Showing posts with label SS Mount Temple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SS Mount Temple. Show all posts

Monday, March 19, 2012

The SS Mount Temple: Dinosaur Bones and a Titanic Connection

From Wikipedia and other sources.

The Mount Temple was built in England in 1901 for the Canadian Pacific Line and was a cargo ship of 8,790.


TITANIC CONNECTION

It responded to the Titanic's distress signals, arriving to the site at 4:10 AM, but was separated from the stricken passengers by an iceberg (and some believe it to be THE iceberg that cause the unsinkable to sink.

There is strong belief that the Mount Temple might have been the mystery ship that Titanic survivors claim they saw before the sinking. This is he ship that ignored the distress rockets. Passengers aboard the Mount temple reported they could see the Titanic that night and say the also heard two explosions aboard the Titanic before it sank.

Reportedly, the Mount Temple also turned off its sidelights. This is some story I'd never heard of before.


SUNK BY THE MOWE

During World War I, a 3-inch deck gun was installed on the stern of the ship. This gun was fired at the Mowe which returned fire and killed four of the crew. It was the fourth Canadian Pacific ship sunk during the war, one of 18 the line lost altogether. It's sister ship, the Montezuma, was sunk July 25, 1917 by the German submarine UC-41.

An Interesting History. --Cooter

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Making No Bones About It: A World War I Story

From the April 13, 2010, Smithsonian.com. "Dinosaur casualties of World War I."

On December 6, 1916, the Canadian merchant ship SS Mount Temple was on its way to England with a set of 75 million-year-old dinosaur skeletons from Canada. It encountered the German raider SMS Mowe which ordered the ship to stop.

Someone aboard the Mount Temple aimed its sole gun at the Mowe which considered that to be a threatening move and it opened fire, killing three and injuring others.

The Mount Temple then surrendered and the Mowe took off the crew and passengers before sinking the ship, unaware of the history on board the vessel. The people from the Canadian ship were eventually sent to Germany on another capture.

Dem Dinos Just Can't Get No Respect. --Cooter