Duncan and Christy – Surviving The Asia Disaster
By James Donahue
The wreck of the steamer Asia in Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay on September 14, 1882, had all the elements of a Hollywood production: terror, drama at sea, a captain who displayed wanton disregard for human life, and even romance.
There were just two survivors from among the one hundred twenty-five souls aboard the Asia. And they were seventeen-year-old Duncan A. Tinkis and eighteen-year-old Christy Ann Morrison. They stumbled ashore together in a remote Ontario wilderness after spending a terrible night in an open boat surrounded by dead bodies. A member of one of the native tribes found them and brought them by canoe to Parry Sound two days later. A ballad was written about the wreck of the Asia and sung by the natives around Owen Sound for many years.
The foundering of the Asia is still counted among the worst single disasters in Great Lakes history. Some said the wreck was caused by the carelessness of the Asia’s master, Capt. John Savage. Had Savage lived, Canadian authorities might have found him guilty of taking the steamer out of port after the vessel was denied a license.
That was because the vessel lacked an adequate number of life jackets and lifeboats to deal with a maximum crew, not considering passengers. He also overloaded the Asia with ninety-seven passengers when the ship was designed to carry no more than forty. There were other problems. The Asia was a flat-bottomed vessel, originally designed for river duty and veteran sailors said she should not have been steaming into a storm on the open waters of Georgian Bay.
The Asia was not only laden with passengers when she steamed out of Owen Sound at about midnight on September 13, she also was loaded to the gunwales with heavy machinery, horses and supplies bound for a logging camp at French River. No one could explain why Savage steamed out of port while a gale was already pounding the lake into a frenzy. Authorities later censured Savage “for want of judgment in leaving the port in the face of a storm.”
Tinkis and Morrison told about the trip. They said it was a terrible night for the passengers, all of them crammed in whatever shelter they could find. Some were trying to sleep on chairs, while others were sprawled on the pitching deck. As top-heavy as she was, the Asia pitched and rolled like a wild animal as the storm intensified. Many of the passengers became violently seasick. “Dishes and chairs were flying in every direction,” said Tinkis, who was traveling with his uncle, J. H. Tinkis.
By morning, Savage knew his boat was in serious trouble. Waves were smashing their way across the decks and the ship was taking on water. Morrison said she heard the men pitching cargo and even horses over the railings just outside her stateroom at about 11:00 AM.
She said she saw her cousin, first mate John McDonald, and asked him what was going on. McDonald had a look of despair on his face as he told her they were “doing all we can do.” Not long after that the Asia foundered. Morrison said she put on a life jacket and waited in her room until the vessel tilted over and water began coming in under the door. Then she climbed out on the deck and held on a railing. “The boat seemed to be settling down. I saw a lifeboat nearby and lowered myself into the water. The captain caught me and held me from sinking until the mate (McDonald) came and helped me into the boat.”
Tinkis said when he and his uncle decided to leave their cabin “the boat was rolling so badly we had difficulty getting up on the deck. I got a life preserver and put it on. The boat went into a trough of the sea and would not obey her helm. She rolled heavily for about twenty minutes and then was struck by a heavy sea. She went down with her engines running at about half past eleven.”
He said he thought three lifeboats got away. “I was in the first boat. About eight others were with me at first, but more got in until the boat was overloaded and turned over twice.”
Tinkis said the water was filled with struggling people who were grabbing at anything, even one another in a wild effort to stay afloat. After being tossed from the lifeboat, he said he found himself in great danger as people began grabbing him and his life preserver. To get away from them he said he peeled off the life preserver and swam away. “People were hanging on the spars and other parts of the wreckage. I swam to the captain’s boat, which was nearby, and asked Mr. John McDonall, the purser, to help me in. He said it was of little use but gave me his hand.”
(Obviously we have a conflict in stories by Tinkis and Morrison as to the identity of John McDonald. Since Morrison identified him as her cousin, we suspect her identification as first mate of the boat, and the spelling of his last name was correct)
There were eighteen people in the boat when Tinkis first got in. Shortly after this the vessel flipped over in the high seas. When it righted again Tinkis said several people were missing. Tinkis and Morrison told how the boat flipped over three times that afternoon, each time giving more lives to the cruel seas. By evening only seven survivors remained, including Captain Savage and Mate McDonald.
Morrison said she discovered that by wrapping her arms around the lifeline attached to the gunwales of the lifeboat she could stay with the craft each time it rolled over. She said she just held on “so when she righted I was in again.”
Everyone was wet, cold and suffering from exposure. “Our boat was full of water and the sea was constantly rolling over us,” Tinkis said. “One of the first to die was the cabin boy. A wave washed him overboard. The next to go was a deckhand. He was near the gunwale and jumped out. I could see him paddling around in the water.” Morrison said nobody talked all the time they were together in the boat. After the sun went down they noticed the light from the Bying Inlet lighthouse and that seemed to cheer everybody up, knowing that land was close. “We sang a couple of sacred songs,” she said.
McDonald died around midnight, and Savage died about ten minutes later. Tinkis said Savage was the last to die. He said he was holding the captain in his arms when it happened. By morning all of the men in the boat were dead. Only Morrison and Tinkis remained alive.
The boat drifted ashore near Pointe au Barrie about daylight. The area was barren, with no sign of civilization except for an oil derrick spotted a few miles down the coast. “I put the bodies on the beach and pried the boat off with an oar, but I could not bale it out,” Tinkis said. “Miss Morrison and I went down the beach in the boat to the derrick.” There they huddled together, cold, wet and frightened for still another day and night. The native tribesman found there the next day and brought them out of the wilderness.
In case you wonder, this story does not have a Hollywood ending. Morrison and Tinkis did not fall in love and get married. They went their separate ways after reaching civilization.
By James Donahue
The wreck of the steamer Asia in Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay on September 14, 1882, had all the elements of a Hollywood production: terror, drama at sea, a captain who displayed wanton disregard for human life, and even romance.
There were just two survivors from among the one hundred twenty-five souls aboard the Asia. And they were seventeen-year-old Duncan A. Tinkis and eighteen-year-old Christy Ann Morrison. They stumbled ashore together in a remote Ontario wilderness after spending a terrible night in an open boat surrounded by dead bodies. A member of one of the native tribes found them and brought them by canoe to Parry Sound two days later. A ballad was written about the wreck of the Asia and sung by the natives around Owen Sound for many years.
The foundering of the Asia is still counted among the worst single disasters in Great Lakes history. Some said the wreck was caused by the carelessness of the Asia’s master, Capt. John Savage. Had Savage lived, Canadian authorities might have found him guilty of taking the steamer out of port after the vessel was denied a license.
That was because the vessel lacked an adequate number of life jackets and lifeboats to deal with a maximum crew, not considering passengers. He also overloaded the Asia with ninety-seven passengers when the ship was designed to carry no more than forty. There were other problems. The Asia was a flat-bottomed vessel, originally designed for river duty and veteran sailors said she should not have been steaming into a storm on the open waters of Georgian Bay.
The Asia was not only laden with passengers when she steamed out of Owen Sound at about midnight on September 13, she also was loaded to the gunwales with heavy machinery, horses and supplies bound for a logging camp at French River. No one could explain why Savage steamed out of port while a gale was already pounding the lake into a frenzy. Authorities later censured Savage “for want of judgment in leaving the port in the face of a storm.”
Tinkis and Morrison told about the trip. They said it was a terrible night for the passengers, all of them crammed in whatever shelter they could find. Some were trying to sleep on chairs, while others were sprawled on the pitching deck. As top-heavy as she was, the Asia pitched and rolled like a wild animal as the storm intensified. Many of the passengers became violently seasick. “Dishes and chairs were flying in every direction,” said Tinkis, who was traveling with his uncle, J. H. Tinkis.
By morning, Savage knew his boat was in serious trouble. Waves were smashing their way across the decks and the ship was taking on water. Morrison said she heard the men pitching cargo and even horses over the railings just outside her stateroom at about 11:00 AM.
She said she saw her cousin, first mate John McDonald, and asked him what was going on. McDonald had a look of despair on his face as he told her they were “doing all we can do.” Not long after that the Asia foundered. Morrison said she put on a life jacket and waited in her room until the vessel tilted over and water began coming in under the door. Then she climbed out on the deck and held on a railing. “The boat seemed to be settling down. I saw a lifeboat nearby and lowered myself into the water. The captain caught me and held me from sinking until the mate (McDonald) came and helped me into the boat.”
Tinkis said when he and his uncle decided to leave their cabin “the boat was rolling so badly we had difficulty getting up on the deck. I got a life preserver and put it on. The boat went into a trough of the sea and would not obey her helm. She rolled heavily for about twenty minutes and then was struck by a heavy sea. She went down with her engines running at about half past eleven.”
He said he thought three lifeboats got away. “I was in the first boat. About eight others were with me at first, but more got in until the boat was overloaded and turned over twice.”
Tinkis said the water was filled with struggling people who were grabbing at anything, even one another in a wild effort to stay afloat. After being tossed from the lifeboat, he said he found himself in great danger as people began grabbing him and his life preserver. To get away from them he said he peeled off the life preserver and swam away. “People were hanging on the spars and other parts of the wreckage. I swam to the captain’s boat, which was nearby, and asked Mr. John McDonall, the purser, to help me in. He said it was of little use but gave me his hand.”
(Obviously we have a conflict in stories by Tinkis and Morrison as to the identity of John McDonald. Since Morrison identified him as her cousin, we suspect her identification as first mate of the boat, and the spelling of his last name was correct)
There were eighteen people in the boat when Tinkis first got in. Shortly after this the vessel flipped over in the high seas. When it righted again Tinkis said several people were missing. Tinkis and Morrison told how the boat flipped over three times that afternoon, each time giving more lives to the cruel seas. By evening only seven survivors remained, including Captain Savage and Mate McDonald.
Morrison said she discovered that by wrapping her arms around the lifeline attached to the gunwales of the lifeboat she could stay with the craft each time it rolled over. She said she just held on “so when she righted I was in again.”
Everyone was wet, cold and suffering from exposure. “Our boat was full of water and the sea was constantly rolling over us,” Tinkis said. “One of the first to die was the cabin boy. A wave washed him overboard. The next to go was a deckhand. He was near the gunwale and jumped out. I could see him paddling around in the water.” Morrison said nobody talked all the time they were together in the boat. After the sun went down they noticed the light from the Bying Inlet lighthouse and that seemed to cheer everybody up, knowing that land was close. “We sang a couple of sacred songs,” she said.
McDonald died around midnight, and Savage died about ten minutes later. Tinkis said Savage was the last to die. He said he was holding the captain in his arms when it happened. By morning all of the men in the boat were dead. Only Morrison and Tinkis remained alive.
The boat drifted ashore near Pointe au Barrie about daylight. The area was barren, with no sign of civilization except for an oil derrick spotted a few miles down the coast. “I put the bodies on the beach and pried the boat off with an oar, but I could not bale it out,” Tinkis said. “Miss Morrison and I went down the beach in the boat to the derrick.” There they huddled together, cold, wet and frightened for still another day and night. The native tribesman found there the next day and brought them out of the wilderness.
In case you wonder, this story does not have a Hollywood ending. Morrison and Tinkis did not fall in love and get married. They went their separate ways after reaching civilization.