The RMS Empress of Ireland was commissioned by CP Steamships to
undertake the cross Atlantic voyage, moving passengers between Great Britain (Liverpool ,
England ) and Quebec City in Canada . The Empress of Ireland was built in Glasgow by the Fairfield
Shipbuilding Company (Govan) and was first launched in 1906. Information about
The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company archives can be found on the
National Archives website: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=B6299
The Empress of Ireland was
one of several ships of its time moving immigrants from the British Isles to
their newly anticipated lives in Canada . They also took many of those
same immigrants back home to conduct business or visit family left behind. These
large ocean liners allowed the less affluent to travel abroad at reasonable
cost.
Between the time of its launch in 1906 and the fateful sinking on May 29th
1914, The Empress of Ireland had completed 95 round trips crossing from Liverpool to
Quebec City (or on occasion Halifax ). On May 29th, 1914, her first run
of the season, and her 96th voyage overall, The Empress of Ireland left the port of Old Quebec and sailed along the St.
Lawrence on her way out to sea. It was 2 a.m. on a calm, somewhat foggy night. The
pilot ship had just left the larger vessel, which was still fairly close to
shore. Captain Henry Kendall was aware of another ship plying the same river,
but in his estimation, the other ship was several miles away. What happened
next is up for speculation, depending on whether the information is relayed by
CP Steamships or the Norwegian Company, but in fairly short order, the two
vessels collided, with the SS Storstad, a coal-bearing cargo ship ramming the
Empress of Ireland mid-ship and causing the passenger ship to break apart, take on
water and within 14 minutes, sink to the bottom of the river. 1,012 lives were
lost that fateful night: 840 passengers and 172 crew members. This makes the
sinking of the Empress of Ireland the worst marine disaster in Canada .
The wreck of the passenger
ship lies in 40 metres of water. The artefacts that were recovered by the dive team
hired by CP Steamships are now to be brought back to Canada
and housed at the Museum of Civilization in Hull .
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa/Museum+Civilization+finally+acquires+Empress+Ireland/7461001/story.html
There was a Marine Court of
Inquiry launched into the accident and some of the transcripts from that
inquiry can be found at: http://ied.dippam.ac.uk/records/38706
There were 64 witnesses
called at this inquiry. The blame was placed with the Storstad. The results of
the inquiry, presided over by British Admiralty Judge, Lord Mersey were that
the Court ordered the Norwegian Company to pay Canadian Pacific's damage
claims.
Memorials for lost lives
have been erected in Rimouski
where many of the victims were buried, as well as in Toronto . http://torontocemeteries.blogspot.ca/2012/05/today-in-history-empress-of-ireland.html
If your ancestor was one of
the passengers who lost their life that fateful night, the following websites
may be of interest to you:
Crew List for Empress of Ireland
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