The Noronic Sixty Years Later
Sep 17
Personal noronic, royal york hotel, toronto harbour, wedding anniversary No Comments
If they were still alive, today would mark my parents 60th wedding anniversary. So what does that have to do with the Noronic? For that matter, what is the Noronic? I grew up with an awareness of the Noronic, a Great Lakes steamship which burned in Toronto harbour on September 17, 1949.
The fire remains Toronto’s worse ever disaster, taking the lives of 120 people, mostly Americans. The Noronic was docked at pier 9 on the night of September 16th, the fire was discovered about 2:30am. The cause of the fire was never determined. The 30 year old luxury steamship’s woodwork, well maintained with years of oil polish, served as an accelerant for the fire which quickly engulfed the ship.
My parents were married the day the Noronic burned. My mother’s maid of honour never made it to their wedding as she was called back into work at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto. The hotel was one of dozens of buildings turned into temporary morgues and medical centres. My aunt filled in for the maid of honour and the Noronic entered the family history as a point of interest just as my great-grandfather going down on the Titanic has.
When my mother died in March 2000 I asked the then interim priest of the Anglican church I attend to conduct her service. When Roy Shepherd met with dad they discovered that in many ways their paths had crossed even though they had never met. Roy was sent from a university in Montreal to Toronto look at the socialogical implications of the disaster, later was rector Little Norway Anglican church in Toronto where my parents were married and had been a Legion chaplain. Dad was a Legion member.
Recently I mentioned the anniversary to a member of the branch and was surprised to learn he had been a 19 year old cab driver in Toronto at the time the Noronic burned. He was one of dozens of cabs who volunteered their time and cabs to shuttle the injured and the dead to medical care and morgues. He spoke briefly of the lasting impact that experience had on him. We never know the paths we cross.
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