There have been bad shipwrecks, but this is one of the most horrific ones I’ve read about. If you read my Titanic posts, I said that she gave her crew and passengers two hours and forty minutes before she sank. The Empress of Ireland sank in 14 minutes and in the worst, most heartbreaking way. It didn’t have to happen; in a deep fog on the Saint Lawrence River, another ship rammed into her, and she only had 14 minutes of life left, as did most of her passengers. There were 1477 souls on board; only 465 survived. More passengers (crew not included) died on the Empress than on the Titanic. The Empress could hold 1,542 passengers and up to 420 crew, so this was not a small ship. This tragedy was given the name “Canada’s Titanic” by the press, not me. It was/is the worst peacetime disaster in Canada’s history.
The RMS Empress of Ireland was launched in 1906 for the Canadian Pacific Railway. She was built to carry passengers between Quebec and Liverpool. She was a beauty! The ship was not as large as the great liners from White Star or Cunard, but she had a strong reputation. Many people considered her one of the safest ships on the North Atlantic route. She carried immigrants, businessmen, tourists, and mail across the ocean for years without major trouble. Her interiors were elegant for the time. Rich wood paneling, wide staircases, and comfortable cabins gave her a first-class feel. Captain Henry Kendall commanded the ship during her final voyage. By 1914, she had already completed hundreds of crossings and was known as a dependable liner. Personally, it’s one of my favorite ships; it was a stunning and beautiful ship.
On May 28, 1914, she left Quebec City for Liverpool with 1,477 people aboard. The weather turned foggy as she traveled down the Saint Lawrence River near Rimouski. Around 2:10 am on May 29, the Norwegian coal ship SS Storstad appeared through the fog. Both ships tried to maneuver safely, but confusion over signals and visibility caused disaster. The Storstad slammed into the Empress on her starboard side and tore a huge hole in the hull. Water rushed in immediately. The Empress of Ireland listed heavily and sank in only about 14 minutes. Many passengers were asleep and had little chance to escape. It also seems that the watertight doors were not shut. They were not automatic like a few other ships and the crew didn’t have time.
One of the interesting tragic historical parts is that the Empress was full of Salvation Army members who were traveling to England for Congress. There were about 160 members on board, of whom about 130 died. The sinking decimated the Salvation Army in Canada. Nearly the entire Canadian Staff Band was wiped out, as was much of the Salvation Army leadership. It took decades to rebuild. Most people were in bed and woke up to water, listing to the port side, and to a complete darkness nightmare. It was hard, if not impossible, to use the stairs, if you could find them in the dark, because the ship was sideways. People tried to escape through the 14- to 19-inch portholes on the port side; many didn’t make it.
The tragedy shocked Canada and the world, but it was soon overshadowed by World War I and later by the sinking of the Lusitania. The wreck site is now strictly protected by both provincial and federal Canadian law. In 2009, the Canadian government designated the ship as a National Historic Site of Canada. I won’t go into the harrowing details of what happened to many of the passengers, but it’s worth watching a documentary or reading about.
Why did it sink so fast? The Storstad punched a massive hole roughly 14 feet wide and 25 feet deep into the ship. This gaping 350-square-foot breach (for comparison… the Titanic was a 12-square-foot breach) flooded the boiler rooms and then sank her. What made it worse was that the Storstad was built with a reinforced bow for icebreaking. She tore through the Empress easily. I have a picture of the Storstad below after the accident in the pictures. The Storstad was fine afterward and sailed again after this.
Remember, when it was hit, people had to act instantly to survive. The crew did all they could do, and many passengers, crew, and rescuers died while trying to save passengers.
William Clarke: A fireman (a person who shoveled coal in the burners) who also claimed to have survived the sinking of the Titanic, managed to get into a lifeboat and actively pulled around 60 freezing passengers out of the water. The Salvation Army Members: Several witnesses noted that when the chaos ensued, many of them gave their own life jackets to struggling people in the water who did not have them, choosing to drown so others could live. Robert Crellin: A passenger recognized for his bravery in saving a trapped 8-year-old girl named Grace Hanagan (who went on to become the last surviving passenger of the disaster, living until 1995)
BTW…on the videos. I try to find short ones, but many of the short ones just don’t tell the story. I will always try to give you a choice depending on what time you have. Many of these videos are by ship nerds (I mean that in the best way), so to speak. They use graphic tools to recreate the ships, not AI, in most cases.
This post is longer than what I plan on being the norm…but I felt more needed to be said about this tragic event.
Grace Hanagan tells her story and it’s beyond moving.
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This is incredibly heartbreaking, Max, a horrifying accident and a ship gone in the blink of an eye.
Yes, it is… one of the worst I’ve read about. I’m reading a book on it now…it had been running flawlessly for years and then this. Thanks for reading Nancy
My pleasure, Max. I’ll have a follow up!
That is awesome! Thank you!
I found a short video on TicTok.
That is a decent one…the ones I found would omit too much…thanks Jim I posted it. I rarely go to tiktok.
I don’t like TicTok either, but most people can’t take the time to watch anything that is longer than 10 minutes.
I almost want to make videos myself…so I can get the facts in… I’ve thought about that since I have Bailey who can edit and make these.
Cool and I wish I had the time for that.
TikTok is another sad sign that people don’t want to have to trawl through the facts, they want it given to them in ultra-quick bits. And ain’t that sad Jim?
heartbreaking, and it’s amazing how different people react when it’s happening
That’s what is interesting to read…how people react and I have to say, most of the time they pitch in and help during most of the ships that sank I’ve read about…
Max as a Canadian it’s shameful this tragedy is not better remembered. This is the most comprehensive look at this that I have ever seen. Here in our own country we know next to nothing, especially compared to the Titanic.
Thanks for doing such an incredible job on this. No idea where you find the time, but I am glad you did. Looking forward to future posts!
Thank you Randy…that means a lot. I was wondering if you all studied this in school? I was shocked that it was and still is the worst peacetime disaster in Canada. If I posted everyday…no chance anymore…these are fun…and it gives me a chance to write more in depth…but I don’t want to make them a novel. I’m reading a book now on this ship…I would love to go to the museum they have for it.
I have not been there but I am guessing Rimouski isn’t the easiest place to get to!
I’m wondering if it is still a busy maritime district? Anyway…thank you so much for reading Randy.
I’ll just piggyback on your comment
Thanks CB…this one wasn’t easy. The next one will be a positive one… we will adventure in the Arctic
Great historic post. I second what Randy said, I never remember hearing anything of it when I was in school. It’s amazing and tragic a ship that large would completely sink so quickly.
It’s interesting Canadian Pacific owned it. Even though they were (still are) a railroad they once had several luxury hotels and it would seem luxury ships too.
They had several “Empress of ****” ships. One of Empress of Britan.
It’s so damn sad but yea…I hate that it got forgot by the masses…but they do have a museum that I would love to go to one day. This one shocked me… I kept seeing the name and I read about it. I have a book about it now. She was a beautiful ship… the fog…it has contributed many wrecks…more than I thought. Hell…it contributed to Titanic as well. This one…it’s hard not getting emotional while reading about it.
definitely a nice looking ship and in my novice knowledge of ships, one that wouldn’t have looked out of place making that voyage in the ’60s even
I love the outside of these ships…but it’s the interiors that knock me out Dave… now you would get a nice ship but not that wood carved etc…it was breath taking. The attention to detail is crazy good. And this ship was built in 1906.
Excellent, Max. You have taken what you have said before and built on it such that I can read into your single sentence overview of some of the people highlights and feel like I know much of their story.
Doing a great job
Thank you Arthur, I really appreciate it! WW1 and the Lusitania overshadowed this and shouldn’t have.
Max, you did something I want to particularly applaud and then turn into a question. You defined William Clark’s job as a fireman as a person who shoveled coal in the burners. A minor bit of trivia that I never knew. I love your constant reach for such minimal but delightful additions.
Along the same line, you use the word “lifting.” While I can guess at what it means, I think it worth a moment to define. In the world of ship disasters, it seems an important topic.
for what it’s worth the guy who’s in the locomotive with the engineer of a train is also called a fireman, for the same reason – in the coal days, he had to shovel coal into the furnace fueling the train. Those days are long gone but the term still is used
See…I didn’t know that either…. I first read about fireman on the Titanic…I was like what? Then it made sense when I saw the description…makes sense in trains and ships. What a hard job!
I didn’t know that either. I’m naive about some of the jargon and I first thought…what is a fireman doing on a ship? Then when I read the description it makes sense.
Arthur, do you mean “listing”? I need to define that also going forward…basically in means tilting to either port or the stern.
Another one for the history books, Max. Great blog, and I knew nothing of that sinking. Good historical writings.
Thank you so much Phil…I really appreciate it! These stories are so interesting and the human reaction. Not all are tragic though.
I have a love of ships…and most of these don’t fit in that category of pop culture.
Fascinating, heart wrenching report, Max. I so appreciate the account of the Salvation Army members. Always inspiring to hear about Christians being true to their convictions. You hear so many negative stories and accounts. Terrifying that it went under so fast.
It was one of the worst I’ve ever read about. Yes…I love the Salvation Army story and how they stayed around and sacrificed themselves to help others. Thanks for coming over Pam! I just started this not long ago…a lot of interesting stories in these ships…wrecks or not.
Absolutely. I’m happy to come over.
Just read this and watched the 26-min video. I like how they personalized the narrative and zoomed in the fates of specific people. My heart goes out to the son who pretty much sacrificed himself so his family could survive. The people stuck in the portholes is haunting. 14 min between impact and sinking is unfathomable no pun intended. Such a nightmare!
Yes, the porthole part I didn’t want to write up a description of that and thanks for watching that video. It’s the people that go and sacrifice their lives for people that really draw me to this.
It is grim, but I can give the pun two thumbs up Lisa, maybe because I’m twisted? Or at least love words being twisted. Anyway 👍👍
🙂 Cheers!
I promise both of you….next Friday…no deaths
🙂
Yes, the porthole detail is frikkin’ horrific. Again, what was it with the drills to close the water-tight doors etc? Nowadays it seems mind-boggling stupid- the reason it’s called an accident is right there in the word- it happens out of the blue, there IS no time to get things all set up in an orderly fashion. How ’bout closing that hatches when it is NOT a drill?
Well done Max, but wow, a thousand people going in less than a quarter of an hour? No wonder the shipping trade suffered in those pre-war years.
Yea…like I told Lisa…I didn’t want to write that port hole detail in. No…the lifeboats didn’t really factor in the equation. The fog cost so many lives…including the Titanic passengers. It was deadly.
Thanks obbverse…my next post no one dies…this shipwreck…they protected it because most are still in those rooms…just heartbreaking.
There is something about maritime tragedies that really are more than sad. Perhaps it’s the combination of wet, wind, cold, the idea of knowing there is nothing below you but the deep dark blue sea, and your life is dependant on your strength or sheer luck?
I don’t know, I’m not putting this reply together too well, but it feels a bad bad way to go- so much would be out of your control.
I knew about this boat but I couldn’t remember the death total being worse then the Titanic. Thanks for bringing back History class for me considering its been 40 years since I’ve been in a history class! lol.
Look forward to more Sir….
Thanks man…. yea more passengers (crew not included) died on this ship. I would love to go to that museum that holds artifacts from this ship.
Interesting, didnt know about this disaster.