The Basin Record Newsletter Vol.2 Issue 4

Published by the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History Newsletter : Vol. 2 No. 4 21-A 10 Ave S Cranbrook BC V1C 2M9 Telephone: (250) 489-9150 E-mail: basininstitute1@cyberlink.bc.ca Inside this Issue T he C ranbrook S tory Our region has been touched by war in many ways. One of the more intriguing stories involved an early Irish immigrant to Cranbrook, young Miss Isabella Williamson. Miss Wiliamson departed from Liverpool September 4th, 1915, bound for Montreal and then Cranbrook where her older sister resided. She and 350 other passengers and 300 crew were aboard the Allan Liner “Hesperian”. The Hesperian was a new steamship, built in Glasgow in 1907 and chartered in 1910 to the Canadian Pacific. She did carry a 4.7 inch stern gun but was a peaceful passenger liner outbound, carrying no troops except some wounded and invalided Canadian soldiers traveling on individual tickets. Previously, on May 7th, 1915, KapitanWalther Schweiger of the German submarine U-20 had sunk the RMS Lusitania with the loss of nearly 1,200 lives. There was such a protest over the brutality of the action that the Kaiser was forced to rescind the unrestricted submarine warfare order and require that all passenger liners be left unmolested. On the back of the postcard above, dated September 3rd, 1915 and showing the Hesperian, the writer says “There are quite a number of passengers on. It is now 3-5 p.m. & we don’t seem quite ready to start.” Bessie Williamson, on arriving in Cranbrook, stated that “We were quite a happy and contented lot of passengers on the Hesperian and no one appeared to be at all anxious as to the success of the voyage. No doubt a great deal of this was due to the assurances that had been given in America on behalf of the German government that no liner would be attacked without notice.” It was to be a short but eventful journey. At 8:30 p.m. on September 4th as darkness was falling the Hesperian was passing out of the Irish Sea near the Fastnet Rock. The Hesperian had charted a zigzag course intended to avoid torpedo telemetry, but Kapitan Schweiger lay at telescope depth in one of his favourite war zones. He carefully estimated the probable location of the liner, identified it as passenger liner and decided it would carry troops on its return. When the Hesperian reached the calculated kill zone Schweiger launched the torpedo, without warning and with the intent to sink the ship. The torpedo struck theHesperian in the forward engine roomand the ship immediately began to settle by the bow. Captain Main of the Hesperian ordered the passenger and crew into the boats but remained on the bridge with his officers. As Bessie Williamson described it later to The Cranbrook Herald, “Everything went all right up till about half past eight in the evening. After dinner I was speaking on the second deck to a Canadian gentleman, when we heard a great crash against the side of the ship. This was followed by a horrible grating sound, as though something was boring its way into the vessel. Immediately afterwards a lot of smoke came up over the side – it looked just like steam. A dreadful scene followed.” Sinking of the Hesperian The Institute unveiled two more heritage interpretation panels. A Lasting Legacy was installed at the Studio/Stage Door and A Summer Obsession was sited in Baker Park. These panels join Building for Growth which was earlier installed on Cranbrook’s City Hall. We take this opportunity to again recognize our partners – Service Canada, the City of Cranbrook and the Columbia Basin Trust. We hope to do more focusing on both individual buildings such as the Star Theatre and Parks Hardware, and on public sites such as Rotary Park and the cemetery. The Institute hopes to work with many partners all over the Columbia Basin to publicly celebrate our history. Most recently we shared our resources with Joe Jazvac of Field who is working to create historic interpretation panels in that community. Our regional stories are there to be uncovered, shared and celebrated. Divine Stories - the degenerate and the detective Akamina New Old Town Basin Biography - Bessie Lafleur Hosmer Then Historic Racism - the Columbia Basin Continued on page 3 0019.0049