The SS Noronic and the disaster in Toronto Harbour in the early morning 1949
On my walk through Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, I visited the grave of those who were killed—and the hundreds more who were injured—in the early-morning fire aboard the SS Noronic, still the single greatest loss of life in Toronto’s history.
The luxury cruise ship Noronic was built for passenger and package-freight service on the Great Lakes and launched on June 2, 1913. Decades later, on September 14, 1949, she embarked on a seven-day pleasure cruise of Lake Ontario from Detroit. After departing Detroit, she picked up additional passengers in Cleveland, Ohio, and was scheduled to travel on to Prescott, Ontario, and the Thousand Islands before returning to Sarnia for the winter lay-up. Those plans were cut short only three days into the voyage.
In the early hours of September 17, 1949, while Noronic lay docked overnight at Pier 9 in Toronto Harbour with 524 passengers aboard, crew members smelled smoke coming from a locked linen closet. By the time fire trucks arrived at 2:41 a.m., the entire ship was engulfed. The aftermath was devastating: 118 passengers and crew lost their lives. Most died from suffocation or burns; only one person drowned.
The grave at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery contains the remains of those whose bodies were never claimed after the disaster. The monument was placed by the Province of Ontario in their memory.
Faces and grave markers of those lost on the SS Noronic and buried in their hometown. All ending in 1949.
