It is irrevocably lost.

He did not realize that it was an essential when he had it; he only discovers it now when he finds himself balked, hampered, by its absence.

It will be years before the tale of lost essentials is complete, and not till then can he truly know the magnitude of his disaster.
The 18th of August brought me the awful tidings.

The mother and the sister were out there in mid-Atlantic, ignorant of what was happening; flying to meet this incredible calamity.

All that could be done to protect them from the full force of the shock was done by relatives and good friends.