By: Rénald Fortier
Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
“Halloa! There’s something strange going on up there;” Or, How an aerolite the size of a house narrowly missed a passenger-cargo ship in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean in August 1907, part 2
An artist’s view of the aerolite which nearly hit the British passenger-cargo ship SS Cambrian, North Atlantic, August 1907. D.H. Vittery, “More Queer Fixes, XII – A Meeting with a Meteor.” The Wide World Magazine, May 1908, 2.
Good day to you, my concerned reading friend. Reading about boulders, nay, mountains falling out of the sky can be the stuff of nightmares – or disaster movies. After all, the fearless Gauls who inhabited the village made famous by Asterix, Obelix and Getafix feared only one thing, that the sky would fall on their heads. Movie director and producers have known for a long time how disaster movies fascinate audiences.
What might be the earliest example of the mountains falling out of the sky type hit theatres in Italy in September 1958. Even though La morte viene dallo spazio / Le danger vient de l’espace is not among the masterpieces of the 7th art, that Italian-French feature film is not without merit. Yours truly did, after all, pontificate about it in a September 2018 issue of our stellar blog / bulletin / thingee.
And no, the crash of a meteorite near the British passenger-cargo ship SS Cambrian, in mid August 1907, will not be at the heart of this second part of this article. Yours truly will instead bring to your attention several instances of interplanetary visitations and the odd possible meteorite impact which might, I repeat might, have been linked to said crash. Shall we begin? And yes, that was indeed a rhetorical question. Have you not twigged to that by now, after almost 7 years?
Early in the morning of 6 August 1907, a remarkable object was seen in the skies above El Paso, Texas. Moving slowly from the southwest to the northeast, a greenish yellow sphere the size of a football remained visible for more than 45 minutes. Showers of sparks poured out of the white tail, apparently 15 or so metre (50 or so feet) long, which followed that comet-like object.
And no, the good people of El Paso did not see an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Such an extraordinary claim would require equally extraordinary evidence, to paraphrase an aphorism pronounced in one form or another as early as the 18th century, but I digress.
During the evening of 11 August, a tremendous explosion shook many, if not most homes in the town of Tonopah, Nevada. Many people also saw a great fiery mass and / or blinding light. Earlier that evening, some of those folks had been watching one of the most beautiful meteor showers any of them had ever seen.
They were understandably puzzled. Blasting in a mine was not done at night and there were no explosive magazines nearby. Someone soon suggested that a meteorite had fallen near Tonopah, north of Mount Brougher, or further away, in the desert. Some people soon began to look for it. They seemingly found nothing.
Incidentally, the meteor shower the good people of Tonopah saw was undoubtedly the Perseids.
And no, the 1 450 or so kilogramme (3 200 or so pounds) ferrous meteorite / iron meteorite / siderite, a celestial body known today as the Quinn Canyon meteorite, found the mouth of Quinn Canyon, Nevada, no later than November 1908, cannot be linked to the 11 August 1907 sighting. You see, the amount of corrosion found on it could not have been created in only 15 months.
During that same evening, yes, that of 11 August, residents of Albuquerque, New Mexico, trying to spot comet C/1907 L2 (Daniel), yes, the one mentioned in the first part of this article, witnessed one of the largest and most beautiful meteor shower seen in those parts. At its peak, that stunning display delivered 5 to 10 shooting stars a minute. The southern skies were ablaze with their glow. Said display lasted several hours.
Incidentally, what the good people of Albuquerque saw was undoubtedly the Perseids.
During the evening of 12 August, a huge ball of fire surrounded by a multicoloured halo and followed by a broad and very long tail of sparks and flames streaked across the skies above Wheeling, West Virginia. That stunning sight was also seen in Cadiz, Ohio, and Sistersville, West Virginia, respectively 25 or so kilometres (16 or so miles) and more than 70 kilometres (45 or so miles ) away. The light it produced was sufficient to read a newspaper.
Almost immediately after the object disappeared from view, people heard a tremendous explosion-like sound, followed by a long roar. The explosions shook homes and rattled dishes in cupboards. Wah!
It was presumably around that same 12 August that a small (14 or so centimetre long and 7.5 or so centimetre wide (5.5 or so inches long and 3 or so inches wide)) meteorite allegedly fell in a yard in Perrysburg, Ohio, near Toledo. Hoping to find one or more diamonds inside, the lady of the house cleft it in two with a chisel and an ax. Finding nothing inside the 750 or so gramme (26 or so ounces) rock, besides some sort of white flower figure that is, she dejectedly threw it at a stray cat which had done positively nothing to deserve that. The rock soon found its way to the offices of a local newspaper, Toledo Times.
Yours truly very much doubts that this rock was really a meteorite. The lady would have heard something.
And yes, back in 1907, many people thought that diamonds could be found inside meteorites. You see, in 1891 and 1892-93, an American mineralogist / physician / professor, Albert Edward Foote, and two French scientists, the chemist / pharmacist / professor Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan and the chemist / mineralogist / professor Charles Friedel found tiny diamonds in fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite, the celestial body which carved the Meteor Crater / Barringer Crater, in Arizona approximately 50 000 years ago.
In 1904, however, said diamonds were shown to be no more than silicon carbide / carborundum, a very hard mineral very rare on Earth but rather more common in outer space, but I digress, one of my many faults.
In the evening of 14 August, a meteor flashed across the heavens above Omaha, Nebraska. The shock of its impact with our big blue marble was felt all over the eastern part of the city. The following day, someone came across the 1.5 metre (5 feet) hole left by that object in the soft earth of a swamp. Before long, 50 or so students from Creighton University / Universitas Creightoniana, in Omaha, were moving heaven and earth, well, mainly earth, in the hope of locating the buried meteorite. The gentleman in charge of the site might well have been the professor of Astronomy at Creighton University, the jesuit William F. Rigge.
And yes, the plan was to put the meteorite in the museum of the university.
That celestial rock was never found, if it was ever there.
In the morning of 18 August, many residents of Cornwall and Lincoln, Vermont, were aroused from their peaceful slumber by a very loud noise. Some feared that an earthquake had occurred. An earthquake like the one which had shaken houses and smashed crockery in Newport, Vermont, in October 1905.
In other Vermont localities, Bristol, Montpellier and Ripton for example, some houses shook. As well, many wall ornaments and framed pictures fell down and several windows were shattered. Re-wah! Some people in those towns wondered if a locomotive had exploded or if bandits had blown up a bank.
In some localities, people had seen a brilliant ball of fire before the huge noise was heard. Many Vermonters soon came to believe that a large meteor had fallen near the Green Mountains. Indeed, some believed that the object had hit the ground south of Bristol.
A renowned American physics and electrical engineering professor at the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn, in New York City, New York, who happened to be in Middlebury, Vermont, visiting some friends and / or relatives, was deeply intrigued. Samuel Sheldon spent some time looking for the meteorite. There was already talk of putting it on display at the 1908 edition of the Addison County Fair, in Middlebury, to be held in late August. Sheldon found nothing, if there was anything to find in the first place.
On the early evening of 18 August, yes, 18 August 1907, a great many residents of the coastal hamlet of Amagansett, Long Island, New York were stunned to see a blazing and tremendously noisy object of unclear size (6 or so metres (20 or so feet)? 23 or so metres (75 or so feet)?), with a long tail, streak across the sky and hit the water near the life saving station. The entire sighting lasted but 45 or so seconds.
Huge brakers soon hit the shore, battering fishermen’s nets from their moorings, washing away several bathing pavilions and causing considerable damage to shoreline properties. Some people who happened to be near the shore were almost swept off their feet. Large numbers of dead fish were reported. Many people gathered them, for sale or consumption.
In the evening of 23 or 24 August 1907, many people in the Texas cities of Houston and Beaumont saw a dazzling light in the sky. Some if not many of those people thought that this something hit the Earth several kilometres (some miles) from Beaumont – or that it the waters of the Neches River, which flowed through Beaumont, not too far from the Hotel Dieu Hospital.
Indeed, a farmer who lived south of Beaumont believed that this something had hit the Earth 5 or so kilometres (3 or so miles) from his house. The following morning, he came across a hole surrounded by burnt grass. Said hole contained a 30 or so kilogramme (67 or so pounds) rock that he took to Beaumont on 27 August. That rock was seemingly similar in shape and size to a watermelon.
The owners of E.L. Wilson Hardware Company, a local hardware firm, O.K. McKnight and Homer Chambers, gave the farmer US $ 25 for his rock, a sum which corresponds to slightly more than $ 1 100 in 2024 Canadian currency. They seemingly put their acquisition on display.
A personal opinion if I may. That farmer got played like a fiddle. He should have asked for a lot more moolah.
When contacted by journalists, Chambers politely refused to divulge the identity of the farmer but added that this gentleman knew where a much larger meteorite fragment could be found, and that he would excavate it.
It is worth noting that a civil engineer and former state surveyor by the name of Philip Grymes Omohundro looked at the alleged meteorite and stated it was the genuine article. The surface of the heavy and grey rock was seared and scarred as if by fire.
Various Texas scientists were eager to examine the farmer’s rock to learn more about it. One of those was the Bohemian American geologist / engineer (mining / metallurgical / civil) / experimental chemist Wilhelm H. von Streeruwitz. His conclusion, stated in a letter sent to E.L. Wilson Hardware in late-ish September, was that the farmer’s rock was not a meteorite.
News reports noted that a comet-like object seen in the East for several days had not been seen since the lightshow of 23 or 24 August. And yes, just like you, yours truly wonders if the object in question was not the aforementioned comet C/1907 L2 (Daniel).
An odd thing about the meteor sightings in Beaumont was the fact that, not quite a week before, an astrologer who called himself Umbriel had predicted that the city would be destroyed by a cyclone on 25 August. Many / most people scoffed at the idea. Some / many people were somewhat ticked off that an individual who chose to remain anonymous would choose to disturb the peace of the good people of Beaumont. And the fact was that some people were disturbed by Umbriel’s prediction.
Some people were allegedly so concerned that they dug up storm cellars, just in case.
The presence of comet C/1907 L2 (Daniel) only increased the anxiety of the people concerned by Umbriel’s prediction.
Mind you, a visitation by what witnesses called an airship, during the night of 22 to 23 August, did not improve matters. The aerial vehicle in question travelled from east to west at high speed, more than 160 kilometres/hour (100 miles/hour) it was said, and carried a powerful light. As the Moon shone brightly that night, the hull of the airship and the nacelle suspended beneath it were clearly visible.
It went without saying, but yours truly will say it anyway, that no airship flew over Beaumont in August 1907. What the witnesses imagined that had seen was in all likelihood nothing more exotic than a shooting star, or comet C/1907 L2 (Daniel).
As you might well imagine, the people who had expressed concern about the upcoming destruction of Beaumont were much relieved when 25 August came and went.
In turn, there were many people in Beaumont who were quite ticked off because of the fear Umbriel had induced. That individual wisely chose to keep his identity a secret.
What might have been the main body of the object seen by the good people of Houston and Beaumont was found on 29 August, I think, 3 or so kilometres (2 or so miles) from Nederland, Texas, south east of Beaumont. It was at the bottom of a hole more than 2 metres (7 or so feet) deep.
And no, that object was never dug up, provided it was there in the first place.
During the night of 26 August, a meteor fell on a ridge between Nevada City and Grass Valley, a pair of municipalities located in… California. Witnesses stated that the incandescent aerolite had fallen vertically, with a gyrating motion. Luckily, it did not start a forest fire. Several if not many people looked for the aerial visitor but found nothing.
During the late afternoon of 9 September, the good people of Albuquerque were blessed once again by a visit from above. That time around, however, the large meteor was visible for less than 10 seconds before shattering in multiple fragments which seemingly impacted our planet somewhere in the Sandia Mountains, to the east of the city.
The meteor was seen by amazed schoolchildren in Santa Fe, New Mexico, northeast of Albuquerque. It was brighter than the sun.
The same meteor also passed over Santa Rosa, New Mexico, a city some distance to the east of Albuquerque, moving in an easterly or northeasterly direction and giving the sky a milky appearance as it sped off. The strength of the two explosions which followed the passage of the aerolite some time later, 1 or 2 minutes perhaps, was tremendous. Some people inside a bank, hotel and school, brick and stones buildings in all cases, feared they might collapse. In turn, engineers working on the switch engines on the local train yards feared their machines might derail.
People seemed to agree that a meteor of stupendous size had fallen at least 40 or so kilometre (25 or so miles) from Santa Rosa.
And yes, the meteor was seen in many other New Mexico locations. Let us mention for example Los Alamos, Los Tanos and Roswell.
Los Alamos was of course the location where a top secret facility was created, during the Second World War, to design the first atomic bombs, and… Yes, that Roswell, the one made famous by the July 1947 crash of a flying saucer which never really happened.
Many Roswell residents were sure that the aerolite had fallen somewhere nearby. Indeed, a trio of prospectors hailing from Kansas rushed to a field east of Roswell after seeing the heavenly visitor streak across the sky. They looked for it for a couple of hours before giving up their quest. The trio was convinced the meteorite had been swallowed up by the loose soil.
Interestingly, William H. Burr, a well known physician based in Gallup, New Mexico, claimed that, as he rode on a trail between Clarkville, New Mexico, and Gallup, to the west of Albuquerque, a meteorite with a flaming tail several metres (yards) long fell 100 or so metres (330 or so feet) in front of him. Having some important business to attend tom he did not spend much time looking for it. Said the good doctor, “Perhaps I should have looked longer for it, as meteors are said to contain diamonds, and in any event they make good weights to hold doors open.”
In turn, Reverend H.L. Hoover and his son, Ernest Hoover, two individuals who lived several kilometres (some miles) to the northwest of Estancia, New Mexico, a town to the southeast of Albuquerque, were returning home with a load of chopped wood when, they claimed, two meteorite fragments hit the ground.
One of them noisily burst into many fragments as it fell relatively close to the men’s wagon. Even though the other one fell much further away, leaving a smoky streak, the noise it made was louder, which could indicate it was larger than the first fragment. Whether or not those gentlemen made any effort to locate the meteorites is unclear.
Given the information he was able to gather, Fayette Alexander Jones, a gentleman with many talents (bookkeeper, chemist, road commissioner, miller, school principal, surveyor, etc.), better known as a mining engineer, quickly concluded that the fragments of the huge aerolite had not crashed in the Sandia mountains. He went looking for those fragments to the north east of Santa Rosa, 15 or kilometres (10 or so miles) from the town. By the looks of it, Jones found none.
This being said (typed?), a large meteorite fragment was found on 12 September, in the evening, near Montoya, New Mexico, to the east of Santa Rosa. It had torn a great hole in the ground and some vegetation around the hole was still burning.
A farmer found another fragment, weighing more than 35 kilogrammes (80 or so pounds). He took it to Tucumcari, New Mexico, to the east of Santa Rosa, no later than 14 September. Said fragment was soon put on display.
And no, yours truly cannot say if those fragments were real meteorites.
What I can say, however, is that smoke had obscured the sky after the passage of the 9 September meteor. An odor similar to that of burning sulphur lingered in the air for hours. Said odor spooked cattle on many ranches, causing them to run away.
Were there other North American sightings of meteors after the middle of September 1907, you ask, my starry eyed reading friend? Of course, there were. One only needed to mention those which attracted the attention of many residents of Washington, District of Columbia, and New York City during the evening of 1 October. Mind you, that object was also seen in Maryland and Pennsylvania, over Thurmont and Danville for example.
Better yet, a football-sized meteorite followed by a fiery tail exploded in Dubois, Pennsylvania. A barrel-sized meteorite allegedly crashed somewhat outside of town, less than 25 metres (80 or so feet) from an official of Pennsylvania Railroad Company, A.G. Lowry.
Were there sightings beyond the shores of North America during the summer of 1907, you ask, again, my starry eyed reading friend? Of course, there were. On the evening of 7 August, for example, a meteor travelling in a north-north-westerly direction lit up the countryside in the vicinity of Taroom, Roche Creek, Bungaban, etc., Queensland, Australia. Ninety seconds or so after its passage, two large explosions were heard – and the earth shook lightly for a few seconds. Many local residents thought that the meteor had hit not too, too far from Bungaban.
As they returned home after attending church, in Newstead, Victoria, Australia, on the evening of 25 August, several ladies allegedly had the shock of their lives when a small meteorite lit up the skies and crashed a few metres (yards) in from of them, burying itself in the ground.
Interestingly, during the evening of 5 October, some crew members and passengers of the British cargo ship SS Castillian Prince, operated by Prince Line Limited, saw a very bright meteor as their ship sailed north near the shores of New Jersey, toward New York City. The heavenly visitor fell from the zenith in a westerly direction before it disappeared.
More interestingly perhaps, during the evening of 17 October 1906, some crew members of the British passenger-cargo ship SS African Prince, operated by… Prince Line, had seen a very bright meteor crash into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, rather close to their ship.
Even more interestingly perhaps, an early August 1907 issue of an English newspaper, The Liverpool Echo, had this to say: “A curious affair was the destruction of a steel petroleum ship in the Irrawaddy River, Burmah, which it is believed was struck by lightning. It is thought possible, however, that not lightning but a meteorite was the cause.”
Even though it fell well outside our research period, yours truly would be remiss if I did not point out a most remarkable meteorite story dating from 1907, but please note that this was not a happy story.
In the morning of 6 December, I think, a meteor crashed in a field, within spitting distance of a house in Bellefontaine, Ohio, which belonged to one W. Westhaven. That house immediately caught fire and was destroyed, forcing whoever was inside at the time to flee. The noise, smoke and glare of the object frightened the horse ridden by one C.E. Beckett as he passed near said house. That gentleman was thrown off and suffered multiple injuries, namely a broken collarbone, a broken leg and internal injuries.
Mind you, another version of the story had Beckett driving a one-horse buggy when the meteor hit. That gentleman was not injured.
According to yet another version of the story, Beckett was thrown off his buggy when his horse bolted. He suffered multiple injuries, namely a broken collarbone, a broken leg and severe, if not dangerous internal injuries.
According to yet yet another version of the story, Beckett was thrown off his buggy when his horse bolted. The injuries he suffered soon caused his death.
It was even suggested that the horse driving Beckett’s buggy was spooked to such an extent that it overturned that vehicle.
In any event, the hole dug by the meteorite in a field owned by one Thomas Nelson was said to be 7.5 or so metres (25 feet) deep. Local residents soon began the tremendous task of digging out the meteorite which was said to be 3 to 3.5 or so metres (10 to 12 feet) in diameter. The good people of Bellefontaine hoped to put that ginormous rock on display. In the end, they found nothing.
As news of the meteorite crash reached New York City, that city’s famous American Museum of Natural History might, I repeat might, have sent one of its scientists to look for the celestial body. He too found nothing, assuming a search had taken place.
Now I ask you, my reading friend, do you really think that a rocky mass of the size mentioned above, a rocky mass weighing several tens of metric tonnes (imperial tons / American tons), would have created a crater whose diameter did not seem important enough to mention? Before you answer, please note that the object which carved out the aforementioned Meteor Crater / Barringer Crater, a 1 200 or so metre (3 900 or so feet) diameter scar in the landscape of Arizona, was a mere 50 or so metres (165 or so feet) in diameter.
So, what do you think? A hoax or a badly garbled story?
In any event, again, more British and French newspapers than American ones might, I repeat might, have mentioned that story. French newspapers even reported that Beckett was inside the house which was destroyed and had been killed.
The odd thing about that presumably nonexistent event was that a meteorite was seen to fall around midday near West Mansfield, Ohio, to the east of Bellefontaine, in January 1908. It was spotted by 2 men digging a ditch. Charles Gilbert and M.L. Van Voorhis could not find it, however.
A farmer found a 1.8 or so kilogramme (4 or so pounds) fragment of that aerolite around 25 January, as he ploughed a field. Charles Edgar McColloch brought his discovery to the offices of a local newspaper, West Mansfield Enterprise. Soon after, another farmer, G.R. Armstrong, brought an 8.8 or so kilogramme (19.5 or so pounds) rock to those same offices.
Yours truly cannot say if either of those rocks was really a meteorite.
Incidentally, for a number of years, a black and metallic looking rock thought to be a meteorite stood near a street corner in Bellefontaine, near McBeth School. Sadly, the current whereabouts of that rather large and heavy object, 1.2 or so metre wide and 90 or so centimetre high (4 or so feet wide and 3 or so feet high), are unknown.
Interestingly, again, somewhat before and after the numerous August sighting of celestial bodies in the heavens above the United States, many American daily newspapers were serialising a 1904 novel by a prolific English writer / journalist by the name of Louis Tracy. The King of Diamonds: A Tale of Mystery and Adventure recounted the rag to riches story of a recently orphaned English boy, Philip Anson, who was about to end his life when a tiny meteorite hit outside his window, scattering diamonds (!) all over the ground.
As was to be expected, Anson’s new found wealth attracted unwanted attention. Would you believe that a pair of nogoodniks tried to off him? Ever the hero, Anson forgave them. He gave a position to one of his would-be assassins and shipped the other one to… Canada, with enough money to start a new life.
Speaking (typing?) of starting, if not a new life, at least preparations for the next meal, yours truly will let you go now.
Be safe.
Oh, just one more thing. The English would-be assassin was not the only British subject sent to Canada to start a new life. Nay. Hundreds, if not a few thousands of remittance men, as those exiled people were called, came to that country, mainly the western part of it, over a few decades, at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.
Unwilling to tolerate any longer the embarrassing if not unacceptable behaviour (drinking, f*rn*c*t*ng, gambling, etc.) of those reprobates, their families sent them to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, or the United States, to be rid of them. Forever.
Mind you, some if not many remittance men were younger sons of the English gentry or aristocracy who, according to inheritance rules of the time, rules which remained valid until 1925, had no access to their family’s wealth, said wealth being transferred from oldest son to oldest son.
Regardless of their character, remittance men were provided with moolah, or promised a steady if limited monthly remittance, as long as they stayed away.
Please note that what follows is very sad.
Finding themselves in parts of Canada where life bore no resemblance to life in England, remittance men were sometimes (often?) the butts of jokes. Often devoid of any practical education, some, if not many of them had to find jobs, often menial ones, to make ends meet. Not all of them could adapt to their new circumstances. Some remittance men ended up taking their own lives.
Oddly enough, the mechanised bloodbath known as the First World War proved to be a deal changer, albeit a deadly one, for many remittance men. A great many of them returned home in 1914 in order to join the British Army and fight. Many former remittance men died of course, but some of them ended up inheriting the family fortune following the death of their older brothers, killed during the war, sometimes to the despair of their relatives, who had not counted on that twist of fate. The universe, it seemed, had a sense of humour. Sorry, sorry.
This writer wishes to thank the people who provided information. Any mistake contained in this article is my fault, not theirs.
Rénald Fortier
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