Rhone St Georges Church Mystery of “The Deep” solved on South Caicos Question: What do the Anglican Church on South Caicos, the great hurricane of 1867, and Hollywood, have in common? Answer: It’s kind of a long story, but here goes: One morning last April, while exploring South Caicos and making a photographic inventory of its oldest buildings, my colleague Dr. Randel Davis and I were struck by the charm and lovely natural setting of St. Thomas’ Anglican Church. Content to watch the ever-changing play of light and shadow across the little Church’s simple, elegant lines, I lingered to shoot a few more photos while Randy wandered around to the building’s far side. Through my telephoto lens I could see clearly the prominent, empty belfry. Then Randy reappeared, saying “Hey, there’s a bell over here!” Sure enough, a secondary tower on the Church’s north side, held the bell. Although it was in deep shadow, we could read the name “RHONE” and see that there was other writing above and below the main inscription. Recalling countless popular magazine articles, we immediately thought of RMS Rhone, a well-known shipwreck site in the Virgin Islands. In The Rhone Bell and Church the 18th and 19th centuries it was common for a ship to carry a bell inscribed with its name and the date it was launched. Could this be the bell of the Rhone? If so, what was it doing here on South Caicos? Borrowing an extension ladder from Mr. Alden Durham, we climbed up to get a closer view. The full inscription read “Royal Mail Steam Ship RHONE 1865." It was the Rhone’s bell, all right, but how it arrived at its present location was a puzzle. Back at the Museum on Grand Turk Randy went to work researching the History of RMS Rhone. Built in England by Millwall Iron Works in 1865, she was part of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company which provided services between England, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Iron-hulled, 310 feet long, powered by both sail and steam, she was a fine vessel–but her promising career was cut short. On October 19,1867 she was one of about 75 vessels damaged or lost in a hurricane so violent that people talked about it for decades afterward. The storm caught The Sinking of the Rhone her at anchor while transferring cargo to another ship, Conway, near St. Thomas in the (then) Danish Virgin Islands. The two vessels survived the first onslaught of wind and sea, but during a lull–possibly created when the eye of the hurricane passed overhead–they raised anchor and made a mad dash for the open sea. Conway got underway immediately, escaping the brunt of the hurricane’s renewed force, yet she still suffered moderate damage, losing her funnel and some rigging. Rhone was not so fortunate. Struck by strong winds and heavy seas just before gaining the open sea, she was driven onto a reef near Salt Island, and holed. Seawater flooded the engine room, the boilers burst, and she went to the bottom in pieces. Only 23 of the original 147 passengers and crew survived. The story of the hurricane of 1867 and the loss of RMS Rhone is well-documented, but what happened subsequently still requires speculation. Our conclusions as to how the bell came to South Caicos are based on the following series of admittedly disjointed facts, but when considered together they lead to an inevitable and irresistible conclusion. Fact: It is known The Bell that Grand Turk was Home to one Jeremiah D. Murphy, a larger-than-life Irish hard hat diver par excellence. Mr. Murphy arrived on Grand Turk in 1852, and used it as his base of operations until his death in 1895. Fact: Murphy and his two brothers were hired by the Danish government to clear St. Thomas’ harbor of the remains of a number of ships wrecked in the hurricane of 1867. Fact: Murphy also salvaged RMS Rhone, recovering such diverse items as bales of cotton, copper, an anchor and chain, and even a little gold, for which he received a reward of approximately $20,000. Fact: Upon completion of the harbor clearance project the grateful inhabitants of St. Thomas presented Murphy with a gold medallion commemorating his fortitude, skill and dedication. How grueling and dangerous such work was in the 1860's can be deduced from the fact that both of Jeremiah’s brothers died in diving-related accidents during the several years the Murphys spent working in the Virgin Islands. The ship shown in raised relief on one side of the medallion looks suspiciously like RMS Rhone, although it is said to be another vessel actually raised by the Murphys. Although we have not been able to find any record that Murphy salvaged and kept Rhone’s bell, it is logical to conclude that that is what happened. How the bell ended up in the Anglican Church on South Caicos instead of one of the churches on Grand Turk is still a mystery, but as volunteers at the National Museum accumulate and read more of the written records pertaining to this period the answer may be revealed. So the short answer to the original question is: “RMS Rhone.” Where does Hollywood fit in you ask? Surely you remember “The Deep,” a tale spun by “Jaws” author Peter Bencheley? Hollywood turned it into a blockbuster movie starring Robert Shaw, Jacqueline Bisset, and Nick Nolte. The story is set in Bermuda, but the producers decided to shoot the thrilling underwater scenes on the Rhone because of the site’s impressive iron skeleton, shallow depth, and beautiful clear water. Interestingly, Bencheley set “Island,” another of his novels in the Turks & Caicos–but that’s another story . . . . Contents of this story: Ships of Discovery Donald Keith and Randel Davis See Winter 2002/3 issue of Astrolabe Printed from Turks and Caicos National Museum (http://www.tcmuseum.org). Printed On: Friday, November 21st, 2008