Tragedies

Tragedies

Galveston September 8, 1900

Over 6,000 souls were lost in the Galveston, Texas hurricane. Today, residents still refer to the tragedy as 'The Storm'. The victims had nowhere to run, they never had a chance to escape.

If you are interested in learning more about the Galveston tragedy, I highly recommend reading this book. I have read it several times and always recommend it to history buffs.

San Francisco April 18, 1906

San Francisco Earthquake. 1906 counts tallied 664 souls lost in San Francisco, Santa Rosa & San Jose. Modern counts believe that over 3000 actually died both directly and indirectly due to the quake.

Triangle Fire March 25, 1911

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. 146 souls lost. Most victims were young immigrant women, some as young as 15. Graphic photos at the website link.

Titanic April 15, 1912

1,500 souls lost. The Titanic tragedy is the 2nd largest loss of life in a sea accident during peacetime.

Titanic Documents - List of Items Lost

Titanic Movie

Empress May 29, 1914

1,012 souls lost. The Empress of Ireland was struck by a Norweigan ship on the St. Lawrence River.

Lusitania May 7, 1915

1,195 souls lost when a German U-20 sunk the luxury liner.

Brittanic November 11, 1916

30 souls lost on the hospital ship, most in the ship's propellers.

Spanish Flu 1918-19

Following on the heels of World War I, the 'Spanish Flu' pandemic of 1918 left over 40 million dead worldwide. I personally believe the higher number of 100 million. This disease wiped out entire towns within days, there was no one left to count the victims. The devastation was so horrific that many of the survivors never spoke about it among themselves and it was wiped from the collective global consciousness.

I had never heard of the pandemic until a few years ago. It was never mentioned in my history classes either in high school or college. I am a great lover of history and have read hundreds of history books on the Edwardian time period - not a single sentence on the pandemic. Many of my relatives are flu survivors and none of them ever spoke of it. I always assumed they did not like to talk about that time period because of the War. I had no idea of the horrors they must have seen in their own homes as children.

Please visit the websites below which preserve the memories of those who have been lost - so we will never forget them.

The Legacy Project

You Will Never Be Forgotten 9/11/2001

Great Shipwrecks

Museum of Tolerance