Empress of Ireland Sinking (1914): Canada's Worst Sea Disaster

The Empress of Ireland was a Canadian Pacific ocean liner that sank in the St. Lawrence River in the early hours of 29 May 1914 after a collision in fog with the Norwegian collier Storstad. She went down in about 14 minutes, and 1,012 of the 1,477 people on board were killed. The sinking is still the worst maritime disaster in Canada’s history, although it was soon overshadowed by the outbreak of the First World War.

Background

The Empress of Ireland was built by the Fairfield shipyard at Govan, near Glasgow, and entered service in 1906. With her sister ship, the Empress of Britain, she carried passengers and mail between Liverpool and Quebec City for the Canadian Pacific Railway company. Many of her passengers were emigrants travelling to Canada, but she also carried travellers returning to Europe.

The ship was about 570 feet (174 metres) long and measured some 14,000 gross tons. After the loss of the Titanic, she was fitted with enough lifeboats and collapsible boats for everyone on board, as the new rules required. She also had watertight compartments, but as events would show, these safety measures were of little use if the ship sank too quickly for the boats to be launched.

On 28 May 1914 she left Quebec City for Liverpool under Captain Henry George Kendall. Kendall was already well known: in 1910, as captain of the liner Montrose, he had recognised the fugitive murderer Hawley Crippen on board and alerted the police by wireless. Among the passengers on this voyage was a large group of Salvation Army members travelling to an international congress in London.

The collision

In the early hours of 29 May the Empress dropped off her pilot near Pointe-au-Père, close to Rimouski, where the river is very wide. The crew sighted the lights of an approaching ship, the Storstad, a Norwegian collier loaded with coal. Soon afterwards a bank of fog rolled in and hid the two vessels from each other.

Each ship tried to avoid the other, but at about 2 a.m. the bow of the Storstad struck the Empress of Ireland on her starboard side, between her funnels. The collier then backed away, leaving a huge hole below the waterline. Water rushed in, many portholes had been left open, and the liner quickly listed to starboard.

The list made it almost impossible to launch most of the lifeboats. Many passengers, asleep in their cabins, never reached the deck. Within about 14 minutes the Empress rolled onto her side and sank. Hundreds of people were thrown into the near-freezing water, and many died of cold before help arrived.

Rescue and casualties

The Storstad, which stayed afloat, and boats sent from Rimouski and Pointe-au-Père picked up survivors. Of the 1,477 people on board, 1,012 died: 840 passengers and 172 crew. More passengers died than on the Titanic two years earlier. Of the 138 children on board, only four survived. The Salvation Army lost most of its delegation, and Captain Kendall himself was thrown into the water but was rescued.

Inquiry and blame

A Canadian commission of inquiry was chaired by Lord Mersey, who had also led the British inquiry into the Titanic and would later investigate the sinking of the Lusitania. It concluded that the Storstad’s officers were mainly to blame for changing course in the fog without proper caution. A Norwegian inquiry reached the opposite conclusion and blamed the Empress’s handling. The Canadian Pacific company later sued the owners of the Storstad and was awarded damages.

Legacy

Just two months later the First World War broke out, and the sinking quickly faded from public memory outside Canada. The wreck, lying about 40 metres down, was visited by divers and salvagers for decades, and some lost their lives there. In 1999 the Quebec government gave it protection as a historic and archaeological property.

Today the Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père, near Rimouski, displays artefacts and tells the story of the ship. The Salvation Army holds memorial services for its members who died, and a cemetery near Pointe-au-Père contains graves of many victims.

Timeline

• 1906: The Empress of Ireland enters service between Liverpool and Quebec.
• 1914, 28 May, afternoon: The ship leaves Quebec City for Liverpool with 1,477 people on board.
• 1914, 29 May, about 2 a.m.: The collier Storstad strikes the Empress in fog near Pointe-au-Père.
• 1914, 29 May, minutes later: The Empress sinks in about 14 minutes; 1,012 people die.
• 1914, June: The Canadian inquiry under Lord Mersey begins hearings.
• 1914, August: The First World War breaks out, overshadowing the disaster.
• 1999: The wreck is protected as a historic and archaeological site by Quebec.

Why it matters

The loss of the Empress of Ireland was Canada’s deadliest maritime disaster and one of the worst in the North Atlantic world. Coming so soon after the Titanic, it showed that ships could still sink with terrible speed even after new safety rules, and it remains an important part of Quebec’s and Canada’s maritime history.