November 10th is the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This year will be the 51st year. But, the most Canadian thing about the Edmund Fitzgerald is the Gordon Lightfoot song. The song haunting Canada all these years is about a ship which was made in the US, sailed from port to port in the US, with a US crew. In 1958, when it began sailing the Great Lakes it was the largest ship on the Lakes and it still is the largest ship to sink in the Great Lakes. It did sink in Canadian waters.

As far as we know, the earliest shipwreck in Canada was in 1498. John Cabot disappeared on his second voyage. I've read about John Cabot, we heard about him in school too, but I don't remember anything about the second voyage where he was shipwrecked and disappeared. I'm sure I did, I just don't remember. Sad for the man who 'discovered' what would become Canada, to end that way. Note: discovered is the word used for the Europeans who first came to North America and began using it for resources, later sending people here to live.

What does it say about our culture these days that if I try to find the worst Canadian shipwreck the top results are all for the most famous shipwrecks, not the worst?

Early Marine Disasters
The earliest shipwreck in Canada may have taken place in 1498 when John Cabot disappeared on his second voyage. Two years later, Gaspar Corte-Real vanished on a voyage to Newfoundland. Perhaps the wreck of Delight is the earliest known marine disaster. It involved one of the Sir Humphrey Gilbert‘s ship on Sable Island on August 29, 1583, leading to the drowning of over 85 people. In 1711, a British fleet sailing to attack Quebec hit a rock. The fleet which included the 19 warships and 41 other ships was carrying over 11,000 people on board. Almost 950 men were lost during the shipwreck. The rugged coastline and lack of marine aid such as fog signal and life-saving stations have taken a great toll on ships, especially those that lacked lifeboat capacity for those on board.

RMS Empress Of Ireland
The RMS Empress of Ireland was a huge ocean liner which was considered Pacific Steamship Line’s fastest and luxurious ship. It had made crossing the Atlantic stress-free since the launch in 1906. On May 28, 1914, the ship left Quebec City for Liverpool at about 1630hrs with 1,477 people on board including the crew. Captain Henry G Kendall was making his maiden trip down the St. Lawrence River in command of the ship. The ship disembarked at Rimouski, Quebec to pick up mail in the morning hours of 29th. RMS Empress of Ireland got underway into the St. Lawrence. Meanwhile, the fog began rolling in as the ship approached Father Point. Another ship, Stortad, heading towards Rimouski, Quebec was sighted from a distance before the fog could close in completely.

Both ships resorted to sounding the fog whistle to warn the other. Shortly before 0200hrs, with passengers and crew asleep, the Stortad ship loomed out of the fog just meters from the Empress. It was too late to react, Thee Collier crashed into the starboard side of the Empress severely damaging it. Water quickly gashed into the liner. The passengers in the Empress had not observed maritime rules since they had left the watertight doors and the portholes opened contrary to requirements. Most of the passengers and crew in the third class deck drowned quickly as water entered the porthole. The ship lurched to its side and sunk within ten to 14 minutes making the rescue efforts tough. The disaster led to the death of 1,012 people including passengers and crew. The sudden sinking and loss of many lives were attributed to three factors: the location of contact, failure to close the watertight doors, and the open porthole.

RMS Atlantic
The RMS Atlantic was an ocean liner belonging to the White Star Line. It operated between Liverpool, the UK, and the US. The ship departed Liverpool on March 20, 1873, on her nineteenth voyage with 952 people on board including 835 passengers. The captain decided to make a stop at Halifax, Nova Scotia to replenish coal for the boiler. As the liner approached Halifax on March 31, 1873, the captain was spending his time on the bridge while the ship was making her way through the storm. The ship was pushed off-course to the west of Halifax Harbor. However, the officers who were in charge failed to wake the captain or reduce the speed of the vessel as they approached the unfamiliar territory. The officers did not spot the Sambro Lighthouse which warns against the rocky shoals. On the morning of April 1, 1873, the Atlantic struck the underground rock and quickly sunk killing about 535 people leaving only 371 survivors.

The Great Lakes Storm Of 1913
The Great Lakes Storm or the Big Blow was a hurricane that swept across the Great Lakes Basin including the province of Ontario. The freshwater fury took place from November 7 to November 10, 1913, and was most powerful on the 9th. The storm overturned and battered ships on four of the five Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron. It killed more than 250 people and destroyed close to 40 ships. The financial loss amounted to over $5 million. The storm shut down traffic and communication along the shorelines. The storm originated from the area of convergence of two major storm fronts and was accelerated by the warm water in the lakes with the waves rose to over 35 feet.

Fishing And Sealing Disasters
Fishing and sealing off the coast of Atlantic have claimed several lives over the years. Over 400 vessels and over 1,000 lives were lost in Newfoundland between 1810 and 1870. On March 31, 1914, Southern Cross sunk on its way home due to the weight of seal pelt. All the 173 crew members drowned. On June 20, 1959, a fishing fleet of 22 boats was hit by a massive storm at New Brunswick killing over 35 men.

Other Marine Disasters In Canada
The Montreal steamer burned near Quebec in 1857 killing 253 people. The deaths could have been reduced if the crew had responded to fire immediately. In 1881, an overloaded Victoria steamer capsized near the Thames River in Ontario. Many of the passengers on board jumped off the ship when it became apparent that it was sinking. However, the deck fell on them killing about 182 people despite the relatively shallow water. In 1918, Princes Sophia ran onto a reef on the Lynn Canal during a snow storm. Two days later, the ship sunk killing all the 343 people on board. The heavy sea delayed the rescue missions leading to the high number of deaths. On June 26, 1930, a drillship was struck by lightning killing 30 men with only ten men surviving.

World Atlas - The Deadliest Marine Disasters In Canada's History

We talk or think about the early settlers to North America, and Australia. But, those people chose to arrive in the New World(s). They would have expected to forage, build a shelter and later a home. It would have been much more than they expected, but they had some experience in finding food, and so on. They came with supplies too.

I seldom read about the convicts who were sent to Canada, US, and Australia. Were some sent to other places too, before they places had European given names? They would have grown up in the cities, rural if they were lucky. How would they have felt after starving in Europe, stealing, lying, cheating, desperate for basic needs like food and shelter?

Now here they are... there's nothing as far as human habitation. Sick and worse for wear to say the least, travelling on the ship for months. Before people built a colony, a settlement, a group shelter, an outhouse. Before any of them knew about native people - even if they could find a way to communicate with them and not be afraid of those "savages".

To land on the shore of Atlantic Canada with nothing but the clothes on your back and whatever might be in your pockets. After being in jail, shuffled along to the ship, the sea voyage which would have taken months. Here they are, get off the ship and what... go climb a tree? The forest would be thick. Only get thicker as they tried to enter it.

Do they know what to eat? Some will poison themselves due to not knowing what is safe to eat. No one would be there to help them if they were sick, if they were injured, if they just wanted to go home again. If they grew up in a city, do they even know how to forage for anything edible? How to trap animals, how to fish? The food would be plenty all around them but... Some of it comes with claws, and teeth, and very little fear of humans.

They would arrive at the end of summer, the beginning of fall, if the trip went well at sea. The ships would not stick around long. The voyage back had to be started on time so they would be at least halfway back to Europe before the weather got rough(er). The sailors and crew of the ships might never have seen winter in Canada or summer in Australia. Unless they were somehow left behind. The convicts would have no idea what was coming. Yes, Europe gets snow in winter. They don't get winter like Canada, winter was even harder then, with more snow and cold. Most of those early people to arrive in Canada and Australia had no chance at all.

At first, if they knew how to forage, they might have thought they were lucky... so much food right there for the picking. After starving in Europe now they had plenty. Could any of them build a fire? How would city dwellers in this time know to build a fire, without matches, or dry wood, or kindling, or rocks to get a spark.

You get the idea, more or less. Those people were not settlers, they were abandoned. Could they work together? Would they work together?

Imagine yourself left on the shore without technology, tools, friends... How many of them died right there, on the shore, just overwhelmed. But they were used to struggling, so I don't think many would have given up so quickly or completely. Those survivors, those few, are the real early settlers. They didn't know it at the time.