In the early morning hours of May 29th, 1914,
the RMS Empress of Ireland was enroute from Quebec to Liverpool
when she was struck by a Norwegian cargo ship called the Storstad.
The Storstad, which was carrying more than 10,000 tons of coal,
sliced through the hull of the Empress with devastating consequences.
As the cargo ship pulled away from the Empress, more than 60,000 gallons
of water began pouring into the doomed liner every second.
In just 14 minutes,
the Empress capsized and sank, killing 1,012 people,
many of them entombed in her hull at the bottom of the St Lawrence River.
It remains the worst peacetime disaster in Canadian history.
Despite the huge loss of life., the tragedy was quickly
overshadowed by the onset of World War 1 just two months later.
Today, we
explore the life and death of the Empress of Ireland
and the legacy of this often overlooked piece
of history.
Construction
on the Empress of Ireland began in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1905.
She was the second of two ships ordered by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company
as a result of Canada's expansion into the lucrative transatlantic market
the previous year.
While shipping companies like the Cunard and White Star Lines
competed for passengers
with large and luxurious ocean liners like the Lusitania and the Titanic,
the Canadian Pacific line produced ships with efficiency in mind.
At 570 feet, or 170 meters,
and just a little more than 14,000 tons., the Empress of Ireland
and her identical sister ship, the Empress of Britain,
were not made to cater to the rich and famous.
They were, however, a reliable and affordable way
for tens of thousands of immigrants to cross the Atlantic in just a few days.
Author and scholar James Croall says the Empress
never aspired to the standards of ostentatious luxury that were the mark
of the gigantic super ships competing for the rich New York market.
But they did establish an unchallenged reputation
for something that early 20th century travelers understood and appreciated,
namely solid comfort.
On June 29th, 1906,
the Empress of Ireland set out on her maiden voyage.
In 1909, the Empress tore a hole in her hole
after striking a sunken wreck in the St Lawrence River, an eerie incident
that one might say foreshadowed the Empress's fate five years later.
In 1912., in response
to the Titanic disaster, the Empress's wooden lifeboats were replaced
with 16 steel lifeboats and 26 collapsible lifeboats.
Combined, they could carry
nearly 300 more people than the ship was licensed to carry.
No amount of safety equipment, however, could have prepared
the passengers and crew for the horrifying events of May
29th, 1914.
The Empress of Ireland began her 96th
transatlantic crossing on May 28th, 1914, when she left
Quebec City bound for Liverpool with nearly 1,500 passengers and crew.
As she set off that afternoon, members of the Salvation Army
band sang the hymnal "God be with you till we meet again."
Commanding the doomed liner was 39-year-old Henry George
Kendall, who had just been promoted to captain that month.
This would be his first time taking the Empress down the
St Lawrence River.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian cargo ship
the Storstad was on its way to Quebec, carrying nearly 11,000 tons of coal.
The Storstad was being captained by Thomas Andersen,
who had been in command of the ship since it entered service in 1911.
Onboard the Empress that evening, on
May 28th, passengers enjoyed dinner between six and 7:00 p.m.
and most were in bed by ten.
Around 1:30 a.m.
the Empress dropped off her river pilot as she approached
the Gulf of Saint Lawrence before entering the Atlantic.
A river pilot is someone who helps the captain navigate
the ship in rivers and other inland waterways before going into the ocean.
Shortly after dropping off the river pilot, a lookout on the Empress
spotted the Storstad about six miles east off the starboard side.
This is where accounts of what happened next can vary slightly, depending on
who you ask.
According to reports, Captain Kendall aboard the Empress decided to alter course
slightly so that his ship and the Storstad could pass starboard to starboard.
As the Empress pulled away from shore, a thick fog
suddenly rolled in, concealing the ships from each other.
At this point, all they had to go on was the sound of each other's whistles.
Concerned by the fog, Captain
Kendall wanted to take extra precaution when departing.
He blew the Empress's whistle three times to indicate to the Storstad
that his ship was reversing.
The Storstad then blew one long whistle in response,
indicating that they were approaching on the starboard side.
Kendall then blew his whistle two more times to communicate that
the Empress was at a standstill and waiting for the Storstad to pass.
Onboard the Storstad , Captain Anderson, had gone to bed for the night,
leaving his 33-year-old chief officer in command, according to his testimony.
The chief officer thought that the Empress was signaling that it was trying
to pass the Storstad port to port.
By the time the chief officer spotted the Empress, it was too late.
He called for Captain Andersen, who arrived on the bridge
less than a minute before impact.
Aboard the
Empress, Captain Kendall saw the cargo ship emerge from the fog.
The Storstad was coming directly toward the Empress at about ten knots.
In a vain attempt to avoid a collision or at least avoid a direct impact.
Kendall ordered the Empress to turn to starboard
so that the stern of the ship would swing out away from the oncoming Storstad.
With so little time to react, a collision was unavoidable.
The Storstad penetrated the Empress mid ship
between its two funnels.
The freighter
tore some 20 feet or six meters into the ship
and 25 feet or eight meters below the waterline on the starboard side.
When the Storstad reversed, it left a gaping hole
some 14 feet wide or 4.2 meters.
Despite the destruction, the impact was deceptively gentle,
according to survivors.
That's because, as one historian wrote, the Storstad had gone
between the liner steel ribs as smoothly as an assassin's knife.
Immediately,
tens of thousands of gallons of dark river water poured into the Empress.
Passengers below deck who had been sleeping just moments before
quickly drowned .
Those who didn't die quickly found themselves
struggling in total darkness to traverse the flooded corridors
as the ship lurched to starboard.
Dr. James
Grant, the ship's surgeon on the Empress, later recalled,
"I knew nothing of what was occurring until I was rolled out of my berth
by the listing of the boat." "At once, I knew that there was something wrong
and I tried to turn on the lights, but the power was off.
I could not find the door.
I heard screams of terror and the sound of rushing water.
I did not know what was wrong, nor was there anything to guide me
as to the danger."
He managed to pull himself through an open porthole where he found himself
standing on the port side of the ship with other passengers and crew.
Watching the waves come up the side of the ship, he said, felt
like he was walking down to the beach.
Portholes
that have been left open overnight also hasten the sinking,
as some of them were only a few feet above the waterline to begin with.
Within five or six minutes, electricity on the ship went out and the ship
listed so badly that none of the lifeboats on the port side could be launched.
About 14 minutes after the collision,
the Empress made her final plunge into the St Lawrence River.
Captain Kendall was thrown from the bridge as the ship keeledd over onto its side.
And when he resurfaced, the Empress was gone.
The 465 survivors were taken aboard the Storstad
and two other Canadian government ships, the Eureka and Lady Evelyn.
Out of the 138 children who were onboard, only four of them survived.
One of them was eight year old Florence Lorraine Barber,
who was traveling in second class with her mother and sister.
Florence was saved by a man named Robert Crellin,
a family friend who had been accompanying the Barbours on their journey.
It was later revealed that Crellin was to marry
Florence's mother once they reached England,
but sadly both Florence's mother and sister died in the sinking.
Crellin later commented on Florence's bravery
to reporters, saying, "The child was pluckier than a stout man.
She never even whimpered and complaint was out of the question."
Florence added, "I felt somehow that I had not let him down
by disgracing myself and crying."
In the end, 1,012 people died in the sinking of the Empress of Ireland,
many of them remained entombed in the hull of the ship,
never having a chance to escape.
Nearly 200 victims were later recovered by the Lady
Gray and taken back to Quebec.
As Canada mourned this national tragedy,
officials went to work to determine who was at fault.
The official inquiry into the sinking placed blame on the Storstad crew,
specifically its chief officer, Alfred Tofftenes, who was at the helm.
The chief officer's testimony was quite damning to the Storstad's defense,
as it demonstrated a lack of experience and good judgment on Tofftenes's part.
When Tofftenes was asked if the trial of he believed that the Storstad
had the right of way, the chief officer answered yes.
"What does that mean"" asked Mr.
Aspinall, who was legal counsel for Canadian Pacific Railway.
"It means that we were entitled
to keep our course and our speed, replied the officer.
"Do you seriously mean to suggest that you were entitled
to maintain your speed in the fog?" "Not full speed," said the officer.
"Moderate speed." "Was it right to blow two short blast
to signify that you had stopped your ship and then order your engines ahead?
Was it not misleading?" asked Mr. Aspinall.
"There was no time for it to be misleading." And finally,
when asked if calling for the captain sooner could have helped avoid
the collision, the officer responded that he saw no reason
for the captain to come as he saw no danger of a collision.
In the end, the court ruled against the owners of the Storstad,
forcing them to pay 2 million dollars in damages to CPR.
As for the Storstad it was given to CPR as recompense
for the damages and later sold for $175,000.
As for news of the Empress,
headlines of the disaster were soon replaced by the onset of World War 1.
Just two months later,
in a strange
twist of fate, the Storstad was sunk by a German U-boat during the war in
1917, killing three crew members.
The Empress lies in about 130 feet or 40 meters of water,
which is relatively shallow for a ship her size.
In fact,
two months after the sinking, it was reported
that the wreck of the Empress was shifting, causing her masts to rest
just 35 feet or 11 meters below the surface.
Cecause of the hazard this posed to other ships,
divers had to blast off the Empress's masts.
On April 30th, 1998.
The wreck of the Empress of Ireland
was declared a historic site by the Quebec provincial government,
making it the first underwater heritage site in Quebec.
A plaque at the Marine Museum in Quebec shares the ship's lasting legacy
and the role she played in creating new lives for the immigrants who sailed her.
It reads in part: Tens of thousands of emigrants arrived
aboard the Empress of Ireland between 1986 and 1914.
Today, their mandy descendants remain historically and emotionally
connected to this symbol of the roots of their lives in Canada.
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