Author, illustrator, and stain glass window maker Lynette Richards felt compelled to shed light on the largest Canadian marine disaster, before the Titanic, that occurred just off Nova Scotia shores.
"They're buried anonymously at a grave at the end of my road, and nobody knows the story," said Richards.
When the S.S. Atlantic, a transatlantic ocean liner, hit rocks and sank off the coast of Lower Prospect on April 1, 1873, 535 people died. Richards says most of those killed were women and children.
The idea of few people knowing this story led Richards to create her first historical graphic novel Call Me Bill.
"I think that a graphic novel can illustrate with pictures and activate imaginations in a way that a book of words doesn’t do," she said.
Not only does the book recount the rescue and recovery efforts, but it also shares the story of a brave young sailor who was raised as a female, but identified and lived as a male aboard the ship.
"The story as the 'female sailor' as they refer to them at the newspapers at the time, there's enough evidence in the newspapers that that was also true," said Richards.
The book details Billy Armstrong's quest to live an authentic life, and the bravery it took to do so.
"It's always relevant when somebody lives a courageous life," she said.
With the disaster's 150th anniversary approaching in 2023, Richards hopes people will honour the victims, half of whom are buried in a local mass grave, including the sailor.
"Even though they were 19 years old when they died and were buried anonymously in a mass grave, 150 years later they can still inspire us," she said.
