The view from the front of the church.
At the top a monument known as The Schiller Memorial.
The monument was erected by a grieving man, for the loss of his wife.
Just look at her age when she died.
It reads ....
'In memory of Louise Holzmaister
born at New York May 15th 1851
Who lost her life in the wreck
of the SS Schiller off the Scilly Islands
May 7th 1875
Her body resting in the Deep.
This monument has been
erected to her memory as a mark of affection
by her husband.'
16th June 2009
SCHILLER
311 people lost their lives, in terror, lost in dense fog, with huge waves all around,
lifeboats crushed to matchwood.
Women and children were swept overboard as the deckhouse in which they were sheltering was taken by the sea as it swept up the deck,
the roof having first been ripped off exposing all to the elements.
SS Schiller - German Transatlantic Steam Navigation Company; Built 1873 by R. Napier and Sons;
3,421 tons; 380.5 x 40.1 x 24.4 feet; 600 bhp; 13 knots; compound indirect engines.
The German liner Schiller, Capt. J. G. Thomas, left New York on March 27th, 1875, bound for Hamburg her registered port.
She carried a crew of 101 and 254 passengers.
On nearing England the ship encountered thick fog which lasted for three days.
At about 10.30 on the night of May 7th the Schiller,
running at half-speed, was close to the Scilly Isles and heading straight for the Retarrier Ledges.
The ship was within half a mile of the Bishop Rock Lighthouse but failed to hear the fog bell, and in a few minutes struck the rocks.
Many on board were at first unaware of their danger
but the force of the sea swung the ship broadside-on to the shore and the breakers soon began to wash over her.
Distress signals were sent up but could not be seen.
An attempt was made to launch the boats but the first capsized
and during the night the funnel fell and smashed two other boats and two more were washed away by the seas.
Nearly 200 people were gathered in the deckhouse for safety.
At about 2 a.m. this was washed overboard with all those sheltering within it.
An hour or so after the captain and several officers were swept from the bridge and drowned.
The weather cleared during the night and at daybreak boats from the islands and the steamship Lady of the Isles came to the rescue,
but by that time only 41 people were alive on the wreck.
The two lifeboats that managed to make shore at Tresco, contained 26 men and one woman.
Some bodies were recovered, some embalmed and sent to the USA,
Old Town cemetery had to be enlarged and rock was excavated with dynamite to form the mass graves, for 147 burials.
Coffins were taken through the town on pony and cart, there having been no hearse on the island.
Of the 355, 42 men and one woman survived.
Raymond Forward
