American historian 'thrilled' efforts to honour Canadian hero paid off

A Canadian hero who had lain in an unmarked grave for decades now has a tombstone honouring his life, thanks to an American author’s discovery of the story during a visit to Halifax five years ago. 

Frank Jastrzembski, who is also a historian, stumbled across Rev. William Ancient’s story at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in 2017 and jotted down the memorable name of the priest involved in rescuing people from the sinking SS Atlantic in 1873.

The steamship left England for New York that March, but ran low on coal. The captain changed course to Halifax. It ran ashore near Lower Prospect, N.S., at Marrs