Category: News Stories

Maclean’s: The Morgue That Sailed Springbank

A black and white photograph showing an artistic depiction of the passenger boat, the Victoria leaving Springbank Park on its last voyage which ended in the tragic drowning of the majority of people on board. In the left foreground two people sit in a rowboat looking towards the Victoria which is steaming away from the dock on the opposite shore. Many people are standing on the two tiered pavillion and on the bank watching. To the left of the Victoria, in the background can be seen part of another passenger boat. (Cairncross Collection, Ivey Family London Room, London Public Library)
A black and white photograph showing an artistic depiction of the passenger boat, the Victoria, leaving Springbank Park on its last voyage which ended in the tragic drowning of nearly 200. In the left foreground two people sit in a rowboat looking towards the Victoria which is steaming away from the dock on the opposite shore. Many people are standing on the two tiered pavillion and on the bank watching. To the left of the Victoria, in the background can be seen part of another passenger boat.
(Cairncross Collection, Ivey Family London Room, London Public Library)

Originally published in Maclean’s Magazine, May 28, 1955.

A MACLEAN’S FLASHBACK
By Stanley Fillmore

Almost Every Home In London, Ontario, Was Draped In Mourning When The Bodies Of a Hundred And Eighty-One Victoria Day Excursionists Formed The Final Link In An Incredible Chain Of Blundering Irresponsibility. 

On a sparkling Tuesday in May 1881, while Queen Victoria was celebrating her sixty- second birthday in London, England, a steamboat, also named VICTORIA, was cruising
on the Thames River near London, Ontario, crowded with more than six hundred exuberant excursionists. Suddenly, something happened.

From his seat in a racing skiff less than a hundred yards off the VICTORIA’s starboard bow, Harry Nicholls watched the boat wallow toward London. He saw her rock ponderously from side to side responding to the motion of the upper-deck passengers who were running from rail to rail. The unusual swaying did not startle Nicholls who was aware of the VICTORIA’s shallow draft, but as he watched he saw the rocking increase until inches of water were shipped at each swing. Suddenly, with a roar of hissing steam, the boat’s huge boiler broke loose from its mounting and crashed through the bulwarks. Water poured through the opening and Nicholls was enwrapped in a cloud of live steam. With a slow, almost deliberate, movement the VICTORIA settled on her side. From both decks passengers were catapulted into the river. Nicholls heard the muffled screams of those trapped between decks. His slim shell was almost swamped in the wake as the VICTORIA went down.

At least a hundred and eighty-one persons drowned on the May 24 excursion; of these, a hundred and ten were children. It was the blackest day in London’s history, the result of an almost incredible series of blunders that could easily have been averted.

By nightfall the flags that bedecked London homes and businesses to mark the Queen’s birthday were lowered to half-mast. For eight days afterward, the dead who had been hooked from the river were carried to their graves. Funeral directors started work before dawn and were still conducting services long after dark. The supply of coffins in London was exhausted the first day and one infant was buried in an adult casket.

All London’s nineteen thousand residents lost relatives or friends. One family, the Fryers, lost five members. By official decree a black armband became a Londoner’s badge of mourning for a thirty-day period. Business firms and schools closed for two days. Most homes in the city were draped in mourning. One milliner advertised in the London Advertiser: “Family mournings at A. B. Powell and Co. who are showing a large range of crapes and mourning-dress material. Our prices are low. Millinery orders executed at the shortest possible notice. Also dressmaking orders.” Draymen charged double their usual funeral rates.

Continue reading “Maclean’s: The Morgue That Sailed Springbank”

The Infamous Ford Shot..

..was just one photo of a few, taken by Toronto Star photog Lucas Oleniuk on June 21, 2013.

The byline:

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford held a press conference at City Hall Friday afternoon in response to possible provincial funding cuts to the city.

First Cast / Last Cast

After two years of being in the journalism program at Fanshawe College, I can finally look back at my time in it, and reflect. Reflect about what? Well, listening to my older newscasts, reflect on how far I’ve come when speaking into a microphone.

Being the digital packrat I am, I tracked down both my first cast done for the program (which was really a pre-recorded newscast for an assignment and never actually went on air) and my last newscasts done for the X this past March.

First off, the pre-recorded newscast from September 26, 2012.

 

And now a news update from 6:30am on March 14, 2014 (I would post the very last, done at noon with Emina, but I can’t find it on my computer! Of all the things!..)

 

It’s not the greatest clip, as I was still waking up. That being said, there still is a good difference (somewhat) between September 2012 me and March 2014 me.

I’m still in the midst of sorting through audio (LOTS OF AUDIO), files, and documents from my time in the program. There’s no doubt that more stuff will make its way up here.

Open post

College Confidential: 2012 Fleming Drive Riots

Update (March 2017): I have re-uploaded the two parts with redone voice overs and some script tweaks. I was never happy with how it sounded. That being said, you should know that I haven’t updated the documentary, so it’s still dated for March 2014.

Part 1 (11:50) [Download]

Part 2 (14:41) [Download]

In the second year of Fanshawe’s journalism program, students are placed on a series of four to five week stints — “rotations” — where they do one particular thing for that time period. For example, a student may spend five weeks as a reporter covering a particular beat, while the subsequent five weeks will be spent newscasting

At some point, a student will serve as a ‘current affairs/documentary’ producer for one rotation. Said rotation is made up of several week-long sub-rotations, where you a) make three four-minute radio documentaries, b) host the show that airs said documentaries, c) make a video documentary, and d) produce a 26-minute feature.

Last week, I was tasked to do d), and since last week was also the week St. Patrick’s Day took place, I decided to revisit the infamous 2012 St. Patrick’s Day riots that occurred around Fleming Drive.

Around 1,000 people were involved in the mayhem that stretched into the early morning hours. By the end, there were multiple arrests, injuries, and $100,000 in reported damage. The city and Fanshawe College suffered major black eyes from the incident as the story began to appear in regional, national, and then international media.

One of the more notorious moments of the riots was the overturning and subsequent torching of a news truck belonging to CTV London.

The piece, which was assembled in about 3 and a half days, is in two segments, which you can listen to above.

Thanks to London Police Chief Brad Duncan, former XFM’er Marty Thompson, CTV London’s Chuck Dickson, and FSU President Adam Gourlay for speaking with me.

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