No Fighting Chance: Ireland's Lady of the Lake Disaster of 1833

The Lady of the Lake is known today as the "Little Titanic"- a shipwreck that proceeded the larger disaster by 79 years. She shared many of the same unfortunate attributes as her more recognized sister: -She struck an iceberg late in the season in the North Atlantic. -She sunk quickly with great loss of life, and -She inhabits the seabed close to the RMS Titanic, off the coast of Newfoundland. But the similarities end there and not because of her size or notoriety. Rather the actions of the Lady of the Lake's captain distinguishes her. For he was a coward and a murderer. On a clear morning in 1833, the waters about the ship are littered with icebergs. The captain and most of the crew are too intoxicated to recognize the danger despite warnings from the Irish passengers. An iceberg slashes the ship's port side and as the passengers scurry about to understand the meaning of the ship's sudden arrest and listing, the captain and crew sober up enough to depart in boats to save their own necks. True a number of passengers hurriedly join them in the boats but the captain looks for and finds an opportunity to abandon and bludgeon them later. No Fighting Chance is not just a retelling of the cruel story of the victims and survivors of the Lady of the Lake. It also speaks to the Irish soul in 1833. While the Lady of the Lake saga is being played out at sea another fateful event is occurring in a boxing ring in England. This is the bare-knuckled championship bout for Great Britain. The adversaries are the Scotish champion James Deaf'un Burke and the Irish champion Simon Byrne. They would fight the longest fight in history-99 rounds and three hours and six minutes long. One would walk away champion; the other would like from "mortification". Unfortunately, Ireland would mourn two great blows to its collective soul in 1833: the loss of the Lady of the Lake and the death of Simon Byrne.