Tragic end of Danish merchant vessel which sank off Rockall with the loss of 635 lives remembered in Lewis
ONLY the Titanic can claim a greater loss of civilian lives in the Atlantic.
The SS Norge had 795 passengers on board with lifeboats for only 251 as it steamed far off the Outer Hebrides.
But on June 28, 1904, in foggy conditions, disaster took place near Rockall with the loss of 635 lives.
Now the terrible events of the tragedy are to be re-told on the Isle of Lewis, where many of the survivors were brought – and where some of the victims are buried.
A detailed mobile exhibition has been prepared by the local islands lottery which will be first unveiled in An Lanntair arts centre at Stornoway between May 10-16. It is hoped that the exhibition can tour the Hebrides.
Nearly half of the Norge’s passengers were young mothers, who with their children were travelling to join their husbands in America.
Tragically, only 45 children and 115 adults survived the catastrophe as the Norge headed to New York.
The ship hit Helen’s Reef close to Rockall. Five lifeboats drifted in the Atlantic for up to eight days before being rescued by passing ships.
One lifeboat, with a one-year-old girl aboard, had almost reached the Faroes, more than 400 miles from Rockall.
More than 100 survivors were rescued and treated at the old Lewis Hospital in Goathill Road, Stornoway.
Of these, eight children and one adult died and are buried at Lower Sandwick. The Western Isles Lifestyle Lottery is also undertaking the restoration of the original gravestone.
The exhibition explains the story, from Russians fleeing Tsar Nicolas, to the help and treatment by Stornoway people towards the 105 Russian, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish survivors.
The Norge was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in 1881 after being built by Alexander Stephen and Sons of Linthouse in Glasgow for Belgian owners and sold in 1889 to Danish buyers.
Her final voyage, from Copenhagen, Kristiania and Kristiansand, bound for New York, is still the largest loss of life from a Danish merchant ship.
Until the Titantic tragedy in 1912 it was the biggest civilian maritime disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
Under the command of Captain Valdemar Johannes Gundel, on board there were 296 Norwegians, 236 Russians, 79 Danes, 68 Swedes, and 15 Finns.
The Norge ran aground on Hasselwood Rock on Helen’s Reef, close to Rockall, in foggy weather.
She was reversed off the rock after a few minutes, but the collision had ripped holes in the ship’s hull, and water began pouring into the hold.
The crew of the Norge began lowering the lifeboats, but the first two lowered were destroyed by waves.
Of the eight lifeboats on board, only five were successfully launched and many passengers jumped overboard, only to drown.
The Norge sank 12 minutes after the collision. Captain Gundel stayed with the ship as it sank, but managed to swim to one of the lifeboats. Some of the 160 survivors spent up to eight days in open lifeboats before rescue. The wreck of Norge was found off Rockall in July 2003.