Surviving Savannah

Everly is now a professor of art history at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Oliver Samford, her deceased friend Mora’s former fiancé, visits her at work. Everly hasn’t seen him in a year. He looks the same, but Everly knows his life has been altered in the same way as hers.

He needs her help curating an exhibit. Everly hints that because she and Mora were childhood best friends, she is more bereaved than he is. They argue until Oliver states, “This is not a contest of grief, Everly. That isn’t why I’m here” (11). Everly worries that he might say what she has been thinking all along: She should have died, not Mora. Oliver tells Everly that if anyone else were as qualified, he’d have gone to them. Oliver knew she would be reluctant—but, if she agrees, she will have every resource. The exhibit will feature the steamship Pulaski, which catches Everly’s attention.

Everly asks for proof that the steamship was found. Oliver reveals that they found a candlestick engraved with “Pulaski” and other indicators of the wealth that were lost during the wreck. He believes that the tale of the Pulaski is worth telling, and she is the best one to do it. Everly’s heritage, storytelling abilities, and love of Savannah’s history make her the perfect curator for the exhibit. Oliver adds that she could finally figure out what happened to Lilly Forsyth. Tempted, Everly reminds him that Lilly is more of a myth than a real person. Oliver argues that she is real and that Everly is the person to prove it.

On June 13, 1838, Lilly Forsyth steps out of a carriage and stares up at the steamship Pulaski. The ship is a massive beauty, carved and painted intricately to attract aristocrats. Lilly takes her five-month-old daughter, Madeline, from her nursemaid, an enslaved Black woman named Priscilla. Adam Forsyth, Lilly’s husband, checks that Lilly looks appropriate for a woman of her standing. Lilly considers how charmed she was by him when they first met. His looks and manners fooled her into thinking he’d fulfill her dream of marrying into a happy life.

Adam orders Lilly to tie her bonnet and give Madeline back to Priscilla. Lilly does, wondering why she is always tempted to refuse Adam’s demands despite knowing the cost. She is covered in bruises from Adam’s rough treatment and violent sex. The fast ship’s itinerary reflects its wide appeal. There will be one night at a dock in Charleston and only one out at sea.

Savannah’s elite funnel onto the ship. Lilly notices Priscilla’s discomfort and assumes that her concern comes from the stories of the slave ships that brought Priscilla’s mother across the Atlantic. Lilly assures Priscilla that the ship was built by her maternal uncle Lamar and is of the finest quality. Priscilla is actually nervous about getting seasick.

Adam shoves his way up the gangplank, eager to board. Lilly reaches the promenade deck and notices a warehouse labeled “Forsyth Wharf” and sees another labeled “Longstreet Wharf,” named after Uncle Lamar. Adam is particularly jealous of Lamar. He does not like the closeness between Lilly and her aunt Augusta, Lamar’s younger sister, only one year older than Lilly.

Lilly is greeted by her friend Daphne Finn. Despite Daphne’s beauty, Lilly was never jealous of her, believing that beauty fades and is a detriment to independence. The two worriedly discuss a steamship named Home that recently sank, drowning many passengers. They quell their concern by noting the Pulaski’s differences.

The ship departs and Lilly watches Savannah fade in the distance. The Longstreet family appears. She greets Melody, Lamar’s wife, but her attention quickly focuses on Augusta and her youngest cousin, two-year-old Thomas. Augusta sees one of Lilly’s bruises and asks what they should do. Before Lilly can reply, Priscilla tells her their cabin is ready, and they head there. Lilly says would never have married Adam if she knew his true nature. She lets herself disassociate, a coping mechanism she adopted to survive her marriage.

Everly wanders Savannah, taking longer to get to her mother’s house than usual. She is preoccupied with Oliver’s request, considering how Savannah is hard to capture properly through words or images.

Everything in Savannah reminds Everly of Mora. Grief has been familiar to her since Papa died 10 years prior, but Mora’s death stripped Everly of her outgoing and curious nature. When she arrives home, Harriet asks if Everly went to the cemetery. Everly admits she hasn’t been there in a while. Harriet quickly changes the subject to Allyn’s impending arrival. Everly goes to the house’s library. From one of the windows, she can see the wall that separated her home from Mora’s childhood home. Harriet comments that Everly always loved the oil painting they have of the Pulaski. Everly shares that the Pulaski has finally been found. They talk about Papa’s stories, and Everly mentions that Oliver wants her to work on the exhibit but admits her reluctance.

Harriet tells Everly that she can’t let her grief keep her from rekindling her joie de vivre. Guilt-ridden, Everly begins to have a panic attack but stops it by focusing on Papa’s pocket watch, still sitting proudly nearby. Harriet apologizes for triggering the attack by pushing Everly to pursue the project. Allyn arrives, and Everly jokingly asks her to save her from Harriet’s advice. Allyn thinks working with Oliver is a bad idea, but Harriet states that Lilly may finally want to share the secrets of what happened to the Pulaski.

Augusta, Lilly’s aunt, has been viewed as a widow since her fiancé's death and is known as the renowned businessman Lamar Longstreet’s little sister. Lamar’s children are on the deck of the Pulaski, from 14-year-old Charles to two-year-old Thomas, Augusta’s favorite nephew. She thinks about how accomplished Lamar is and considers the massive bags of Lamar’s cotton to be shipped off to the North and to Britain.

Augusta sees Henry MacMillan, a New Yorker and overseer of the Pulaski’s construction. He looks satisfied with the ship, on her fourth voyage. The Longstreets and Henry line up on the deck and greet passengers. Adam appears at Lamar’s side, doing his best to ingratiate himself. He joins Lamar and Henry’s conversation about the South’s future in dominating coastal transportation. Henry bristles at that comment. Augusta recoils at Adam’s false familiarity with Lamar, and it is clear Lamar is also uncomfortable with him.

Lamar takes Adam on a tour of the boiler room with Charles, leaving Augusta alone with Henry. She is nervous and infatuated with Henry but does her best to maintain her composure. Augusta tells him about a pair of sisters who had a bad feeling about the Pulaski and booked travel on another ship. Henry tells her with a grin the ship is trustworthy. They discuss what they are reading. Augusta laments that Henry views her only as an intellectual and not as a woman he could be romantically attracted to. Augusta admits to herself that there is no way they’d be a suitable match: He’s a Northerner who abhors slavery, and she is part of a family that directly benefits from it.

Augusta thinks about her fiancé, who died of consumption a year ago. She didn’t love him, but she did respect him. When he died, she realized that her future was changed. She’s the youngest daughter of three, only moderately attractive, both her parents are dead, and she is dependent on her brother’s kindness to survive. She tells Thomas that they “have a grand adventure ahead of us” (43).

Everly plans to accept the curation job. It will let her avoid her own life for a while. She walks to Forsyth Park. Memories of the day Mora died overwhelm her. Everly, Mora, and Oliver were attending a St. Patrick’s Day parade. Everly bumped against Oliver, who bumped into Mora, causing her to get hit and killed by a car that ran into the crowd.

Everly gets coffee with Sophie, a friend and professor of African American studies. Everly reveals she’s on her way to the museum to work on the Pulaski exhibit. She is accepting the job because she wants something to do, not because she is fated to be with Oliver, as her mother believes.

At the museum, Everly goes to Oliver’s office. She tells him she will curate the exhibit only if she is paid enough to buy her house. They discuss the shipwreck and that, coincidentally, Mora’s family arrived in Georgia because of a shipwreck. They survived the shipwreck as Irish indentured servants, and the founder of Savannah bought out their contracts.

Oliver shows Everly artifacts collected by a diver named Maddox Wagner. They discuss what happened to the Pulaski. On June 14, 1838, the ship exploded. There were only four lifeboats. Oliver points out a slave ship called the Wanderer. In 1858, disguised as a yacht, it went to Africa and returned with 400 enslaved Africans, nearly 50 years after the international slave trade was outlawed in the US. One of the Pulaski survivors, Charles Longstreet, was behind it. Despite gaining the nickname Noble Boy after the disaster, his actions gave him a new nickname: the Red Devil. Charles was also the last Confederate to die in the Civil War. He was Lilly Forsyth’s cousin.

Lilly avoids Adam. She hasn’t spoken to Augusta alone yet. When they meet, Lilly says Adam brought enough gold not only to sustain them on their travels but also to buy a new cotton gin. Before Augusta can ask about Adam’s abuse, Lilly changes the subject.

Adam arrives and Augusta leaves. He has Priscilla take Madeline from Lilly, drags Lilly to her cabin, and assaults her.

That night, Lilly is finally safe from Adam, as he is staying in another cabin. She, Madeline, and Priscilla fall asleep. Not long after, an explosion awakens Lilly and Priscilla. Madeline cries out as Lilly jumps up and pulls her close. Lilly’s first thought is that Adam’s anger boiled over and he shot someone. But the sound didn’t come from him. The boat starts tilting, throwing Lilly off-balance. Smoke seeps through the doorway and Priscilla calmly states there is a fire on the ship.

Lilly thinks clearly enough to hand Madeline to Priscilla. The narrator says, “Lilly reached for the silk jewelry bag […] [S]he would not leave without her valuables; they could mean freedom. She knew this even in the depth of her fear” (62-63). They hear the screams and wails of other passengers. As they leave the cabin, floorboards pop up, and Lilly’s foot goes through a hole, injuring her ankle. Priscilla guides Lilly toward the deck. Fire and the scent of burning flesh follow them as they head to the promenade. Men throw anything overboard to slow the ship’s descent. Lilly looks for lifeboats, as neither she nor Priscilla can swim. She asks Priscilla to wrap Madeline up and tie her to Lilly’s chest, as she had seen enslaved women do with their children. Priscilla rips cloth from her nightgown and ties Madeline to Lilly.

The two beg for help as the lifeboats start leaving, but the man they ask is in a daze. Then another man that Lilly recognizes, First Mate Hibbert, tells them they must go to the lifeboats. The boiler exploded, and the engine caught fire. The ship is sinking, and nothing will stop it.

Everly meets Maddox Wagner, the diver who found the Pulaski. They meet in the garden of the museum. Everly surveys Maddox, trying to read him. His face is covered with lines and wrinkles, evidence of a difficult life. She interviews him about finding the Pulaski. Maddox pulls out a stack of photos of artifacts he and his crew have recovered.

As Everly looks at the photos, Maddox removes her sunglasses. He can’t tell what she thinks if he can’t see her eyes. Maddox states if Everly is going to properly curate the exhibit, she needs to feel what happened to understand the people on the boat. Everly says she is enthusiastic to learn about those experiences and stories. Maddox says he chose her because of her reputation for being an empathetic historian and storyteller.

Everly realizes Maddox is giving her a lot of responsibility, and she accepts it. Maddox shows her a barnacle-covered pocket watch recovered from the Pulaski wreck. They make plans to have dinner to continue discussing the shipwreck and exhibit.

Augusta enjoyed her two days aboard the Pulaski and is looking forward to arriving in Baltimore the next day. She bunks with her nephews Charles and Thomas. Augusta looks at the boys, sleeping peacefully, when suddenly an explosion rips through the night air. Heat seeps into the room. Augusta snaps into action and wakes Charles and Thomas, telling them the ship is on fire. Charles gets up, and they realize the boy’s berth shifted and is blocking the door. Augusta tries to help Charles move it, but it won’t budge.

Charles tells her he’s going to save them and tries to go through the transom above the door. But before he can, the ship shudders, moving enough for the berth to slide away. They make their way to the promenade deck and find Melody. Augusta asks if she has seen Lilly, and Melody says she hasn’t, but they must get on a lifeboat. With Melody are her four other children, Eliza, William, Rebecca, and Caroline. The group rush to the lifeboats as the ship rips in half. Augusta steels herself; she must keep the children alive.

Everly and Maddox stand at the riverfront. She gives him an abbreviated history of Savannah going back to 1733, when a philanthropist built it for the working poor. They begin discussing Lilly Forsyth as they come upon her statue. Everly explains the challenges of researching women in history when most are only known as the wife of someone else.

Everly tells Maddox about Charles Longstreet. She wants to know what made him the Red Devil and what happened to the rest of the Longstreet family, including Lilly. Everly thinks about her own trauma. Before Maddox can ask her about it, she changes the subject, and the two walk to a riverside restaurant.

On the walk, Everly sees Oliver in a bar, apparently on a date with an unfamiliar woman. She’s upset because he seems to have moved on from Mora’s death in a way she hasn’t. Maddox snaps her out of her thoughts and says it's important to visit the places where things happened to get a feel for the event and people. Everly agrees. Everly, thinking about Mora, wishes she could rewrite history. A waiter cuts her off, annoying Maddox. He loves that shipwrecks encourage people to talk about their lives. He prompts Everly to continue explaining why she would rewrite history, but she claims to have lost her train of thought.

The two discuss how the Pulaski’s boiler exploded. Everly wants to see the wreck in person. Maddox vehemently objects. She reminds him that she’s an expert diver and asks what the wreck looks like. Maddox tells her it’s a pile of copper due to the wood rotting away.