Vine in 1914: Hospital Ships

On October 30, 1914, the hospital ship HMHS Rohilla ran aground near Whitby. There were 229 people on board, including around 100 medical staff, who were on their way to Dunkirk to collect soldiers wounded in the war. Bad weather hampered the rescue effort, forcing the people of Whitby to lift one lifeboat over a seawall and another down a cliff. Eighty-four people died in the tragedy, but the survivors included a stewardess named Mary Roberts, who had recently survived the sinking of RMS Titanic.