When Bysshe
and the others didn’t return when they should have, Mary and Jane Williams grew
ever more frantic. They went to Livorno, where they found that Ariel had indeed sailed that day. It
wasn’t until July 18 that Trelawny learned that bodies had washed ashore at
Viareggio, about thirty miles south of Casa Magni, about eighty miles north of
Livorno.
No one’s
entirely certain what happened. There was a sudden storm that sent experienced
sailors to the nearest port. Bysshe and the others were not experienced—and
Bysshe could not swim (as I’ve said). The boat capsized—and there would be
questions about the stability of its design, then and now—and no one survived.
That’s about all we know. Later, the boat was discovered, raised, sailed again
by others.
Trelawny had
the horrible task of telling Mary and Jane that their husbands were dead.
There’s really no information about the family of the boy Charles Vivian who’d
died, as well. Trelawny escorted the widows to Pisa, where they stayed with
Byron while Trelawny sorted things out.
Local laws
mandated a cremation on the beach, and Trelawny arranged it all. It occurred on
August 15, a week after the discovery of the bodies, bodies that were badly
damaged by their time in the Gulf of Spezia. Biographer Richard Holmes is
graphic: The exposed flesh of Shelley’s’
arms and face had been entirely eaten away ….[1]
According to local law, again, the bodies were buried in quicklime in the sand
until such time as the survivors could arrange a cremation.
Bysshe’s
identity was confirmed by his clothing—and by a book they found in his pocket—a
copy of Keats’ poems.
On Saturday,
April 24, 1999, I took a train from Pisa to Viareggio, a short ride of about
fourteen miles north along the coast. Here’s a bit from my journal about my
beach visit:
Viareggio is very developed, a resort town
w/ all that’s associated. There is a nice, long promenade, all of which I
walked in a vain search for beach Il Bambo. Oh well, I got some good shots of
the waterfront, where I saw fishermen selling their catch, & the
beach—which was the whole point, I guess.
So, I didn’t
find the exact spot where the bodies washed up. Then, just recently, I checked
the Web, where, of course, I found that there’s a monument to Shelley near the
beach. It’s been there since 1894. From what I can tell from the map, I was very near it. But didn’t see. And
obviously didn’t even know it was there! (Hmmm, anyone see a metaphor here?)
Pictures from that 1999 visit to Viareggio ...
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| Internet photo |
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