Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "steamship"

The Adriatic Affair: A Maritime Hit-and-Run off the Coast of Nantucket by Jennifer Sellitti

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The first inkling that something is amiss comes two days out of New York in the North Atlantic when Captain Enoch Peabody of Neptune orders his men to investigate a floating, but damaged, object where none should be. Fearing what they may find, he goes with his men. Instead of bodies, they find provisions, clothing, and two chronometers carefully stowed. Nothing gives them a clue as to where the lifeboat is from until Peabody uncovers an engraved spyglass from a French steamer.

On 1 November 1856, Le Lyonnais departs New York City for France. She is a sturdy, iron-hulled, luxury steamship with three decks and six watertight bulkheads. In addition to her two masts, rigged with square sails, steam and a propeller propel her through the waters of the cold and stormy Atlantic. Pierre Stanislas Devaulx, her captain, commands a crew of ninety-two, many seasoned veterans, recently released from their duties during the Crimean War. She also carries thirty-nine passengers on this first voyage to Le Havre. Although she carries six lifeboats of various sizes, two more than the law requires, they lack sufficient space to hold everyone on board the steamer.

Among the passengers are the Sumners, a family of three whose fourteen-year-old daughter needs a warmer clime to heal. Much to the chagrin of his mother, John Gibson books passage for him and his wife, even though his father died at sea years before and his mother still mourns his loss. The Dummers, a mother and daughter, travel without a male companion in a time when this is a rarity. The Reverend John B. Cocagne plans on visiting his birth country before he begins his next Methodist posting. Augustus Froelich, a professor of French, is returning home to visit his dying father.

The night is black, but Le Lyonnais carries her required lights and lookouts are posted. Despite the damp haze and cold air, some people are on deck when a wooden sailing ship under full sail emerges from the darkness. The two vessels are too close. There is nothing Captain Devaulx can do, but he tries. The unnamed barque strikes amidships, and splinters and wreckage rain down on the steamer’s deck. Rather than stay to find out if she needs assistance, the barque disappears as suddenly as she appeared, leaving behind a single clue as to her identity.

Le Lyonnais does not sink immediately, but water does seep into the coal bunkers and then the engine room. No matter how much the crew and passengers pump, bail, and lighten the load, they must abandon the steamer – even though there are not enough boats to carry everyone and not everyone is willing to leave the ship. In the end, only eighteen of the 132 will survive.

A criminal lawyer and a shipwreck hunter, Sellitti not only investigates the specifics about the ships and people involved but also delves into background material that permits readers to gain a fuller understanding of the events and historical period in which this tragedy occurs. She accumulates her research over ten years and visits many archives, museums, and personal collections from Massachusetts to France to Alabama. Scattered throughout the narrative are black-&-white images depicting 19th-century sea travel and life, as well as a center section of color plates that include snapshots from the shipwreck expeditions in 2023 and 2024. There are also endnotes, an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary source materials, and an index.

Within the pages of The Adriatic Affair, Sellitti discovers the who, what, where, when, and why of the shipwreck and the tragic loss of so many. What is astounding is what her research reveals, the near rescues that become misses, the fight for justice, and what becomes of those aboard the three-masted barque named Adriatic that carries a captain, nine sailors, and a cargo of lime and hay.



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