Let's do a thread about a significant (local, plus somewhat not-local) event that happened today in history that the majority of people don't know about, shall we? The day is April 1, 1873. It is cold, it is raining (exactly like today's weather in 2025), and we're on a boat. 🧵 - ThreadSky

awesomebiota.bsky.social • 62 days ago

Let's do a thread about a significant (local, plus somewhat not-local) event that happened today in history that the majority of people don't know about, shall we?

The day is April 1, 1873. It is cold, it is raining (exactly like today's weather in 2025), and we're on a boat. 🧵

Comments

awesomebiota.bsky.social•62 days ago

2/ First we must go back in time a bit. We have to go all the way back to 1870 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is where the Harland & Wolff shipyard was located that built several super-famous ships: Olympic, Titanic, Brittanic, Belfast, Glorious, Oceanic, Baltic, Republic, Adriatic, etc...

awesomebiota.bsky.social•62 days ago

3/ The RMS Titanic really put them on the map, but long before that was the Oceanic class of ships, which included the SS Atlantic. It was a very popular transatlantic ocean liner, operating from Liverpool and NYC. Her maiden voyage was in June, 1871 and she was destined to have a long career.

awesomebiota.bsky.social•62 days ago

4/ The SS Atlantic was only the second ship commissioned by the White Star Line and Thomas Ismay. She was meant to be great, meant to be fast, meant to carry thousands of people across the ocean. On March 20, 1873 she departed from Liverpool. Lilian (age 17) and Lauriston (age 57) Davidson...

awesomebiota.bsky.social•62 days ago

5/ ...were in Saloon Class (equivalent to 1st class) on their way to Telegraph City, California, to visit Lauriston's brother. Telegraph City is now a ghost town (literally...it has been abandoned), and barely a dot on the map. At the time it was a vibrant small town.

awesomebiota.bsky.social•62 days ago

6/ Back in the 1800s, ships were set up very differently than they are today. Men and women were segregated, with families between them. It was widely believed that the front of the ship was the most dangerous, so men traveling alone or together were up there, women at the back where it's safer.

awesomebiota.bsky.social•62 days ago

7/ Lillian and Lauriston had a cabin towards the back of the ship. The crossing leaving on March 20th was a rough one, being winter and all. The ocean was choppy, and the closer the ship came to Nova Scotia the denser the fog got. The storm also caused them to use more coal than usual

markdykeman.bsky.social•62 days ago

Fun fact: my grandmother, her brother and her parents were supposed to be on the Titanic but missed the voyage due to a death in the family.

carmac.bsky.social•62 days ago

Wow. Big difference in your life, right? Missing the boat is sometimes a good thing.

markdykeman.bsky.social•62 days ago

yup

bellwhitworth.bsky.social•62 days ago

Holy smokes 😳

halifaxretales.bsky.social•62 days ago

I have used this as an example of how popular culture/media narrates what the people remember

this was a much more Nova Scotia centric tragedy than the Titanic

We were only involved in the Titanic because we were the closest rail line connected to New York

carmac.bsky.social•62 days ago

The park for SSAtlantic is a nice little adventure walk. Great you think it's important, too. My son took me there when he was taking pictures of it all. See
https://www.halifaxtrails.ca/ss-atlantic-heritage-park/

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