The Canadian Pacific Railway Company, one of the foremost transportation organizations, was ranked as one of the largest in the world in the early 1900s. Its steamers sailed from Britain to Eastern Canada, then provided transcontinental rail service to Vancouver. Ships sailed from there to the Orient.
The Empress of Ireland was built near Glasgow, Scotland -- the first to be commissioned expressly for the Company’s Liverpool to Quebec route. Frequent navigation, evacuation, and fire drills were mandatory during crew members’ extensive training. The Empress, designed for optimum safety, carried more than the required number of lifeboats and lifejackets, but all those precautions could not save it from sinking in the St. Lawrence River.
Launched in January 1906, the Empress began its maiden voyage from Liverpool, England on June 29 of that year with Dublin-born Captain Frank Carey its first master. Larger, faster and more comfortable than its rivals, it soon became a most popular ship for immigrants in its weekly trans-Atlantic runs. It is estimated that almost a million Canadians trace their roots to ancestors who arrived in Canada aboard the Empress of Ireland.
Captain Henry G. Kendall
On May 29, 1914, for its ninety-sixth voyage, the Empress under the command of its new Captain, Henry George Kendall, “a seasoned Canadian Pacific skipper” carried 1,477 passengers and crew.
Sinking in the St. Lawrence River
In dense fog and pre-dawn darkness, the ship was severely damaged by collision with the coal carrier Storstad, a Norwegian ship built to slice through heavy ice in northern waters. Kendall tried unsuccessfully to beach the Empress with a 350-square-foot hole in its side. Wireless operators could send out only one SOS signal and only a few lifeboats could be lowered as the ship lurched onto its side.
Suddenly awakened, many frightened passengers scrambled to deck in their night clothes and jumped or were tossed into the frigid water. People in the lower deck had no chance of survival. Kendall was thrown from the bridge as the Empress rolled over. Hauled into one of the lifeboats, he took charge of the rescue efforts. Within fourteen minutes of the collision, the Empress of Ireland was gone. The Storstad, heavily laden with coal, was still afloat though badly damaged.
Survivors were picked up by the Storstad and two rescue ships from Rimouski. 465 were saved, including only four of the 138 children aboard. 1,012 people were lost into the frigid waters of the St. Lawrence.
Captain Thomas Andersen
At the official inquiry, Captain Kendall of the Empress and Captain Thomas Andersen of the Storstad made conflicting statements. The Norwegian ship’s First Officer who was at the helm until moments before the collision, was found negligent for not informing his Captain of the incoming fog. The Storstad was held accountable for the disaster, but many blamed human errors in communication on both sides.
Soon after the tragedy, Canadian Pacific Railways dispatched divers to retrieve bodies. The Company also salvaged its cargo of $150,000 in silver bullion and first-class mail the Empress was carrying to England. To enable the removal of the purser's safe, they blasted a large hole in the ship’s port side.
Quebec Historic Site
With the outbreak of World War I the Empress of Ireland tragedy moved from the headlines. Its location was a mystery until rediscovered in the 1960s. The wreck site eight miles east of Rimouski was visited by divers who stripped virtually everything that could be moved. To prevent further pillaging, the government of Quebec declared it a historic site in 1998.
