When the Waters Are Deep

On November 22, 1873, a ship called the Ville du Havre collided with an iron sailing vessel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and sank in twelve minutes. Among the passengers were four young girls — Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta Spafford, daughters of Chicago attorney Horatio Spafford. All four drowned. Their mother, Anna, was pulled unconscious from the wreckage, the sole family survivor.…