100 years ago today, the liner RMS Empress of Ireland sank in the St. Lawrence river, with a loss of 1,102 of her 1,477 passengers. That's a 75% loss of passengers and crew compared to the Titanic's loss of 68%, and only two years after the Titanic.
One of the main reasons why the Empress is not as well remembered is the conflagration that swept Europe that started two short months after the sinking, and whose casualty lists made the Empress' loss an historical footnote.
Losses included the all but eight of the 167 members of the Salvation Army band from Toronto that was on board.
The Empress also sank within 14 minutes after collision in fog with the Norwegian ship SS Storstad as opposed to the two hours and forty minutes the Titanic had after the iceberg. Some blame the Storstad for the tragedy, others hold that mistakes made by both ships, along with the heavy fog, created the conditions for the disaster to occur.
The Empress sank so quickly due to longitudinal bulkheads that allowed water to fill the side of the ship, causing it to list and then for even more water to enter through the open submerged portholes. Most did not escape the ship, and those who did faced hypothermia in the frigid waters.
Lying in 130 feet of water, the wreck is accessible to divers, except for the dark, cold water and heavy currents of the S. Lawrence river that make it a very challenging dive.
Here's a video that does a good job detailing the Empress of Ireland and showing how she looks today:
A good book to read about the tragedy and subsequent rediscovery of the Empress is Kevin McMurray's Dark Descent
A 100-year-old nautical tragedy forgotten to most.
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