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A warm saloon, a clear night sky, and a cheap ticket from Providence to New York sounds like an easy win until the ocean decides otherwise. We’re telling the story of the 1907 sinking of the Larchmont, the deadliest maritime disaster in Rhode Island history, and the kind of shipwreck where the danger is not just the water, but the cold, the darkness, and the steam. 

We start with the Larchmont’s past life as the Cumberland, its rushed rebuild, and the string of groundings, collisions, and scandals that earn it a “cursed ship” reputation long before the final voyage. From there we hit the night of February 11th: negative temperatures, heavy winds, big seas, and a crew trying to stay on schedule while passengers drink, laugh, and settle in for a 12 hour ride that feels like a mini cruise. 

Then everything narrows to one encounter off Jamestown with the coal schooner Harry Knowlton. We walk through the navigation rules for sail vs steam, why right of way matters, and how a last second turn to starboard turns a close pass into a catastrophic collision. The impact ruptures the engine area, releases scalding steam, kills the generator, and leaves people trapped between drowning, steam burns, and hypothermia in the freezing Atlantic. We also dig into the Block Island rescues, the investigation that assigns blame, the rumor mill that follows, and the lost passenger manifest that helps change maritime safety practices. 

If you’re into maritime history, shipwreck stories, and disaster analysis with real lessons, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the show.

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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/