Ladies and gentlemen it's your friend Mike Brady from Ocean liner Designs today with a different
sort of video. Now I don't have a very big maritime history collection. I have a few small
bits and pieces here and there but nothing big and impressive there are some out there who've got
whole pieces of the RMS Olympic for example - I'm not one of them but I do have three pieces here
that are really special that I wanted to share with you and I'm wearing my Mickey Mouse gloves
because I don't want to damage them or get any skin oil on them. These are three artefacts from
the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland that each tells a very specific and different part
of the story I thought that I'd run through them and kind of tell you what they represent and what
they mean to me because I'm so absolutely thrilled to be able to have these as part of my collection.
Now the first piece I want to share with you and the first one that we'll talk about is this piece
of silver. Now 80 or 90 years at the bottom of the ocean have now turned it into a strange looking
metal lace but this was once a beautifully ornate piece of fruit bowl and it speaks
to the craftsmanship and the quality of the liner itself the Empress of Ireland because
no expense was spared by her owners Canadian Pacific in her and her sister ship the Empress
of Britain's construction. In the late 1890s the Canadian Pacific Railway operated a vast empire
literally spanning the globe with a fleet of ships and steam locomotives working in tandem
to carry passengers all over the world. It was famously advertised by the company that
one could travel from Canada across the Pacific to Japan, China and India
and then on through to Egypt, France and Britain before arriving back in Canada again
all without once ever having stepped foot from off of either a Canadian Pacific steamship or train.
By 1905 however the Company had a need for a new breed of liner to service its most profitable and
probably most prestigious route - the transatlantic service from Liverpool, England to Montreal, Canada.
Previously the route had been operated by a group of ships each about 9,000 gross registered tons
but the new sisters that were planned by Canadian Pacific would be much larger;
they were about 14,000 gross registered tons. Large too, about 570 feet long. They looked the part as
well; the previous generation of single funnel cargo hybrid liners looked almost utilitarian.
These two new identical sisters with their tall twin funnels would look much more like
the prestigious transatlantic liners operated by the likes of Cunard and White Star Line.
Everything about these two new ships would be of the highest quality for their passengers
and they would bring a new standard of luxury to the Britis-Canadian service.
The extra tonnage of the new ships ensured more passenger capacity and even some nice new spaces
to enjoy such as a first class music room. Third class children even had a sand pit to play in!
When Empress of Ireland was introduced, Montreal's Irish community was thrilled with the name choice
and gifted a set of silk flags to the ship which her captain had flown. As such the liner became a
favourite with many Irish immigrant families looking for passage to the new world.
For eight years she and her sister Empress of Britain operated a reliable, safe and comfortable service
but then in 1914 everything changed. Unlike many other parts of the wreck which are now totally
nondescript and rusted and covered in in sea life this is very very distinctive and you can
immediately tell what it is and where it came from and in fact it's even in a photograph taken from
around about the time of the Empress of Ireland's introduction. Carefully polished and proudly placed
on the first class dining saloon tables each day these small fruit bowls are indicative of the care
and attention to detail that Canadian Pacific took in planning and building these magnificent ocean
liners and they show the level of luxury that first class passengers could have enjoyed on board.
A huge improvement over all the ships operating in that part of the world.
Truly a beautiful piece and what I'm extremely fortunate to have but it really tells the story
of the Empress of Ireland's purpose. Now the second piece I wanted to talk to you about today;
this little piece of first class dining plate here, also from the first class dining saloon the
same as the fruit bowl. Now this can really tell us a lot about the way in which the Empress of
Ireland sank and the clue is in the fact that it isn't a whole plate... The Empress Sisters traversed
the open Atlantic before entering the mouth of the mighty St Lawrence river which at its widest point
is about 110 kilometers across or 68 miles - but as the river continues up towards Quebec and Montreal
it gets significantly narrower and much more dangerous. It's a particularly nasty stretch
of water for big ships, full of navigational hazards and more worryingly - a devilish tendency
to generate a thick, impenetrable fog bank. As the Empress of Ireland departed Quebec city at 4 30
p.m on april 28th the slow, ugly collier Storstad was lumbering upstream from the opposite direction.
Aboard the empress were about 1,470 people and after dinner
many had turned in early, so tired were they after the day's frantic efforts of boarding.
At 1:30 am the Empress dropped her pilot off at the final stop along the river at Pointe-au-Pere and
steamed for the open ocean. Soon after though the lights of a ship were spotted just ahead and then
at that crucial moment the thick unpredictable fog bank rolled in and the two ships were invisible to
each other. Just shy of 2am, to the horror of the crew on the Empress of Ireland's bridge
Storstad's reinforced bow loomed clear out of the fog and heavily crashed into the Empress's side.
It was a devastating blow, right on a critical watertight bulkhead in the engine room
and tons of seawater flooded into the ship immediately. There was nothing that could be
done - the damage was so severe that the Empress took on an immediate list or lean over onto
her starboard side and just 14 minutes later she had rolled over entirely and sunk. For passengers
inside the ship staircases became difficult and then impossible to climb the power and lights had
failed leaving many disoriented and trapped inside a blacked-out maze. Escape was simply impossible.
Down in the first class dining saloon dinner plates and silverware had been carefully laid
out for breakfast the following morning, a breakfast which sadly would never come.
As the Empress of Ireland rolled onto her side everything that wasn't fixed down was swept off
the tables with a terrible shattering and piled onto the starboard bulkhead. Today on the wreck
plates can still be found intact but these were most likely stored in cupboards or crates for the
voyage. This single plate fragment tells us about how the Empress of Ireland rolled so violently
onto her side sealing the fate of hundreds of her passengers and crew. It truly was a horrific
event and the fact that it happened so early in the morning when so few were familiar with their
way around the ship meant it would have been so disorienting and extremely difficult to get out.
Now the third piece is something that a lot of people might overlook if they saw it in passing.
It's not as maybe graphic or exciting as the other two but it's a sheet of paper from a theatre
in London and what's very important and interesting are the two names listed here .
This single sheet can tell us a lot about the human cost of the Empress of Ireland because
it has been signed by two of the most renowned victims of the disaster; the famous
acting couple Laurence Irving and his wife Mabel Hackney. The Empress of Ireland embarked about
1,057 passengers at Quebec city and among them were the Irvings; renowned theatre actors from England.
Laurence had come from good acting stock being the son of famed dramatist Henry Irving. He met Mabel
Hackney after she joined his father's theatre company in 1901 and the two fell in love and were
married. From then they were nearly inseparable and frequently acted together often in plays that
Laurence himself had written. In the 1910s Laurence had managed the Duke of York's theatre in London
which is where both he and Mabel had signed this theatre sheet for a guest, and then in
1914 the pair had gone on a huge tour with their troupe; first to Australia and then North America.
It was a massive effort and the two were absolutely homesick
writing that they were very much looking forward to getting back home.
On April 23 1914 the pair last appeared on stage together in Winnipeg and travelled ahead
of their group, so homesick were they that they even booked to sail on the Empress of Ireland
purely because it would get them home two days earlier than had originally been planned.
Their last moments together are as ever shrouded in conjecture although one witness
Mr F Abbott reported later that he had met the two shortly after the collision.
"Is the boat going down?" Laurence had asked. Abbott responded that yes, it was and Laurence
turned to his wife who had begun to cry and said "Dearie there is no time to lose."
Just then the ship lurched onto its side and Laurence was thrown up against a bulkhead
slashing his face and drawing blood. Mabel began to panic and Laurence begged her to stay calm
but she clung onto him for dear life. He forced a life belt over her head and began to practically
carry her up the tilting staircase. "Look after yourself first old man" Laurence had said to Abbott.
The two were not definitely seen again and they were lost in the disaster.
Of course it wasn't just the Irvings; one thousand twelve people died that night in
the frigid water of the St Lawrence as their ship sank. Many were crushed in the collision or
trapped as the ship's lights turned out and as the vessel itself rolled onto its side.
It was a truly terrifying scene; many of these victims were just people looking to return home to
visit loved ones in Europe only. 465 survived, many clinging to the side of the ship. The Storstad
which had rammed the Empress suffered a crumpled bow but was otherwise just fine. This theatre sheet
signed by both Mabel and Laurence Irving when they were at the height of their careers and
success speaks volumes about all that was lost that night when the Empress of Ireland sank.
These pieces are - I have mixed feelings owning these and I'm still weighing up whether or not to
actually donate them to a maritime museum because i think they should be appreciated
and enjoyed and I don't really interact with them often because you you pick them up and you
can really feel the weight of history. It still gives me shivers to think that for 90 years
these two were at the bottom of the ocean entombed in that ship with so many
of the Empress of Ireland's passengers and crew around them. It still gives me the chills a
little bit so I don't really get them out too often to look at but they can really speak to this
horrific tragedy and tell us a lot about the era and what it must have been like on the night of
the sinking which is why I refer often to holding the weight of history in the palm of your hands.
There's something really sad about disasters especially maritime disasters like this because
departing your homeland, going to a new place or even just going back home like the Irvings were is
really a joyous occasion. It's meant to be a joyous event so people are maybe a little melancholic to
be leaving home but largely excited to be going places. You often get postcards and letters from
people on board these liners and they're excited to be going somewhere so to have that happy event
cut off cut short - to have these lives ended in such a way
is always a real tragedy so I just wanted to share these pieces with you as a small tribute
to the Empress of Ireland and to just mark the event of the anniversary of the ship sinking.
So as always thank you so much for watching and I'll see you again next time.
Ladies and gentlemen it's your friend Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs!
Thank you so much for watching this video. Please think about liking and subscribing to the channel
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Until then stay safe stay happy and I'll see you again next time!