Post by Greywall on Jul 4, 2023 10:46:46 GMT -5
Backstory
In the 1850's, Ulster-Gaelia was vastly expanding its merchant fleet to feed a monstrous economic hegemony it controlled over Ouhiri since the mid 1700's. Part of this expansion was personally propelled by Queen Mary Gordon who wanted 100 new steam ships to enter the fleet, of these ships she wanted cross Shawbalt vessels that could leave UKUG directly and be sent across the globe to Roskana.
In 1853, Jonas Sinar McCollins wins a massive bid for his independent shipwright company with the Sinar class steam ship. A vessel with a new state of the art steam engine and staol compartment that allowed it to cross the Shawbalt freely and safely. In 1854 the first three Sinar class ships were launched and began long trips to and from Roskana with success. One of these first three ships, was the RGS Bishop. RGS Bishop had made over 100 successful crossings of the Shawbalt. In 1858, the Bishop was seen by many in the McCollins shipping company as their unofficial flagship.
On spring of 1859, the Bishop left with 82 crew, 145 passengers and 400 tons of goods and materials for Roskana.
It would never make its destination.
5:34 am
First mate Travis McGowen observes a horrid low tone explosion on board the ship, he orders Captain McTavish to be woken up and the crew to inspect. He has his observation crew questioned if they saw anything. They all reported: "Nothing"
5:45 am
Inspection crews discover to their horror bulkhead 3 has begun taking in on water. The starboard section of the ship was plummeting seawater and steadily flooding the ship toward the bow. The ship is alerted and emergency steam powered pumps are activated. Captain McTavish orders flares to be fired and their current heading.
5:50 am
The Bishop is thousands of miles into the Shawbalt with no landmass nearby. McTavish orders the lifeboats prepared and all passengers to be woken from their slumber and dressed with lifevests. The pumps only buy seconds as the entire bow drags the ship to a creeping halt with more and more drag in the water.
6:00 am
steam boilers are turned on to their maximum level. McTavish desperately tries to bear heading toward Ashinara, but its still 6 hours away. He wants to close the gap as much as possible but the ship continues to collect sea water and the water is steadily heading toward the steam engines in the stern portion of the ship.
6:20 am
McTavish declares that women and children go onto the lifeboats first. In an unfortunate motion due to relaxed shipping laws at the time, the Bishop removed lifeboats to lighten its load and conserve staol. There are simply not enough lifeboats for everyone.
6:35 am
A horrible sound echoes the early morning air, the seawater reached the boilers and begins killing off all the steam power left on the Bishop. The pumps stop and now nothing can stop the flow of water entering the lower decks.
6:45 am
Lifeboats are rapidly loaded with women and children, 4th officer Ronnie O'Mackendale refuses to leave his post at the stern as he fires flare after flare. His last recorded words, "I shall die firing these flares until help comes".
6:50 am
the deck begins rapidly sinking, panic ensues and McTavish is reported to have fired his pistol in the air to command order before the remaining lifeboats were stormed. Over 105 passengers and 30 crew are loaded onto the lifeboats, McTavish and the remaining people try creating a raft from the ship but its too late.
6:53 am
The Bishop sinks to the bottom of the Shawbalt dragging McTavish and the remaining crew and passengers with it. The lifeboats are left stranded.
8:34 am
RGS Gothal an older sail merchant ship bound for Elenria diverted course seeing the flares and arrived to pick up the passengers.
After investigation it was discovered that McCollins work crews failed to identify structural weaknesses in the Bishop's hull. An engineering design flaw showed that over time the Bow of these ships slowly gave out due to using cheap Sele ironworks materials instead of Elenrian steel. This caused massive fines for the McCollins company and new maritime laws on lifeboats and ship build quality to be imposed. Jonas McCollins lived in severe depression knowing the deaths of the Bishop were from his willingness to cut corners and force the ships to be built at a fast pace to deliver to Queen Mary's request. Almost all Class Sinar ships were retired by 1867.
The RGS Gothal was retired by the UKUG fleet and sold to the Elenrian fleet in 1859 a mere year later after saving the survivors of the Bishop. A few years later the Gothal witnessed the Kumo invasion of Elenria. The loss of Elenria pushed cross Shawbalt trade to Roskana further despite concerns the Gaelic shipping community had with the Bishop sinking. The loss of the RGS Bishop halted over half of the cross Shawbalt trade lanes due to crews unwilling to commit to the crossing with the Bishop being a lucky example with how many survived in the vast open sea. Trade eventually resumed and even expanded in 1880 until the outbreak of the Roskanan revolution.
This pushed Gaelic interest into the Silk Sea to avoid losing their maritime hegemony and a collision course with Kumosenkan on Hawaii.