Name PS Normandy Out of service 1870 | Launched ? ("built in 1863") | |
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Fate Foundered on 17 March 1870 | ||
PS Normandy was a British paddle-wheel mail steamer operating on the Southampton - Guernsey - Jersey route, which sank 20 miles from The Needles in the English Channel in the night of 17 March 1870 after colliding at around 03:30 with steamship Mary, a propeller steamer carrying 500 tons of maize from Odessa to London.
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Incident summary
It carried Captain Harvey with 28 crewmen, including chief mate J.Ockleford, one stewardess, and 31 passengers, among which 12 were women. The Normandy could launch only the two portside lifeboats, the large starboard lifeboat having been damaged by the collision. One lifeboat was launched from Steamer Mary, without reaching the Normandy.
The heroism of the Captain, who died after having ensured that the passengers would be first to abandon the ship, was praised by Victor Hugo, who also recommended that London and South Western Railway should equip its ships with watertight bulkheads, with sufficient life jackets, and floating lights.
Court ruling
The Greenwich Police Court judged on 11 April that the Normandy was responsible for "a breach of the Regulations for Preventing Disasters at Sea" and blamed the second mate of the Mary for returning to the Mary with the lifeboat without reaching the Normandy.
Monument in St. Helier
The inscription on the monument reads:
Harvey To noble heroism
Normandy lost by collision in Channel in a fog