The first dated May 8, 1884 speculated on the fate
of the
steamer "State of Florida". It mentions that
wreckage and
empty lifeboats
had been spotted and discussed rumors that passengers carrying
dynamite
may
have been the cause of an explosion. The Woods were listed as
passengers
along with a Miss May Shackleton who was also from
Wellington.
The steamer
was built in "Glasgow in 1879 and was part of the State line
and
was 371
feet long, 38 feet beam, 21 feet hold barque rigged and 4,000
tons
burthen".
The second article dated May 15th had the factual
account
and I am just
going to type part here. 'The following is the
official report
of the third
officer of the "State of Florida": "We left New York on the
12th
of April,
with about 167 passengers and crew and full general
cargo.
All went well
until the night of the 18th when at 11:30 we came in collision
with
the bark
"Ponema" of Chatham, N.B. Captain Hetburn. Both
ships went
down almost
instantly, and out of the steamer's passengers and crew only
44,
including
the stewardess, managed to escape in the boats, and out
of
the bark's crew
of 15 only the captain and two seamen were saved.
Next morning
the bark was
observed bottom up. The survivors, after being 35
hours in
the boats
without food or water, were rescued by the Norwegian bark
"Theresa"
bound
for Quebec. It is believed 135 lives were
lost. This
third officer, James
Allen, being interviewed, added that the night on which the
disaster
occurred was clear, though moonless, and the sea was as smooth
as
glass. He
retired to his bunk at eight o'clock, leaving Chief Officer
Thompson
in
charge of the deck. About 11:10 he heard a signal
suddenly
given to stop
the steamer's engines followed by a fearful crash.
He rushed
immediately on
deck and the first thing he noticed was a red light pretty
close
on the
starboard bow. At the same moment he heard the chief
officer's
voice cry
"collision" and saw the bark which had run into them go
down.
This bark, he
afterward learned from its captain and two of its crew who
were
picked up
and saved, was the "Ponema" of Chatham, N.B. bound from
Liverpool
to
Mirimichi. Running to the side of his own vessel he
endeavored
to ascertain
the damage done, and perceiving the immense gaping hole into
which
the sea
was fast pouring, and feeling, as he said to himself, that the
steamer
was a
"goner", he at once hurried to the captain, who immediately
gave
orders to
get out the boats, four of which were down in fifteen minutes,
when
the
"State of Florida" just keeled over to port and went down
stern
foremost.
As far as he could calculate the disaster occurred 1200 miles
off
the Irish
coast, east of the Azores in the mid Atlantic.
So that is the story. Poor
people. The passengers
were probably
either in their bunks or cabins. My mother always
told the
story that Henry
Wood stood on deck holding his two year old baby in one arm
and
the hand of
his 15 year old daughter with Annie, his wife, by his side and
the
ship just
went down. Now I don't know how he could have been
seen.
Maybe he managed
to struggle with his children up to the deck in that 15
minutes
but never
could get a life boat. Maybe the people in the life
boats
could see that
much. I'm sure there must have been other accounts
of the
accident. My
father was born 2 years after this disaster (Henry Wood was
his
mother's
father) and that was the story he was told and what he told my
mother.
I
notice that of the 44 that were saved 34 were crew, 8 of the
passengers
saved were men and 2 women. Two empty life boats
were found.
There were 80
passengers and about 80 crew on board when they left New
York.
It seems it
took about 3 weeks to find out who lived; not until the
survivors
were
brought into the harbor at Montreal. That is when
they knew
for sure. The
next is the obituary that ran in the "Wellington Enterprise"
May
21, 1884
"Memorial services for the Wood Family, lost at sea April 18th
in
the wreck
of the steamer "State of Florida" were held at the Disciple
Church
Sabbath
morning. Here was where they regularly worshiped,
Mr. Wood
being one of the
leading members, and the family were greatly beloved and
respected.
The two
surviving daughters were present, and the three orders to
which
Mr. Wood
belonged I.O.O.F's , Masonic Lodge and Knight's of Honor
attended
in a body,
occupying the centre of the church, which was crowded to its
fullest
capacity. The floral tributes were very
handsome. Mr.
Moore, the pastor,
conducted the solemn service and the occasion was one of
peculiar
sadness. "
Next is from the "History of Lorain County, Ohio"
"The Centennial
cheese
factory, so named from the fact that it was started in 1876,
is
the property
of Henry Wood, who also owns the farm upon which it is
located.
This is
what is known as a "full cream factory", and the proprietor
does
not
manufacture any butter. Not far from three hundred
and fifty
cows are
milked for this factory. Mr. Wood is a native of
Cheshire,
England." Next
is from "Historic Wellington Then and Now" by Henes, 1983
(about
the Odd
Fellow organization, but the date of the accident is
incorrect)
'The
Rebekahs were named after Lillian Wood, daughter of Oddfellow
Henry
Wood.
He and his wife and two daughters lost their lives while on a
voyage
to
England on the Steamer Florida, April 16, 1884. For
convenience
it was
decided to name the lodge with one word "Lillywood".' Well,
that
is
what I have learned so far. My mother, who is still
living
at the age of
92years, has said there was some sort of memorial erected to
the
Wood family
in Elyria. I have had no luck finding any
information about
that. Also, I
have done some checking and cannot find a reference to the
young
girl, May
Shackleton, who I suppose was a traveling companion with Lilly
Wood.
Well, I do think this story is
historically interesting
and not just
interesting to me. By the way, the two surviving
daughters
were Agnes (who
married Alfred Gilson) and Minnie (who married George Greene)
and
lived in
or near Brighton I believe most of their lives.
Looking forward
to hearing
from you
, Sari