Faces of the Florizel
Actors will help museum visitors connect to personal stories of the tragedy; exhibit catalogue being produced
If you visit the “Faces of the Florizel” exhibit at the Admiralty House Communications Museum in Mount Pearl on the evening of June 7, you’ll likely be greeted by Capt. William Martin himself — or at least an actor playing the part of Capt. Martin.
And if you know some of the history of the tragic story of the SS Florizel, you’ll know that much of the blame for the 1918 disaster that claimed the lives of 94 of the 138 people onboard was laid at Martin’s feet.
Starting at 7 p.m. on June 7, Martin can explain his part in the tragedy to you himself. Other actors will play crew members, passengers and even a rescuer, to help bring the personal stories of the disaster featured in the exhibit to life.
The “Faces of the Florizel” exhibit opened in February and is continuing until June 29 to mark the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
Museum manager Sarah Wade said it has been an enormous success, with visitor numbers at the museum for March of this year, for example, up 400 per cent from March 2017.
“We are extremely happy with the number of people who have come through our doors,” she said.
“I think it says something about the Florizel and how it is remembered in Newfoundland and Labrador history and the connection people feel with it.”
About 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, 1918 in blizzard conditions, the Florizel ran full steam into the rocks at Horn Head Point near Cappahayden on the Southern Shore. The passenger vessel had been en route to New York, with a planned stop at Halifax.
During the long, harrowing hours that followed the crash, the 138 people onboard fought for their lives while the ship was battered against the rocks — jolting, tearing and banging. Roaring, ice-cold waves crashed over the deck, and as crew and passengers tried to make their way to safer parts of the ship, 94 people would die — either by being swept overboard or from exposure to the cold, wet and violent conditions.
On the shore nearby, residents gathered and would light fires, helplessly waiting for conditions to improve to attempt a rescue.
The Admiralty House Communications Museum in Mount Pearl is the site of the former HM Wireless building in 1918 that received the distress call from the Florizel after which ships set sail from St. John’s and word spread along the shore of what was happening, with people making their way to the site to see if they could render help.
Wade said having actors play the parts of various people involved in the tragedy — whose stories appear on panels at the exhibit — will give visitors a deeper connection to who
those people were.
“It works well with the whole concept and theme of the exhibit, because when this was created we wanted to make this as timeless as possible,” she said. “So, by having these actors here, you are walking around with them as if (the actual people) are here today, and it’s just something to set people into the mindset of ‘I’m hearing about their hopes and dreams and their plans as they set off for New York City,’ and they don’t know what we know, what is ahead of them.
“This is really beneficial for a museum audience because not everyone is the type to read a panel and connect with these people. So people learn through hearing these things, through feeling like they are actively involved in this thing that is about to unfold.”
Museum assistant manager Deanna Walter said the June 7th event is called “Back in Time,” and the actors will guide visitors on a “living tour” through the voyage and tragedy of the SS Florizel. Each actor will tell visitors what they were doing at a certain point in time during the voyage and disaster. Tickets are $20.
“Because this exhibit is so personal, we wanted to recreate some of the more interesting stories, so we are turning it into almost a mini play within the exhibit,” she said. “So guests will come and
they will be greeted by Capt. William Martin and he will talk about passengers boarding, and his experience on the ship, and what a fine ship it is.
“We will sort of go through the Florizel leaving St. John’s and getting on its way, and we’ll hear (from actors) about what happened at the time of
wrecking, getting out the SOS message, and we’ll move on to Tom Kane and his experience of seeing bodies wash ashore and not being able to go out and help. Then we move on to Kitty Cantwell who will talk about how she was rescued and never set foot on a ship again.”
The exhibit “Faces of the Florizel” will wrap up on June 29 with the launch of an exhibit catalogue to document the exhibit and the stories told within it. (The museum also has a permanent SS Florizel display in its main building).
“We decided to proceed with a museum catalogue. That’s what a lot of museums do when they have a new exhibit,” Wade said.
“There are a lot of people who provided stories from afar who were unable to see the exhibit during this timeframe, and we just want to continue sharing these stories. Part of our goal here at Admiralty House is just not to preserve history but to promote it. This is just another way to do just that.
“To share these stories in a book format, it reaches as many people as possible. We believe in the stories and the work we’ve done and we want other people to be connected with it. We think it is really an
important part of Newfoundland history and we don’t want to keep it tucked away.”
The museum will also unveil a commemorative bench that will be placed on the grounds of the museum with the SOS message, or part of it, engraved in the bench. The message received was “S.O.S.! S.O.S! S.O.S! Florizel. Ashore near Cape Race. Fast going to pieces.”
Wade and Walter, along with museum board members, were also invited to the Marine Institute of Memorial University recently where they were able to experience the voyage and wrecking of the Florizel in the institute’s simulator.
Wade said members of the Marine Institute came to the museum to get a copy of the blueprints of the Florizel and recreated the Florizel’s final voyage in the simulator.
“As a thank you, they had Admiralty House staff and board members go there to experience the Florizel’s final voyage in the simulator,” Wade said.
“We kind of sped ahead to certain points. It was just incredible. It was eerie when it is going to hit because you knew it was going to happen. It was such an incredible insight into what they had experienced.”