Shannon Gore, the managing director of the Association of Reef Keepers, lays a wreath at the Rhone gravesite at Salt Island on Sunday. Photo: ARMANDO JENIK

On Sunday, a convoy of photographers, divers and historians assembled over the wreck of the RMS Rhone off Salt Island 150 years after the ship sank.

Dr. Mitch Kent, author of the recently released book Twice She Struck, made sure to be snorkelling over the ruins at exactly 2 p.m.

Shannon Gore, the managing director of the Association of Reef Keepers, lays a wreath at the Rhone gravesite at Salt Island on Sunday. Photo: ARMANDO JENIK
He wanted to imagine what the crash might have been like for Jonathan Bailey, a 16-year-old boy on the Rhone who floated in the water for hours and eventually washed up on Beef Island.

Dr. Kent included a quote in his book from the moment the boy saw another man get dragged down by a shark.

“Well presently, all of a sudden, I saw him throw up his arms over his head, and down he slipped out of the buoy like a bolt out of a socket,” Jonathan recounted at the time. “But the sharks in them waters are something more than ordinary. He was nipped off at the legs: That’s how I reckon it up.”

124 deaths

Several estimates conclude that around 124 people died in the wreck on Oct. 29, 1867 and just 22 survived.

Dr. Kent said it was especially important for him and others to remember the anniversary of the ill-fated journey and give tribute to those who died in the Category Three hurricane.

“It was such a tragedy and it’s especially poignant this year on the 150th anniversary,” he said.

The significance of the tribute, he added, was underscored by Hurricane Irma.

“It’s an important reminder for the younger generation who haven’t seen storms like this before,” Dr. Kent said. “It commemorates that enormous storms do hit the British Virgin Islands.

The wreck of the Rhone remained relatively intact after Hurricane Irma, though the Salt Island cemetery where its victims were buried was mostly destroyed. Photo: SHANNON GORE
“And even though we’ve just been through a major event, doesn’t mean this kind of anniversary gets ignored. It was important to remember those that lost their lives and have a presence there.”

Not forgotten

Though many of the planned Rhone remembrance events, including visits to area schools, were cancelled in the Irma aftermath, the group at the wreck made sure to properly mark the occasion.

The Association of Reef Keepers made a wreath representing the official Royal Mail Steamer flag for the gravesite on Salt Island, as well as a bouquet of flowers to float over the sunken ship.

The cemetery was mostly washed away by the recent hurricanes, but the wreck itself was fairly well preserved.

Dr. Kent said every year — not merely every 150 — the anniversary of the Rhone is honoured and the victims are remembered.

“I’d like to think they won’t be forgotten,” he said. 

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