosen for use in the 1890 census and delivered the results in just seven weeks!

On the back of this remarkable achievement, Herman Hollerith founded the 'Tabulating Machine Company' in 1896 and many census organisations leased his hardware around the World. By 1906, the older model had given way to a design that permitted alteration of criteria and thus became a more flexible device able to retrieve information without alteration of the hardware. Today, we might call this ability as 'programming' a device to carry out a specific function. In 1911, four companies, including Holleriths', united into a group called CTR. In 1924, it was renamed 'International Business Machines' or IBM for short. Since then, IBM has played a crucial role in the development of computers and were responsible for the initial success of Microsoft.

According to popular history, Thomas Alva Edison invented the incandescent electric light bulb, but in fact, his research was built on pioneering work done in Britain by Joseph Swan of about a year earlier. This does not take anything away from one of the most brilliant inventors the World has ever seen. The light bulb created by Edison was far better and lasted far longer than the Swan design and is only now being superceded by a new generation of low energy use equivalents.

Other inventions by Thomas Edison, like the phonograph, seemed crazy to the men ordered to make the prototypes and some even scoffed at his ideas yet built the machines according to his specifications. To list every Edison invention and achievement would fill a book on its own. The 'Wizard of Menlo Park' took out 1093 patents in his lifetime and was a highly successful businessman. Despite this, he clashed with noted scientist Nikolia Tesla about power distribution using alternating current versus direct current, the former of which is far more efficient and why New York subway trains ran on DC until conversion in the latter part of the twentieth century! It turned out that Tesla was right and Edison was wrong but while Edison died a rich man, Tesla died in poverty, his hotel room immediately sealed off and carefully examined by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation soon after his death.

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Fife but made his fortune in America. Starting first by investing in railtrack and rail sleeping cars, he went on to create the Carnegie Steel Company and which became one of the most profitable businesses in the World. In later life, he sold off his business empire and devoted the remainder of his life to generous philanthropy. He established libraries in several parts of America but never forgot his roots in Scotland. Several of Dunfermline's finest buildings carry his name.

John D Rockefeller revolutionised the petroleum industry and founded Standard Oil or SO (Esso) for short. As the importance of oil increased in the World economy, Rockefleller amassed a fortune and became the first billionaire. Like Carnegie, he gave back generously to the community and funded projects to help medical research and more.

Henry Ford became famous as one of the most successful vehicle builders in the World. It is reported that when making his first generation of cars, his order for engines included specifications for the wooden crates used to transport the engines to the assembly plant. On arrival, the wooden crates were carefully dismantled and used for the floor of his vehicles! During World War II, his expertise of mass production techniques were put to the test.

Consolidated Aircraft's revolutionary Liberator Bomber using the Davies Wing was desperately needed in great numbers during the Second World War and Consolidated's own factory could only make one per day. Upon US government request, Henry Ford put together a new production plant in Vermont and where new aircraft left the factory every forty-five minutes! By the end of World War 2, his company had built twenty-three thousand of these aircraft.

The small list above illustrates how several great pioneers of American history were able to translate their discoveries and applications into profitable businesses and which drew personal wealth and opportunity into their lives. By comparison, relatively few inventors in Europe enjoyed similar success.

The USA was also particularly fortunate in that, during World War 2, many British inventions were given over to them and where they might use their industrial ability to produce more of them or else enhance the design for mass production. One good example is how the Spitfire design was changed into the P.51 Mustang in just 109 days. Details about radar, sonar and computers were given freely to the US government and where these became the foundation of commercial products in the post-war period and where British companies found it harder to compete against American rivals.

America was the place where great minds from several nationalities congregated and where businessmen were eager to invest in innovation and saleable products likely to capture massive interest from the burgeoning population across the World. American businessmen were focused on sales, growth and return on investment. Profits from early commercial ventures were ploughed back into future research and innovation. Low taxation from business success formed the basis of the expandig capitalist economy adopted in the US and in sharp contrast to the socialist doctrines adopted elsewhere and including Britain.

Entrepreneurship was actively encouraged from an early stage and those already successful in business encouraged others to follow their lead. In a new and expanding land, phenomenal growth was possible and largely achieved in many spheres of enterprise and business. In the late eighteenth century, the USA became the most industrialised and commercial economy in the World. Factories on a scale never seen before processed a wide abundance of raw materials often available locally and without need for imports. Oil, Gas and Coal became the central fuels of American industry owned by independent companies eager to seek and develop their own brands in a free market economy and in sharp contrast to many other nations where fuel supply industries were nationalised and used as a tax revenue source by government.

Encouraged by such a free market system, some companies expanded and diversified into completely new areas of research, development and marketing. By example, the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) began life as a mining operation and whose industrial empire spawned fifty-five thousand different products by the year 2000; everything from post-it notepads, adhesives, dental products, optical films, electrical and electronic products. In the year 2000, the company has production plants in sixty countries and markets in over two hundred countries.

During the early 20th century, the US steadily rose to dominate global markets via hard work, determination and innovation. It became the richest and most powerful nation on Earth with nuclear powered aircraft carriers and submarines capable of the 'forward defence' option yet never entirely able to adopt a total strategy of neutrality.

The Battle of Tsushima

For the sake of brevity, the complex circumstances leading to the Sino-Japanese war of 1894 will not be discussed here other than to say that political differences with China resulted in a conflict where Japanese troops invaded the peninsula of Liaodong located in modern day Korea. Later, when faced with the prospect of simultaneous war against France, Germany and Russia under the terms of the Triple Intervention of 1895, Japan humiliatingly ceded the territory.

Two years later, Russia was determined to have a Pacific seaport that did not 'freeze up' in winter and coerced the lease of the Liaodong region from China and gained railroad right-of-way to join the Liaodong Peninsula to the Chinese Eastern Railway network. In a short period of time afterwards, Russia began to fortify the town and the natural harbour at Port Arthur and where Russian Admirals believed the base was ideal largely because of the high land mass existing between the anchorage and the sea. It seemed like a safe harbour for the Russian Pacific Fleet.

At the turn of the century, Japan looked westward and began emulating the organisational structure and style of the British Royal Navy while already ahead in some aspects of technology. On the night of 8th-9th February 1904, a Japanese naval fleet approached Port Arthur and attacked the Russian ships by firing shells over the high land between the anchorage and the sea. Spotters landed in secret beforehand and equipped with radio were able to advise the ships as regards the fall of shot and guided the blind gunners with some success. Several Russian ships were damaged. Next day, there were several skirmishes near Port Arthur and some involving torpedo boats but this first battle of the war was inconclusive in terms of outcome.

Russia could not afford to back down from this challenge and the Czar commanded sixty-four year old Admiral Ziconvy Rozhestvensky to lead the powerful Baltic Fleet to sail half-way around the World so the Japanese threat could be neutralised. It was a major undertaking and where the Russians may have under-estimated what was being asked of them. A few days after leaving port, Russian sailors mistakenly fired on British fishing boats, promoting a widely publicised 'international diplomatic incident' and alerting Japan to the future challenge. Rozhestvensky's fleet continued on an eight month voyage that took south and around the Cape of Good Hope before crossing the Indian Ocean and where they were met by a few other Russian ships that had survived the attack on Port Arthur. Together, they sailed towards Japan.

Long before they arrived, the Japanese government had made plans and permitted the navy to expend the annual budget provided for ammunition in training over a period of just three months. Japanese warships were also loaded with a new form of ammunition that emitted far less smoke when fired and providing a visual advantage in battle. An extensive network had been created so that, on first sight of the Russian enemy, this information could be transmitted to Japanese Admiral Heihachiro Togo aboard the flagship Mikassa and already at sea. The Japanese Navy was thus well informed and better armed than their Russian counterparts. Both fleets met and engaged in the Straights of Tsushima on May 27th 1905.

What followed was the largest engagement involving pre-dreadnought class battleships and on a scale matching that of Trafalgar. The better shell propellant emitting less smoke permitted greater Japanese accuracy and the Russian fleet received heavy damage to almost all major warships. As night fell, the Japanese warships withdrew and torpedo boats of the Japanese Navy moved in to inflict even more damage and destruction. About seventy per cent of the Russian fleet was either seriously damaged or sunk. Rozhestvensky was compelled to abandon his flagship and was captured next day. Russia was compelled to sue for peace by signing unfavourable terms of surrender.

Russian Revolutions

A few months after the inglorious naval defeat at Tsushima, in June, 1905, the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin located in the Black Sea famously rebelled against the brutal Russian regime and gave rise to the 'red flag' that later inspired all out revolution within Russia. Their effort failed but was later revived a decade later.

The 'Aurora' was one of the few surviving Russian warships to escape the Battle of Tsushima. It had sailed to Manila in the Philippines where it was initially interned but later released before sailing back to the Baltic Sea.

On the 25th October 1917, sailors on the Auroa refused orders to sail and allegedly aided Bolshevik revolutionaries storm the Winter Palace. Following so soon after the disastrous Battle of Tannenberg and where the Russian Army was virtually wiped out by German Forces, Czar Nicholas II found himself in a difficult political situation whereby Civil War had split the nation into 'White' and 'Red' factions and where he and his family were at risk from his own people. It led to capture and execution of the entire Romanov Royal family, their doctor and several servants in the basement of a house located in Yekaterinburg at around 1.30am 16th July 1917. It was an event that would lead towards the establishment of a United Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR) with a centralised communist form of government and dedicated to opposition with those supporting democracy and capitalism.

The Industrial Revolution

The Domesday Book commissioned by William of Normandy in 1068, tells us that the population of England at that time was about 1.1 million people. By the year 1800, it had risen to 8.3 million people but this doubled before 1850 and again by 1900. A similar population explosion took place in Scotland. In the year 1800, there were 1.6 million Scots but this had risen to 4.5 million by 1900.

In large measure, this was due to longer lifespans on account of better scientific knowledge, technical revolution and progressively better living standards. Although it is hard to pick out a particular date when the Industrial Revolution began, it might be argued that the steam engine designed by Thomas Newcomen, an ironmonger to trade, in 1710, was the first practical solution to pumping water out of Cornish tin mines. Newcomen engines were subsequently adopted for similar purposes in many other mines and where former pump systems relied on animal power or windmills. Steam engines consumed coal of which there was (and still is) plentiful supply in Britain.

Half a century later, Scottish instrument-maker, James Watt began to experiment with steam engines and felt the Newcomen model was inefficient because when cold water was injected into the tank, it took time and considerable amounts of coal before the engine reached operating temperature again. Over many years, he developed a new design involving a separate condenser and found how Wolverhampton based industrialist John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson had developed an accurate boring system initially planned for use in the construction of large calibre cannons. This technology was adopted to make more accurate pistons for Watt's new generation steam engine.

In 1775, Watt secured a patent for his new engine but having been strapped for cash throughout its development, the patent was acquired by Mathew Boulton who owned a foundry near Birmingham. Boulton and Watt formed a very profitable partnership and the first Boulton-Watt steam engines were installed in commercial premises in 1776. These first engines were used for pumps and produced only reciprocating motion to move the pump rods at the bottom of the shaft. Orders began to pour in and for the next five years Watt was very busy installing more engines, mostly in Cornwall for pumping water out of tin mines and where coal had become very expensive. The Boulton-Watt engines proved to be more efficient and delivered more while using less coal.

The scope and use of the Boulton-Watt steam engine was greatly expanded when Boulton urged Watt to modify his design so it would produce a rotary motion more able to drive a wide variety of industrial machinery in the fledgling mills being built in many parts of the country. Watt continued to research and to design better steam engines with regulators to ensure consistency of speed, improved linkages and much more but what they had begun would be taken further by others.

On 21 February 1804, the World's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. It had been designed and built by Richard Trevithick, a Cornish inventor and mining engineer. In 1825, George Stephenson helped build the Stockton-Darlington railway with improved rails and locomotive engine. The idea was to link several collieries along the route to Stockton-On-Tees. On the first day, the locomotive completed the route in two hours while hauling a load of around 80 tons and even reached the speed of 24mph during one stage. It was an effective illustration of what locomotive steam power could accomplish and especially in areas lacking canal transportation. A carriage carrying several signatories was also part of the train and they became the first rail passengers in the World. Stephenson became known as 'father of the railway network' and which played a vital part in the distribution of goods for over a century but at the expense of the canal network which declined sharply as the extent of the rail network grew in size.

The application of steam engines to drive boats and ships began in Europe and where the primary means of propulsion was driving propellers or large paddlewheels usually on either side of the hull to aid steering. Mississippi liners of the late nineteenth century were an exception where a large paddle wheel was typically mounted at the rear and spanned the width of the vessel. The use of paddle wheels for maritime propulsion has largely disappeared but not before this author had sailed aboard the PS Jeanie Deans from Clydebank during the 1960s. It's still fairly memorable to describe the powerful steam pistons on public view from either side of the ship's deck and located amidships. The PS Jeannie Deans (pictured below) was withdrawn from service in 1965 and at this time of writing in 2009, the Waverley remains as the last commercial paddle steamer in the World.

As a general rather than absolute rule, screw-propeller-driven steamships carried the ship prefix "SS" before their names, meaning 'Steam Ship' (or possibly 'screw-driven steamship'), paddle steamers usually carried the prefix "PS" and steamships powered by steam turbine may be prefixed "TS" (turbine ship). Maritime petrol and diesal engines became popular and remain so for smaller craft but in a strange twist of fate, some of the largest military warships in the World are steam driven at heart with nuclear fuel replacing that of coal. In others, engines developed for the aviation industry provide the heat to generate high pressure steam to drive the turbines linked to the propellors.

In Victorian Britain, forward thinking mill owners installed steam engines at great cost and knowing how the age of the peddle operated loom was over. Survival meant greater productivity from each and every employee and where overhead belts to each machine could deliver greater productivity. Even today, in places like India, this same technology is applied to make clothing albeit on a steadily lessening scale.

Some of the largest mills in England employed up to forty thousand people and churned out millions of products distributed throughout the Empire and beyond. England became known as the 'Workshop Of The World' and many of the richest men in history lived in England. In the English countryside, millions of people abandoned their former rural existence in preference and exchange for a weekly pay packet and apparently better housing options offered by mill owners. It was the time when most British industrial cities came into existence and where the massive migration away from the countryside left many estates short-handed and with severely reduced income; enough to virtually bring the old feudal system to an end.The 'Lords of the Manor' gave way to the industrial entrepreneurs as the leaders in British society.

Many people arriving in cities soon discovered how the work was hard, dirty, often repetetive and comprised fixed shifts of long hours covering both day and night and on a full week basis. Housing was often cramped and built to a poor standard. The quality of life for a mill worker and his family was often poor since even young children, as young as ten, might need to become an earner in support of the family budget and work in the mills. In some industrial cities, the life expectancy shrank to a shocking average of just sixteen years!

Noted author Charles Dickens visited the town of Dudley near Birmingham and was shocked by the billowing masses of black soot overhanging the area and how it covered much of the land beneath it. He called it the 'Black Country'. Queen Victoria may have been equally shocked when the Royal Train passed through the region and allegedly asked that the blinds be lowered.

It was a time when many rivers and lakes, formerly occupied by healthy fish, became dead stretches of water. As proved later, the sheer level of pollution in Britain was being blown by winds into Scandinavia and also leading to serious environmental damage.

Another threat to human life in the new industrial Britain were periodic outbreaks of cholera; something that had happened several times in the past but now struck at pandemic levels. In 1579, Norwich City closed its city gates to stop people entering the city yet unaware that the epidemic had already started within its walls. A similar outbreak took place in Newcastle in 1636 and in both cases, nearly 40% of the population died. In the Victorian era, Manchester was afflicted by epidemics on three separate occasions with heavy loss of life. In 1854, Jon Snow, a doctor based in London, began to examine evidence from previous outbreaks and rightly concluded that contaminated drinking water played a major part in such outbreaks. He advocated a system in which drinking water distribution was kept separate from waste water; a solution that turned out to be essentially correct and later improved by usage of chemicals and filters. New water distribution systems were hurridly constructed in the United Kingdom in the wake of this evidence and by 1900, the issue concerning Cholera had largely been defeated in most major cities and eventually extended to more rural regions. It's probably fair to say that most mill owners failed to understand the adverse outcomes of their activities and where waste chemicals were frequently dumped into rivers and were hell-bent by the motivations of profit and greed rather than concern for workers or anybody else.

There were some exceptions, however, who felt compassion and recognised how their success needed a contented and fit workforce in order to maintain prosperity. One mill owner who understood this better than others was named Titus Salt, a man of great wealth and who owned five mills in Bradford.

As stated previously life expectation in some cities was dire and Bradford was one of the worst. Titus Salt was one of the richest men in the World and decided to do something about it. He closed his mills in Bradford and built new mills, with huge windows to allow much greater entry of natural light on a greenfield site outside the city and where chimneys took on the appearance of Venetian towers. In this new community with houses built for his workforce, and called Saltaire, he incorporated a public park, a public library, a beautifully designed church and much more. Although limited by the technology of the period, Saltaire is now regarded as a UNESCO listed site and illustrates major advances for workers of that time period.

Similar can be said about New Lanark, built on the River Clyde in Scotland, and where the river powered the cotton mill. It was founded in 1786 by David Dale and who built houses for the workforce. The mill operated until 1968 and was taken over by the New Lanark Conservation Trust in 1975 and by 2006, most buildings which had fallen into disrepair, had been mended and restored. Today, New Lanark is one of five UNESCO World Heritage sites in Scotland and attracts many tourists each year.

Bournville, located near Birmingham, is still regarded as one of the best places to live in Britain, yet it began as a project whereby Joseph Cadbury of chocolateer fame decided to expand his company on a 'green field' site away from the Birmingham City centre and where his employees could enjoy a better life in new houses and sited within a more modern community. In modern times though, the town and business have gone separate ways. Much of the Cadbury brand products are now made abroad and the Cadbury company itself is now foreign owned by Kraft Foods of America.

Of course, such investment of this kind wasn't entirely philanthropic since rent for these new homes was deducted from wages and occupation was tied to continued employment. The houses were often constructed in rows as cheaply as possible but did permit higher standards of water supply and sanitation; the latter role later being assumed by public bodies receiving income through a rating structure remaining largely intact in present times.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, mill workers were granted the opportunity to enjoy the originally religious festival of 'Wakes' and in which was a forerunner of summer holidays. During 'Wakes Week', all mills would close while the machinery was given necessary maintenance and repairs during the absence of workers. 'Wakes Week' was especially welcome in mill towns of Lancashire and where specially commissioned railway trains carried thousands to the newly emerging holiday resort destinations of Fleetwood, Morecombe and Blackpool. For working people, used to spending long hours in a filthy working environment, 'Wakes Week' must have seemed like Utopia.

Balance of Power

In 1866, Robert Whitehead, an engineer from Bolton, England, developed a new weapon system that dramatically altered naval strategic thinking and directly threatened the future a British Empire. His invention was the 'automotive torpedo' - a streamlined cylindrical missile packed with explosives and driven at high speed through water by means of a motor and propeller. What it meant in practice was that smaller, faster and less costly 'torpedo boats' could, in some circumstances, inflict an effective attack against heavily armoured battleships or else be deployed and launched from submarines. Within the British Admiralty, whose 'gunboat diplomacy' was based on her battleships, there were worries and concerns over this development. In 1896, the Anglo-Zanzibar War was concluded in just thirty-eight minutes thanks to Royal Navy seapower and became noted as the shortest war in history and soon afterwards, the German government quickly seized upon this development and began building small and fast boats equipped with torpedoes and launchers. At the height of this investment, during World War 2, E-boats became highly streamlined and powered by Daimler diesal engines capable of driving the boat in excess of 40 knots. Variants of the classical design were widely employed tio deploy mines around the southern English coastlines and where their effort actually accounted for more losses than the submarine campaign during World War 2.

In 1906, the British Royal Navy introduced a new lighter-weight class of warship designed to protect other ships against attacks by torpedo boats and submarines. These were known as destroyers and were ideally suited to convoy duties and where their superior endurance and firepower could defeat the range and supply limitations of the smaller craft. It was hardly an ideal solution and where the advantages still lay with an enemy submarine ready to use torpedoes. On their first use against pirates, the Whitehead topredoes failed to match the escaping speed of their quarry and failed. By the turn of the century though, torpedo technology had been improved in several important ways.

The 'Father of Wireless'

In the Victorian era, all kinds of new inventions made their first appearance. In 1904, Ambrose Fleming invented the diode and in 1907, Lee De Forest invented the triode, both of which were thermionic devices comprising glass envelopes containing a vacuum in which small electrical heaters causing sub-atomic particles called electrons to be released and controlled. When connected to other electronic components, they ultimately became the backbone of early telegraphy, radio and television systems. In the USA, telegraph wires were installed alongside the expanding rail network and once completed, it was possible to communicate events from California to Washington using Morse Code in just a few hours. Before then and using couriers on horseback would have taken four days to relay the same information. Unfortunately, conventional telegraphy relied upon wired networks and was consequently of little use at sea and where maritime communication comprised, at best, as a series of flags and coloured lights. The Marquess Guglielmo Marconi, an inventor of Italian and Scottish-Irish ethnic background, was about to change that in fine style.

In modern times, Marconi is often reverently regarded as the 'Father of Wireless' or radio as we might call it now. He was a Nobel Prize Winner in 1909 and while wireless telegraphy did make a significant contribution to maritime safety, the system was initially quite crude and lacking the ability for several transmitters to operate simultaneously on different frequencies. The Marconi Company he founded set its goals among the maritime community and whereby telegraphy operatives, trained by and paid by the Marconi Company, were 'leased' to ship owners who saw immediate advantage and value in Marconi's radio operating system.

On older ships, installation often meant addition of a tiny wooden cabin in which the wireless telegraphy equipment was installed and where the operator or operators slept in neighbouring bunk rooms. Newer ships incorporated 'radio rooms' as a standard part of their design. At the heart of the Marconi system was a series of land based transmitter and receive stations in several parts of the World. One of the most important of these was based at Father Point, close to the mouth of the St Lawrence Seaway in Canada and where connectivity to other parts of Canada and the US allowed messages to be relayed forwards via normal land based telegraphy. Maritime telegraphy proved to be an instant improvement to safety but had additional benefits.

In 1910, Henry George Kendall became captain of the Union Pacific owned SS Montrose sailing on regular voyages between the UK and Canada. On one of these voyages, he became suspicious about two of his passengers and suspected one of these as being Doctor Crippen then being sought by Scotland Yard concerning the death of his wife. As a ruse, Kendall invited his passenger to the Captain's table and where he told many jokes. It was known that Crippen had gold fillings in his teeth and when Kendall saw the glint of gold, he used wireless telegraphy to relay his suspicions to Scotland Yard, "Have strong suspicions that Crippen London Cellar murderer and accomplice are among saloon passengers. Mustache taken off. Growing beard. Accomplice dressed as a boy. Manner and build undoubtedly a girl." He then ordered a reduction of speed and offered polite excuses to extend the time of the voyage so that Inspector Dew of Scotland Yard could board the fast White Star liner SS Laurentic.

The SS Laurentic arrived at Father Point just ahead of the Montrose and where Inspector Dew had made contact with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Father Point was where all vessels stopped to allow pilots to board and guide vessels upriver to Quebec or else stop to let pilots depart the ship before heading for sea. Inspector Dew disguised himself as a pilot and was able to step aboard Montrose without raising suspicion. Dew challenged Crippen thus, "Good morning, Dr Crippen. Do you know me? I'm Chief Inspector Dew from Scotland Yard." After a pause, Crippen replied, "Thank God it's over. The suspense has been too great. I couldn't stand it any longer." He then held out his wrists for the handcuffs. Crippen thus became the first fugitive thwarted by maritime radio on July 31st 1910. Both he and his lover, Ethel Le Neve, were returned to England and tried separately. Ethel Le Neve was acquitted and later emigrated to Australia and lived a life in quiet obscurity. Doctor Crippen was convicted and hanged in Pentonville Prison.

Hubris and the RMS Titanic

The mass migration of people abandoning the old establishments of Europe and seeking new opportunities reached paramount levels in the first decade of the twentieth century. Indeed, it was common practice for ships to sail without sufficient lifeboats with places for both passengers and crew. At that time, the sheer mass of ships crossing the Atlantic suggested that, in event of difficulty, neighbouring craft would rush to their aid and where lifeboats would be used several times to transfer people between the afflicted vessel and the saviour vessel. Similar fields of thought and largely promoted by the 'Shipbuilder' magazine brought forth the idea of an unsinkable ship christened 'Titanic'.

In theory, the idea was sound and where the hull had been seprated into multiple sections whereby the ship could sustain flooding in many sections without threatening the buoyancy of the ship. At the heart of this system were sealable bulkheads rising from the bottom of the ship to the main deck. During construction, however, the White Star company insisted that several of these bulkheads be lowered so that Titanic could be fitted with a magnificant ballroom across several of these bulkheads. Hubris of this kind was to prove a fatal during the maiden voyage.

The newest flagship of the 'White Star' shipping line weighed in at 68,000 tons and was larger than some aircraft carriers built fifty years later. From a 'White Star' perspective, the aim was to provide luxurious accommodation for first class passengers and where the 'executive ticket' permitted access to the gym and swimming pool facilities plus much more. As part of this deal, first class passengers were offered radio communication with relatives and friends so they could 'chat' during the voyage, a decision that would have severe repercussions later in the voyage.

Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolf Belfast Yard in Ireland and was designed to compete with the Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauritania, the fastest ocean liners then in existence. On her maiden voyage, she exhibited a minor list which was never entirely addressed and her top speed of an alleged 24 knots was never attained and remains unproven.

On sailing from Southampton, she collided with liner 'New York' and caused light damage to both vessels. She sailed across the English Channel to Cherbourg and embarked more passengers before heading for Queenstown in Southern Ireland (now called Cobh) and where a noted spiritualist of the time refused to board the vessel and believed it was 'doomed'. On leaving Cobh, Titanic assumed a westward course towards America with Captain Smith making his last voyage before retirement.

According to numerous testimonies, he was actually attending a ball in his honour when seaman Frederick Fleet, perched high above the bridge in the 'crow's nest' spotted the iceberg and alerted the bridge. On orders of 'White Star' executive J. Bruce-Ismay, the ship was steaming at maximum speed so the vessel would arrive in time to meet major dockside celebrations planned in advance.

First Officer Murdoch, left in command of the bridge, made the fateful decision of trying to avert contact by ordering the helmsman to steer around it and in so doing, sealed the fate of the ship. In current times and with benefit of hindsight, it might have been better if he had deliberately rammed the iceberg head on. At worst, the bow might have been badly damaged and flooded but the ship would have remained seaworthy, largely intact and able to complete her maiden voyage. As it was though, he tried to avoid the threat and therefore exposed the entire side of the ship to knife-like shards of the ice.

Recent research shows how ice behaves in such a collision and where softer parts of the ice fall away to reveal an extremely hardened and sharp interior. Additional research shows that the steel used to build the Titanic was the best that could be made at that time but was vastly inferior to what would now be considered as suitable. In the freezing waters of the North Atlantic, both the hull plating and rivets had become brittle and more likely to shear in a collision of any kind.

After hitting the iceberg, it soon became clear that many sections of the ship had been compromised; more than the ship designers had allowed for and where, as each forward section filled, water would eventually pour into the neighbouring sections and render negative buoyancy. The lowering of the bulkhead heights to accomodate the large ballroom would accelerate this process. Captain Smith, summoned quickly from the party in his honour, gave the order to send out a 'CQD' (come, quick, danger) via a Morse radio message and Titanic became the last vessel in distress to ever send this signal in earnest.

It's worth noting that the winter of 1912 was a severe one with icebergs drifting further south than in immediately preceding years. As such, many ships chose to stop in mid-ocean during hours of darkness and where radio operators would warn others of the danger. One of these was solitary radio officer Cyril Evans aboard the 'SS Californian' and under command of Captain Stanley Lord. During the evening of that fateful night, Cyril Evans transmitted warnings of icebergs and received a rebuke from operator Philips aboard Titanic who wanted to 'clear the airwaves' for passenger messages to the receiving station at Father Point near Rimouski. Suitably chastened, Cyril Evans switched off his radio set and retired to sleep. Although entirely innocent of any crime, this action would later prove fatal for many people aboard the Titanic and lead to a major revisions concerning maritime wireless use and regulations. Maritime radio operators in plural would ensure receivers were operated on a 24/7 basis whenever the ship was at sea and the emergency code was changed to SOS (Save Our Souls). Look outs on the Californian saw rockets being fired but wrongly assumed they were 'company signals' and mistook the steady reduction of lights as a ship departing over the horizon and away from them. At no time did they ever think of waking Evans to see if anything was amiss and it was to be next morning when the crew of Californian realised what had taken place and when Evans resumed his duty on the radio set.

One of the problems arising from the crew testimony of the Californian has always been about what they saw and from what distance. Survivors of the Titanic disaster claimed they could see the lights of the Californian and which would normally suggest a distance of about seven miles when regarded from a position close to sea level and this was generally accepted by the enquiries. Modern research, however, has determined how light is severely refracted in the air above freezing water. Captain Lord's assertion that the two ships were far more distant many have been true and perhaps more than double the distance claimed by the survivors, some of whom made the observation from the high decks of the Titanic. Ultimately, Lord and his crew took much blame for their inaction on that night and where an ongoing fight to clear his name lasted even after his death.

While Carpathia remained inactive, the radio operator on board the Carpathia signalled Titanic just before he had planned to retire for the night and was greatly surprised at the response. Captain Arthur Rostrum in command of the Carpathia was quickly informed and although located many miles away, made the decision to head for the Titanic's reported position at top speed while his crew grabbed whatever spare clothing and curtains they could find in preparation. They arrived some time after the Titanic had sunk and recovered most of the survivors. Californian, now aware of the disaster, moved into the area belatedly and where they were supposed to remain in a further search for survivors but left the area before receiving that order from the ship owners.

On re-examination and with the benefit of many years hindsight in which advancing technology has permitted examination of the wreck, it seems unfair that Captain Stanley Lord and his crew should have become the scapegoats of this disaster. Having encountered ice on their own voyage, Lord had wisely stopped for the night and his radio officer had done his duty by warning others of the danger. In such circumstances, one might have thought Titanic would have heeded such warning and, at the very least, reduced speed to much lower and safer levels. The real blame then, lies with the White Star line and J. Bruce-Ismay in particular, who survived the disaster and retired for a time to Ireland in an effort to shun the adverse publicity. He was diagnosed with diabetes in the 1930s and where his condition resulted in part amputation of his right leg. He died in London aged 93 in 1963.

The Empress of Ireland

It's often assumed that the sinking of Titanic represents the worst maritime disaster but in truth there have been others where loss of life was greater. Earlier in this text, Henry George Kendall was captain of the SS Montrose and whose observation and use of maritime radio led to the capture of Dr Crippen. In May 1914, he assumed command of the liner, Empress of Ireland (pictured below) en route from the St Lawrence seaway in Canada to the UK.

On May 29th 1914, and as part of a normal routine, the Empress of Ireland steered close to Father Point at Rimouski and stopped briefly to allow the river pilots to depart. The ship then headed out to sea and began to accelerate to cruising speed but just as a rising fog enveloped them and rendered most visual aids in use at the time as virtually useless except at close range. There were 1477 passengers and crew on board.

At the same time, a Norwegian owned collier named SS Storstad was heading into the St Lawrence Seaway and had been built using the Isherwood system whereby the hull strength was hugely strengthened using a lateral structural technique.

In fog and darkness, the SS Storstad rammed the Empress of Ireland and whose strong bow cut into the conventionally designed liner like a knife through butter. The liner's boiler rooms flooded in seconds and Kendall desperately tried to keep the vessels locked together in order to buy extra time but his counterpart had already ordered full reverse and as the two vessels parted, the ingress of water pouring into the liner was hugely accelerated. The Empress of Ireland quickly assumed a list and where open port holes on the lower decks amplified the situation further. Worse still, stairs from the lower decks became canted and impossible to climb thus trapping many people below. People in the upper cabins were more fortunate and four lifeboats were launched before the vessel turned on its side then sank. The entire event from first collision to sinking took about fourteen minutes! More than a thousand souls were transported to a watery grave and more passengers than were lost during the Titanic disaster!

This remains as one of the worst maritime disasters in history and yet few people remember this incident and more easily remember Titanic even though global headline publicity was equal or maybe even greater at the time. The difference is that subsequent events quickly overshadowed the incident and the Empress of Ireland disaster was largely forgotten.

Just eight weeks after the event, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo proved to be 'the shot that rang around the World' and triggered a series of mutual defence agreements whereby some smaller and weaker nations had pledged allegiance to larger and more powerful nations in common defence of each other. This resulted in the opening phases of what came to be known as World War One and as German troops poured into Belgium, the British Consulate was besieged by about 600 refugees. Henry George Kendall, as recent appointee to the post of Marine Superintendant at Antwerp proposed a plan whereby the refugees could escape to England.

In harbour at that time was the SS Montreal with a plentiful supply of coal in her bunkers but unable to sail because of engine problems. The other ship was his old command, the SS Montrose, ready and able but without enough coal in the bunkers. Kendall's plan was to shift the coal from one vessel to the other and allowing the SS Montrose to tow the SS Montreal to England with the refugees aboard. The refugees set to work and completed the task with only a few hours to spare before German troops entered Antwerp. By then, the refugees were stepping onto British soil for the first time. Kendall died in London, aged 91, in 1965.

Credits: Maps and Older Photographs from Open Source. Newer photographs by the author. Text by Alandon.