Pelham Manor Captain of Passenger Cruise Ship Went Down with His Ship in 1929, But Survived!

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The waning light of the late afternoon on December 18, 1929 seemed oddly ominous.  The fog at Ambrose Channel was like the stereotypical pea soup.  Although various accounts differ as to the numbers, the S.S. Fort Victoria, a 7,785 gross ton passenger cruise ship was carrying at least about 225 passengers and about 30 crew members.  The master, Captain A. R. Francis, could hear warning bells and sirens coming from several directions.  Although Captain Francis was in his element, he probably wished he were back home wrapped in the blankets of his warm bed in the Pelham Arms in the little Village of Pelham Manor, New York.

The Fort Victoria had departed the West 55th Street Pier earlier that day, promptly at 11:00 a.m., bound for Hamilton, Bermuda.  On board, according to some accounts, were 171 cabin passengers, an additional 35 passengers on what the liner proclaimed as the "Negro deck," and an additional 165 crew members.  Captain Francis brought the Fort Victoria to a halt at the beginning of the Ambrose Channel off Sandy Hook to allow the pilot to disembark to a waiting vessel scheduled to return him to Sandy Hook.  Captain Francis thought it best to refrain from sailing the busy channel until the fog conditions improved.  As the Captain and his crew surveyed the situation amid the clamor of the warning bell and sirens, the fog parted immediately before them as if cut by a knife.  A massive ship's bow burst forth nearly on top of the Fort Victoria.  The subsequent violent collision could not be avoided.

The British steamship liner Fort Victoria originally was known as the Willochra.  It was built in 1913 by Wm. Beardmore & Company Dalmuir, Yard No. 507 for the Adelaide Steamship Company, Port Adelaide.  The ship served as a troopship during World War I and, before that, as a transport that ran a route between the United States and Australia / New Zealand waters.  In about 1920, the ship was acquired by Furness, Withy and Company of London and was rebuilt to serve as a passenger cruise ship to run between New York and Bermuda.  The ship was 412 feet long with a 57-foot beam.

The Steamship Cruise Liner S.S. Fort Victoria

in Undated Photograph, Ca. 1920s. 

On that December afternoon in 1929, the cruise to Bermuda for 225 passengers was about to reach an early, abrupt, and tragic end.  The ship's bow that cut through the fog belonged to the Algonquin, a second larger liner based out of Galveston, Texas.  The Algonquin's bow smashed into the port side of the Fort Victoria at precisely 4:10 p.m. and mangled the Bermuda cruise liner.

Within moments of the collision, distress calls were broadcast by both ships.  From the crowded, busy waters of the Ambrose Channel, the U.S. Coast Guard and many smaller ships responded to the unfolding tragedy.  

At first, the passengers of the Fort Victoria failed to comprehend their danger.  According to one account:

"The passengers on the port side of the Fort Victoria watching the pilot disembark were shocked to look up and see the bow of another passenger steamer heading directly towards them. They quickly vacated the area, but not before the Algonquin rammed the Fort Victoria, resulting in splintered glass raining down on them, but fortunately injuring no one.  One doughty passenger, Howard Granel, simply grabbed the rail and held on for the ride as the Algonquin pierced her side and then pulled away. 

Another Fort Victoria passenger who enjoyed the whole affair was Andrew Dunk, who commented "I've had a wonderful time.  I was in bed when my wife spoiled my dreams by telling me that there was a wreck."  Even though Dunk and his wife were separated in the movement to the lifeboats, he afterwards expressed no worry for her safety.  Less sanguine was Mrs. V.G. Curry, who felt the bump, looked out her porthole and was aghast to see the letters "Algonquin" sticking out of the side of the Fort Victoria, attached to a large ship.  Another passenger had a similar experience; Mrs. Gardner Hendrie felt the ship tremble, and when she looked out her porthole, exclaimed "Goodness, there's a ship right next to us."

Source:  TheShipsList-L Archives:  Collision in New York Harbor 1929 (Oct. 24, 2009; citing various articles published in the New York Times) (visited Nov. 8, 2014).

The Fort Victoria was taking on water.  An emergency evacuation of passengers and crew began.  Precious minutes passed as water poured in a gaping gash in the port side of the ship.  Purely by happenstance, the passengers had just completed mandatory lifeboat training only minutes before the collision occurred.  Most were still milling about on deck when the wreck occurred.  Passengers were transferred quickly and efficiently to rescue ships that swarmed the area.

By 4:42 p.m., it became clear that the ship was foundering and likely would have to be abandoned.  Eight minutes later, all passengers had been safely evacuated from the ship and the ship sent a message saying "Crew abandoning ship.  Good Bye."  Five minutes later a further message at 4:55 p.m. reported "Master and twelve men remain on board.  All passengers safely transferred to pilot boat.  Skeleton crew on board.  Ship listing to starboard."  

What happened next became the stuff of maritime legend.  Though Captain A. R. Francis would later refuse to tell the tale, his crew member shipmates told the story to The Pelham Sun, the local newspaper in the small Town where the Captain lived.  The account detailed the final moments of the S.S. Fort Victoria before it sank beneath the waves.

"Capt. Francis gave an exhibition that has no parallel in local marine records.

'After Capt. Francis refused to leave his ship and sent his radio man, Robert Eustace, with his skeleton crew to our deck on salvage ropes, we thought the captain and Fred Fendt, the pilot with him would go down with the ship.

'But we did what we could -- threw lines to them and they fastened them around their waists.  Capt. Francis kept on his commandant's coat.  

'The listing Fort Victoria wallowed horribly.  We never want to see anything like it again.  Capt. Francis braced himself and held on as though he were holding the ship to the surface with his own hands.  

'There was a terrible rush of waters.  The Fort Victoria slid onto the sea.  Only the maelstrom showed above.  Capt. Francis and Fendt were under water.  We thought it was all over with them.  Suddenly their heads bobbed up under our lights.  The lines had held.  We pulled them aboard, drenched and shivering, and gave them dry clothes.'

Source:    Captain of Ill-Fated Victoria, Acclaimed Hero of Thrilling Sea Rescue, Back Safe In Pelham, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 20, 1929, p. 1, cols. 6-7.  

The full text of the above quoted article from The Pelham Sun appears immediately below.

"Captain of Ill-Fated Victoria, Acclaimed Hero of Thrilling Sea Rescue, Back Safe In Pelham
----- 
After Seeing All Passengers Rescued, Captain Francis Went Down With His Ship -- Was Saved from Watery Grave By Members of Crew
-----

Saving the lives of 225 passengers in the most recent tragedy of the sea, the sinking of the S. S. Fort Victoria, just off Ambrose Channel, Wednesday night, the world is acclaiming Capt. A. R. Francis, master of the ship, the greatest hero of the day.  Capt. Francis, who maintains his home at Pelham Arms, Pelham Manor, stuck to his ship until it passed beneath the waves.  He came to the surface again and was rescued.  The Pelham Sun endeavored to interview Capt. Francis this morning, but he preferred to remain incommunicado.

Shipmates told the story yesterday of how the little mariner saw his ship to the bottom after his seamanship, and whatever sailors call horse sense, had saved every one of his 255 passengers as well as his seamen in a crash off Sandy Hook in Wednesday's frightening fog.  The story overshadowed a welter of investigation and aftermath.

From the time the sharp prow of the liner Algonquin dealt its deadly blow to the For Victoria at 4:10 p.m. until a half minute after the foundering vessel slid into the murky sea at 7:30 p.m., Capt. Francis gave an exhibition that has no parallel in local marine records.

'After Capt. Francis refused to leave his ship and sent his radio man, Robert Eustace, with his skeleton crew to our deck on salvage ropes, we thought the captain and Fred Fendt, the pilot with him would go down with the ship.

'But we did what we could -- threw lines to them and they fastened them around their waists.  Capt. Francis kept on his commandant's coat.  

'The listing Fort Victoria wallowed horribly.  We never want to see anything like it again.  Capt. Francis braced himself and held on as though he were holding the ship to the surface with his own hands.  

'There was a terrible rush of waters.  The Fort Victoria slid onto the sea.  Only the maelstrom showed above.  Capt. Francis and Fendt were under water.  We thought it was all over with them.  Suddenly their heads bobbed up under our lights.  The lines had held.  We pulled them aboard, drenched and shivering, and gave them dry clothes.'

Capt. Francis has lived in the Pelhams for two and one-half years."

Source:    Captain of Ill-Fated Victoria, Acclaimed Hero of Thrilling Sea Rescue, Back Safe In Pelham, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 20, 1929, p. 1, cols. 6-7.  

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