A great hymn came from the pen of a troubled—and troublesome—man
The luxury liner was steaming through a calm, star-studded night when it happened. Fast asleep after days of rough weather and turbid fog, passengers were thrown from their beds by a violent shuddering and noise like an explosion. The prow of an iron-hulled sailing vessel had rammed them amidships and split the hull. Passengers who were not killed in the crash crowded the deck and swarmed the lifeboats. Many were crushed under the collapsing mainmast.
A young mother from Chicago clutched her 2-year-old daughter and tried to keep her other three girls close. “Don’t be afraid,” little Annie told her. “The sea is His and He made it.” Within minutes the ship rolled over, spilling the family into the sea. The mother clutched frantically as her baby was torn out of her arms.
A few days later, she telegraphed her husband from Wales: “Saved alone. What shall I do.”...