Women and children last : the burning of the emigrant ship Cospatrick /

Clark, Charles R., 1940-

Women and children last : the burning of the emigrant ship Cospatrick / Charles R. Clark. - 174 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

"Published with the assistance of the History Group, Ministry for Culture & Heritage"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-170) and index.

Prologue -- The complete Cospatrick -- Ships' boats and the Victorian seascape -- A fatal voyage -- Henry McDonald's lifeboat -- Cospatrick's second mate -- Aftermath -- Three men in a boat -- Lifeboat occupants from the wreck of the Cospatrick -- Verse inspired by the Cospatrick -- Record of Cospatrick's 15 voyages -- Births and deaths during Cospatrick's first 14 voyages -- Register of accounts of wages for Cospatrick's deceased seamen -- Passenger list for the Cospatrick's 15th voyage. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. App. 1. App. 2. App. 3. App. 4. App. 5. App. 6.

"Each year hundreds of ships were lost on rock-bound coasts or in the deep oceans. But of all the ways a ship might meet her end, destruction by fire was perhaps the most feared. The New Zealand-bound emigrant ship Cospatrick was lost in the worst shipboard fire of the era. Nearly 500 people died when this elderly sailing vessel burned and sank in the South Atlantic in 1874 and few, very few, survived. There was a desperate battle to quench the flames, a huge death toll as the vessel was being abandoned, and acts of cannibalism in the one lifeboat that remained afloat." "This book is based on research carried out in Britain, New Zealand and Australia. While it relates the story of the Cospatrick fire and its survivors, it also discusses the general problem of safety at sea."--BOOK JACKET.

1877372145 9781877372148


Cospatrick (Ship)


Shipwrecks--South Atlantic Ocean
Shipwreck victims--South Atlantic Ocean
Ships--Fires and fire prevention


New Zealand--Emigration and immigration

910.91635

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