The Allan liner Hesperian was sunk September 4 1915 by a German submarine; 26 lives lost, one American Special to The New York Times. September 6, 1915, Monday Page 1 WASHINGTON, Sept. 5. -- The first news of the torpedoing of the Allan liner Hesperian came to Washington in the form of a cablegram to the State Department from Consul Frost at Queenstown. The message was sent at 1 o'clock this afternoon, and was as follows: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02E0DC133FE233A25755C0A96F9C946496D6CF THEY pray for night, craving the hours of darkness, these passengers who dread the day. Long agonies on the exposed sea are behind them. The sun that has searingly spotlighted their presence, as if in wanton enticement of the enemy, finally seems ready to abandon its cruel game. The torturing orb sags toward the furthest edge of sight. Hesperian, whose very name is of the west, heads for the golden horizon. But more precious than gold - for those aboard - will be the sacred, grateful shades of night. Only one person aboard has not eyes for the dying of the light. That person has long since yielded to relieving oblivion. Mrs Frances Washington Stephens is already dead. This is the story of the woman whose body was twice claimed by the same German submarine. The U-20 took her life on the Lusitania in May 1915. Embalmed, casketed, her remains were embarked on the Hesperian. And in September 1915, the U-20 sank her again. There is no seafaring parallel for such a coincidence. In comparison, the apocryphal story of the supposed journey of the coffin of vagabond actor Charles Coghlan from Galveston to Prince Edward Island is but a worthless bauble This article presents the first public picture of Frances – Mrs George Washington Stephens – the victim singled out sequentially over thousands of square miles of sea by a sole slim slayer. For the Kaiser! What’s the Kaiser to her, or she to the Kaiser, That he should weep for her? http://www.garemaritime.com/features/lusitania_victim/
The New York Times, 9 September 1915 NAMES OF HESPERIAN VICTIMS - Ten Passengers Dead or Missing and 16 Members of Crew MONTREAL Sept. 8 A list of the dead and missing passengers from the liner Hesperian which was recently sunk in the British war zone - was made public today at the Allan Line company's office. The list contains ten names, as follows - Dead, Miss Carbury. Missing, Miss Alice Bannister, Joseph Fowler, Miss Fowler, Emily Morrey, an infant; Maria Jenkins, Mary A. Barr, Ellen Taylor, 4 years old; W. Cownley, and a Canadian soldier, name not given. The list also gives the names of sixteen members of the crew and includes the name of F. J. Wolfe, who, dispatches from Queenstown said, was an American citizen. Relatives of Mrs. George Washington Stephens, widow of the Hon. G. W. Stephens, who met her death in the Lusitania sinking, have been notified that her body, recently found off the coast of Ireland, went down with the Hesperian. Only a panel on a grave marker in Mount Royal cemetery in Montreal now commemorates her passing
A very sad story ....... http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/...rchives.ca/cef/gat3/117988a.gif&id_nbr=250011 http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/...rchives.ca/cef/gat3/117988b.gif&id_nbr=250011 In memory of Captain FRANCIS CHALTON STEPHENS who died on October 16, 1918 Military Service - Age - 30 Force - Army Unit - Canadian Infantry (Quebec Regiment) Division - 13th Bn. Additional Information - Son of the late Hon. George W. Stephens and Mrs. Stephens, of Montreal; husband of H. B. Colville (formerly Stephens), of 599, Pine Avenue, Montreal. Cemetery - MONTREAL (MOUNT ROYAL) CEMETERY Quebec,Canada Grave Reference: Sect. F3/244B Location - From downtown Montreal access Avenue du Parc, then left to Cote St. Catherine. Turn left onto Boulevard Mont-Royal then follow chemin de la foret into the cemetery. Snippets .......
What a remarkable coincidence. Reminds me of the women on board the Titanic, Olympic and Britannic, Annie.
