Elysium (The Elysium)
- You may wish to consult
Elysium (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
The Elysium, also called The Elysium, was a commercial steamer that crashed in 1888 (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm [+]Loading...["Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm (short story)"]) in an event known as the Crash of the Elysium. (PROSE: The North West Historical Society [+]Loading...["The North West Historical Society (feature)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Construction and early voyages[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Elysium was built by Mayfield Star Lines as a commercial steamer. (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm [+]Loading...["Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm (short story)"]) The Elysium was built alongside her sister, the Erebus. The two ships were photographed by the Manchester Ship Canal Co. while under construction. (PROSE: The Elysium [+]Loading...["The Elysium (feature)"]) The Elysium was a basic ship as it was not built for passengers, of which the Titanic was an example of. (PROSE: Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! [+]Loading...["Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! (short story)"])
The Elysium was christened (PROSE: The Elysium [+]Loading...["The Elysium (feature)"]) and launched in the summer of 1887 (PROSE: Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! [+]Loading...["Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! (short story)"]) in Manchester by the Princess Helena. Over the next year, the Elysium had over thirty successful voyages, (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm [+]Loading...["Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm (short story)"]) with one such voayge being photographed by the Manchester Ship Canal Co. when her cargo was unloaded at the Salford Quays. (PROSE: The Elysium [+]Loading...["The Elysium (feature)"])
The Crash of the Elysium[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: The Crash of the Elysium
On 17 July 1888, the Elysium catastrophically grounded herself on rocks half a mile away from "the extremities of the South Coast" during a storm that measured a force 12 on the Beaufort scale, with winds over ninety knots. Her cargo included valuable metals including over £1000 worth of gold ingots, as well as industrial machine parts for the cotton trade. Captain T. A. Solomon and the rest of the eight man crew were reported missing to the coastguard's office in the early hours of the morning and salvage rights were under dispute by local agencies. On 18 July, The Manchester Guardian reported the crash. (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm [+]Loading...["Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm (short story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Elysium gained notoriety among the diving community if the ship actually had gold ingots included in its cargo. Some believed that the claims of gold were part of an insurance scam. (PROSE: Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! [+]Loading...["Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! (short story)"]) It appeared as if, since the initial beaching of the Elysium in 1888, (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm [+]Loading...["Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm (short story)"]) the Elysium later sank. (PROSE: Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! [+]Loading...["Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! (short story)"])
In the 2010s, the North West Historical Society began researching "the Crash of the Elysium", with them launching a website in which they documented the Elysium; (PROSE: The North West Historical Society [+]Loading...["The North West Historical Society (feature)"]) in particular, they transcribed the 18 July 1888 edition of The Manchester Guardian, which curiously differed from the scan of the newspaper they included. Their transcript instead claimed that, in addition to the cargo of precious metals and machinery, there was a piece of confidential cargo transported under government warrant, and that there was no storm in that sector at the time of the crash. They further elaborated that Whitehall had been recorded by not commenting on the cargo, that crew records at left at Mortimer House imply that the secret cargo was a valuable statue, and that eyewitness saw an angelic woman emerge from the wreckage, but officials dismissed the claims as "wild fancy". (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm [+]Loading...["Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm (short story)"])
Amateur diver Daryl Christofi also took interest in the Elysium, citing it as his latest diving project. (PROSE: Daryl Christofi [+]Loading...["Daryl Christofi (feature)"]) Documenting his efforts on his website, he explained he had obtained salvage rights to the ship; his efforts were focused on retrieving the ingots of gold, which were, by the 2010s, worth over £10000000, after consulting the shipping logs. After several unsuccessful attempts, his first successful dive had him locate the ship, whereupon he noted the ship's good condition despite the surrounding area being silty; he also managed to retrieve some pottery on this dive, which he loaned to a touring exhibition about the Elysium. Daryl planned another dive to the Elysium for the next month. (PROSE: Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! [+]Loading...["Enthusiastic Amateur Diver Shares His Discoveries With You! (short story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- While not stated explicitly in any source, valid or not, the implication set by Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm is that is was sunk by the Weeping Angel that was being transported; however, no explanation is given for why the North West Historical Society's transcript of The Manchester Guardian differs from the scan of the newspaper.
- This ship is the titular ship from The Crash of the Elysium, however, despite the beginning of that immersive experience taking place at an exhibition about the steamer Elysium, the story actually revolves around a different Elysium, a spaceship that was also carrying a Weeping Angel as its cargo. No explanation is given, either, for this coincidence.
- Furthermore, the web tie-ins for The Crash of the Elysium were released in 2011 to coincide with the initial release of the immersive experience, but they were not updated when the experience was moved from Manchester to Ipswich in 2012, leaving the contradictory setting of the experience only present in the experience itself.
- Additionally, no explanation of what happened to this Weeping Angel is given.
- This ship has no relation to the SS Elysium from the 1993 Virgin New Adventures novel Iceberg.
Information from invalid sources[[edit] | [edit source]]
In either Manchester 2011 or Ipswich 2012, depending on the variation of the source, there was an exhibition about the Elysium which a group of humans visited. However, coincidentally, a spaceship called the Elysium crash landed at the same time, leading the army to evacuate and enlist the humans to explore the second Elysium with them. (STAGE: The Crash of the Elysium [+]Loading...["The Crash of the Elysium (stage play)"])
Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Elysium.
The Elysium.
A bird's eye view of the construction of the Elysium and the Erebus.
The Elysium.
The Elysium's cargo is unloaded at the Salford Quays.
The Elysium is launched in Manchester.
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