How could two ships collide in the vast Atlantic Ocean?
In the early hours of 22 November 1873, passenger ship Ville du Havre collided with the British iron clipper, Loch Earn and sank in 12 minutes with the loss of 226 lives.
Among those on board were Annie, Maggie, Bessie and Tanetta Spafford, and their mother Anna. In the chaos of the collision, all passengers were thrown into the icy waters, and the four girls drowned. Their mother somehow clinged to driftwood and was rescued.
Upon hearing news of the tragedy their father, Horatio Spafford, rushed from his home in Chicago to be reunited with his wife Anna, who had been evacuated to England.
As the ship Horatio was on passed over the site where is daughter’s drowned, the captain ordered the engines cut, and he let Horatio stay for a while to take in the tragedy. Once the ship resumed, Horatio returned to his cabin and wrote this song, It Is Well with My Soul.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
(Refrain:) It is well (it is well),
with my soul (with my soul),
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
(Refrain)
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
(Refrain)
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
(Refrain)
And Lord haste the day, when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
(Refrain)
But this was not the only tragedy to befall the Spafford family
Horatio and Anna lost two boys to early childhood diseases, common at the time and, in 1871, lost most of their personal wealth in the Great Fire of Chicago.
Read more about this, and how Horatio Spafford was truly a modern-day Job, in It Is Well with My Soul: from Tragedy to Trust, out now on Amazon.
