{"id":396,"date":"2012-01-11T16:24:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogybank.com\/?p=396"},"modified":"2024-12-30T07:21:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T12:21:11","slug":"amazing-true-story-of-shipwreck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/amazing-true-story-of-shipwreck.html","title":{"rendered":"Amazing True Story of Shipwreck Survival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Last week I spotted the unusual story of a man <span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">saved from dying in a shipwreck in the middle of the night when he spotted a floating box\u2014it turned out to be his wife\u2019s coffin that he was bringing home for burial!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696425623660411794\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"float: left; cursor: hand; width: 320px; height: 279px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-bBm91unlqfE\/Tw3E7Hu2O5I\/AAAAAAAACKs\/Azsj0-09c4g\/s320\/saved%2Bby%2Bwifes%2Bcorpse%2B-%2BAlbany%2BEve%2BJournal%2B4%2BDep%2B1855%2Bp2%2Bfinal.jpg\" alt=\"Albany Evening Journal (Albany, New York), 4 December 1855, page 2\" width=\"320\" height=\"279\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The newspaper article containing this incredible survival story was printed by the <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com.previewdns.com\/gbnk\/newspapers\/explore\/USA\/New_York\/Albany\/Albany_Evening_Journal\/\"><em>Albany Evening Journal<\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #221e20;\"> (Albany, New York), 4 December 1855, page 2.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What an amazing newspaper article\u2014and yet it seemed to me something wasn\u2019t quite right about this story:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">When and where was the shipwreck of the steamer <\/span><em style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Anthony Wayne<\/em><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Why no first name for the husband?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Why no name for the wife?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Did steamers travel from Chicago to Philadelphia?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Was there more to this story?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Digging deeper into GenealogyBank\u2019s <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com.previewdns.com\/gbnk\/newspapers\/\">historical newspaper archives<\/span> I found this article, printed by the <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com.previewdns.com\/gbnk\/newspapers\/explore\/USA\/Ohio\/Columbus\/Daily_Ohio_Statesman\/\"><em>Daily Ohio Statesman<\/em><\/span> (Columbus, Ohio), 1 May 1850, page 2, with this startling headline: <strong>\u201cAwful Calamity. Explosion of the Steamboat Anthony Wayne. Forty Lives Lost!!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696417462679665074\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 254px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-RWHlkWaEKZw\/Tw29gFtaebI\/AAAAAAAACKU\/sDBMK76vtsg\/s320\/anthony%2Bwayne%2Bsteamer%2Bdaily%2Bohio%2Bstatesman%2B1%2Bmay%2B1850%2Bp2%2Bborder.jpg\" alt=\"Daily Ohio Statesman (Columbus, Ohio), 1 May 1850, page 2\" width=\"320\" height=\"254\" border=\"0\" \/>So, the steamer ship exploded on Saturday, April 27, 1850, while en route from Sandusky, Ohio, to Buffalo, New York. The accident happened on Lake Erie, about six or seven miles offshore of Vermillion, Ohio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I kept researching and found more details\u2014but no names\u2014in this newspaper article, printed by the <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com.previewdns.com\/gbnk\/newspapers\/explore\/USA\/Ohio\/Cleveland\/Plain_Dealer\/\"><em>Plain Dealer<\/em><\/span> (Cleveland, Ohio), 30 April 1850, page 2.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696424072667257282\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 320px;\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-_05Rl4TSTbA\/Tw3Dg11Q2cI\/AAAAAAAACKg\/-50FnPz5XsI\/s320\/Plain%2BDealer%2B30%2Bapr%2B1850%2Bp2%2Banthony%2Bwayner%2Bwreck%2Bfinal.jpg\" alt=\"Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 30 April 1850, page 2\" width=\"299\" height=\"320\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Here was a contemporary account of this horrific ship explosion tragedy, but still not all the details<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">A gentleman \u201cgoing east to bury his wife and child\u201d:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Traveling with \u201cthe balance of his family, two small children\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Following the explosion, he \u201claunched the coffin\u201d as a makeshift life raft<\/li>\n<li>Labored with \u201ca child grasped under each arm with a most desperate struggle\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Sadly, he \u201clost his boy\u201d and was forced to abandon the remains of \u201chis wife and child\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">As news reporting improved and more details about the survivors and the deceased were gathered, the<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696415696681296082\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"float: right; cursor: hand; width: 209px; height: 320px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-OgEMjPVlg-0\/Tw275S2l4NI\/AAAAAAAACJ8\/kT_T5OL8b30\/s320\/archer%2Bbraney%2Btestimony%2Bnewport%2Bmercury%2B11%2BMay%2B1850%2Bp2.jpg\" alt=\"Newport Mercury (Newport, Rhode Island), 11 May 1850, page 2\" width=\"208\" height=\"320\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com.previewdns.com\/gbnk\/newspapers\/explore\/USA\/Rhode_Island\/Newport\/Newport_Mercury\/\"><em>Newport Mercury<\/em><\/span> (Newport, Rhode Island), 11 May 1850, page 2, gave more of the story.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">This newspaper article has provided us with more details about the survival story:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Archer Brackney was the father trying to rescue his family<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">He was from Lafayette, Iowa<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">The coffin contained both corpses of \u201chis wife and child\u201d<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">We learn of his desperate struggle to save his \u201ctwo living children\u201d<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Sadly, \u201chis little boy, two years old, was drowned in his arms\u201d<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">He managed to save his little girl, \u201cwho was clinging around his neck, crying \u2018Papa! We shall drown!\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">Researching further in GenealogyBank\u2019s newspaper archives, I uncovered more of the real story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">The coroner held an inquest and the results were published in the <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com.previewdns.com\/gbnk\/newspapers\/explore\/USA\/Ohio\/Sandusky\/Sandusky_Register\/\"><em>Sandusky Register<\/em><\/span> (Sandusky, Ohio), 30 April 1850, page 2.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696412565345738482\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"float: right; cursor: hand; width: 320px; height: 230px;\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-emipOuC4xcY\/Tw25DBuBHvI\/AAAAAAAACJw\/iPBLhRxVEAY\/s320\/brackney%2Barcher%2Btestimony%2B-%2B30%2Bapr%2B1850%2BSandusky%2BRegister%2Bp2%2Bcornoer%2Binquest%2Bclose%2Bup%2Bred%2Btrim%2B-%2Bcollage.jpg\" alt=\"Sandusky Register (Sandusky, Ohio), 30 April 1850, page 2\" width=\"320\" height=\"230\" border=\"0\" \/> <span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms';\">his verified the essentials of the survival story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Now to dig deeper and see what more details can be found about this shipwreck tragedy and real life story of survival. It\u2019s amazing how much information you can find in historical newspaper archives!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I spotted the unusual story of a man saved from dying in a shipwreck in the middle of the night when he spotted a floating box\u2014it turned out to be his wife\u2019s coffin that he was bringing home for burial! The newspaper article containing this incredible survival story was printed by the Albany [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[1634,1153,1167,1653,1129,1762,5323,1549,5354,455,1042,5366,1091,742,1652,5448,5457],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-albany-2","tag-chicago","tag-cleveland","tag-columbus","tag-family","tag-father","tag-husband","tag-lake-erie","tag-life","tag-new-york","tag-newport","tag-news","tag-ohio","tag-rhode-island","tag-sandusky","tag-travel","tag-wife"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99776,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions\/99776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}