These two roses* appear to be overlooking the scene of one of the worst marine disasters in Canadian history. They were found attached to a bench on the memorial boardwalk of the SS Atlantic in Lower Prospect. In the waters beyond, 546 of 975 passengers perished on the night of 1 April 1873 when the steamship Atlantic encountered a storm and struck an underwater rock off the Nova Scotia coast near Terrance Bay. Local residents, many of them fishermen, helped with the rescue. Just behind the boardwalk is the resting place for 277 of the victims.
*the roses were not real
