page_title: SS Mount Temple
section_title: Stranding in 1907
hierarchical_section_title: SS Mount Temple / Operational history / Service with Canadian Pacific Lines / Stranding in 1907
caption_attribution_description: English: Mount Temple in Thames, early 1900s.
context_page_description: Mount Temple was a passenger cargo steamship built in 1901 by Armstrong Whitworth & Co. of Newcastle for Elder, Dempster Shipping of Liverpool to operate as part of their Beaver Line. The ship was shortly afterwards acquired by Canadian Pacific Lines and was one of the vessels that responded to the distress signals of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
  In 1916, while crossing the Atlantic with horses for the war effort and carrying a large number of newly collected dinosaur fossils, she was captured and scuttled complete with her cargo.
context_section_description: Mount Temple left Antwerp on 20 November 1907 on her usual route to Saint John, carrying around 6,000 tons of general cargo and 633 passengers. She was under command of captain Boothby and  had a crew of approximately 150. After passing Cape Pine, the captain took soundings in the morning of 1 December to ascertain the ship's position. By late afternoon the weather deteriorated, becoming overcast, with occasional snow squalls appearing. At around midnight, the captain retired leaving the watch to the second officer, Griffith Owen Lewis, with an order to call him if the weather worsened. Between 01:00 and 02:00 on 2 December, the vessel ran into a series of snow squalls which got progressively stronger and more persistent. At about 02:30 it started snowing heavily and visibility was reduced severely to only about half a length of the ship. At approximately 02:35 the look-out reported a light ahead, which the second officer erroneously interpreted as another ship closing in. He ported the ship, and at 02:44 Mount Temple struck on the rocks of the West Ironbound Island. As the ship struck, the rocks pierced the steamer's hull right around the engine room flooding it and extinguishing the fires. A huge tidal wave then smashed over the vessel, destroying about half of the lifeboats on board.
  Several distress signals were made but due to rough weather no help could be dispatched until the next morning. At daylight it was observed that Mount Temple was on the ledges of the island and there were about 75 feet between the steamer and the cliffs. Since it was unsafe to disembark the passengers down the sides of the ship into the waters, the crew managed to get the cable from the ship tied directly to the cliffs, and started transferring people in a basket tied to the cable. As the sea subsided, the lifeboats were employed to speed up the evacuation, and the help arrived in the form of several fishing vessels, schooners Hazel and Guide, and tug Trusty. By about 17:00 on 3 December all passengers were successfully moved from the wrecked ship to the island, and 150 of them were taken to Bridgewater by Trusty. The rest of the passengers had to spend a night on the island, and were safely brought to Halifax the next day by the Canadian government steamer Lady Laurier.
  The ship was left stranded in a dangerous position and the chances of getting the vessel off were considered very slim, however, a new storm that hit the area on 6 December had shifted the steamer about twenty feet closer to the island, and with that her position had markedly improved. Mount Temple had to spend the winter stranded, but was not damaged by the storms, and three attempts were made to float the steamer in February 1908, yet all of them proved to be unsuccessful. Finally, on 15 April 1908 the ship was successfully refloated and was able to proceed under her own steam to Lunenburg.
  On 19 May 1908 it was reported that the repair contract was awarded to the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. and Mount Temple proceeded to Newport News from Halifax in tow on 22 May. The steamer sailed from Newport News on 22 August for Quebec City after almost three months of repairs, which cost Canadian Pacific approximately $140,000. Upon arrival she loaded her usual cargo and left 2 September for London, resuming her regular service.
  On 14 October 1911 while entering Gravesend Mount Temple collided with an Australian steamer SS Osterley anchored at Tilbury Dock, causing some slight damage to her bow.
  On 18 January 1912 Mount Temple on her trip from Halifax to London under command of captain Moore encountered steamer SS Dart about 800 miles east-northeast of Halifax, drifting helplessly with broken rudder. She spent the night standing by but did not connect the towing cables and abandoned Dart the next day.
caption: Mount Temple in Thames estuary, early 1900s.
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