. ^H^^B^BH^^^^HSb. OF I aMJKy;fer'^-Hff<?T!'TNfeVj-'V't3iJ-T,-Jai?5;?a!.'S^^>--BS?!<--«T;j-.'J:f'.-. ^, mmummmmmm Class. Book. Gopyiightls^?. CCPyRIGHT DEPOSfR The Tragic Story -Of The - Empress of Ireland An Authentic Account of the Most Horrible Disaster in Canadian His- tory, Constructed from the Real Facts Obtained from Those on Board Who Survived And Other Great Sea Disasters BY LOGAN MARSHALL Author of "The Story of Polar Conquest," "The Story of the Panama Canal," Etc. Containing the Statements of CAPTAIN HENRY GEORGE KENDALL Commanding the Empress of Ireland ^And CAPTAIN THOMAS ANDERSEN Commanding the Storstad ILLUSTRATED With Numerous Authentic Photogr^hs and Drawings G|4'^'° Copyright, 1914, bv L. T. MYERS JUL-7)9J4 ©C1,A376570 .. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction 9 I. The Empress of Ireland Sails to Her Doom 13 II. Captain Kendall Blames the Storstad.. 29 III. Captain Andersen's Defense 33 IV. Miraculous Escape of the Few 37 V. The Stricken Survivors Return 44 VI. Heroes of the Empress Disaster 64 VII. The Surgeon's Thrilling Story 71 VIII. Ship of Death Reaches Quebec 74 IX. Solemn Services for the Dead 83 X. Crippling Loss to the Salvation Army. 92 XI. Notable Passengers Aboard 110 XII. List of Survivors and Roll of the Dead 118 XIII. The Storstad Reaches Port 125 XIV. Parliament Shocked by the Calamitv. 132 XV. Messages of Sympathy and Help 134 XVI. Placing the Blame %: 140 XVII. Empress in Fact, as in Name 156 (5) 6 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XVIII. The Norwegian Collier Storstad 161 XIX. The St. Lawrence : A Beautiful River 163 XX. The Tragic Story of the Titanic Dis- aster 175 XXI. The Most Sumptuous Palace Afloat 178 XXII. The Titanic Strikes an Iceberg 186 XXIII. "Women and Children First" 197 XXIV. Left to Their Fate 221 XXV. The Call for Help Heard 231 XXVI. In the Drifting Life-Boats 235 XXVII. The Tragic Home-Coming 254 XXVIII. Other Great Marine Disasters 284 XXIX. Development of Shipbuilding 292 XXX. Safety and Life-Saving Devices 300 XXXI. Seeking Safety at Sea 307 FACTS ABOUT THE WRECK OF THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND X^TUMBER of persons aboard, 1,475. •^ ^ Number of persons saved, 397. Number of persons dead, 1,078. Total nimaber of first-class passengers, 87. Total nimiber of second-class passengers, 256. Total number of third-class passengers, 717. Total number of crew, 415. The Salvation Army Delegation nxmibered 150; of these 124 were lost. The Empress of Ireland was a twin-screw vessel of 14,500 tons. The vessel was built in Glasgow in 1906 by the Fairfield Com- pany, Ltd., and was owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Storstad is a single-screw vessel, registering 6,028 tons. The vessel was built by the Armstrong, Whitworth Company at Newcastle in 1911, and is owned by the Dampsk Aktieselk Maritime of Christiania, Norway. CANADA MOURNS — INTRODUCTION ^^r j AHOSE who go down to the sea in ships" was once I a synonym for those who gambled with death and put their Hves upon the hazard. Today the mor- tahty at sea is less than on common carriers on land. But the futility of absolute prevention of accident is emphasized again and again. The regulation of safety makes catastrophes like that of the Empress of Ireland all the more tragic and terrible. A blow, a ripping, the side taken out of a ship, darkness, the inrush of waters, a panic, and then in the hush the silent corpses drifting by. So with the Canadian liner. She has gone to her grave leaving a trail of sorrow behind her. Hundreds of human hearts and homes are in mourning for the loss of dear com- panions and friends. The universal sympathy which is written in every face and heard in every voice proves that man is more than the beasts that perish. It is an evidence of the divine in humanity. Why should we care? There is no reason in the world, unless there is something in us that is different from lime and carbon and phosphorus, something that makes us mortals able to suffer together ''For we have all of us an human heart." (9) 10 INTRODUCTION The collision which sent the Empress of Ireland to the bottom of the St. Lawrence with hundreds of passengers in their berths produced a shudder throughout the civilized world. And the effect on the spirits of the millions who received the shock will not soon pass off. The Titanic tragedy- sat heavy on the minds of the people of this generation for months after it happened. ^ V There is hardly any one in touch with world affairs who will not feel himself drawn into the circle of mourners over such a disaster. From every center of great calamity waves of sympathetic sorrow spread to far-distant strangers, but the perishing of great numbers in a shipwreck seems to impress our human nature more profoundly than do accidents or visitations of other kinds in which the toll of death is as great. Our concern for those in danger seems to turn espe- cially to those in peril on the sea. Science has wrought miracles for the greater protection of those afloat. Wireless telegraphy, air-tight compartments, the construction which has produced what is called "the unsinkable ship," have added greatly to the safety of ocean travel. But science cannot eliminate the element of error. None of the aids that the workers for safe transit have bestowed on navigation could avail to prevent what hap- pened in the early hours of May 29, 1914. The Empress of Ireland was rammed by another vessel, and so crushed as to be unable to remain afloat for more than fifteen minutes after the impact. Overwhelmed by the catastrophe we fall back upon that INTRODUCTION 11 faith in the Unseen Power which is never shaken by the appear- ance of what seems to be unnecessary evil or inexplicable cruelty. Trust in God involves the belief that behind the stupendous processes of natural life there is a divine wisdom so deeply grounded upon reality that no human mind can comprehend its precepts and a divine love so boundless in its compassion that no human heart can measure its scope. We concede the knowledge of the divine mind to be "too wonder- ful" for our understanding. "It is high: I cannot attain unto it." Therefore we are prepared for the awful, the mysterious, and even the terrible. Nothing in the universal process can dis- turb or confound us. If a thing appears to be evil it is wisdom which is at fault. If an event seems to be cruel it is our love which is blind. We look upon the chances and changes of human experience even as we gaze at night upon the move- ments of the heavenly spheres; we would as little think of questioning the beneficence of the one as of the other. Come sorrow or joy, failure or success, death or life—it is all the same. We trust God, and therefore we trust life, which is simply the thing that God is doing. "Though he slay me, yet wiU I trust in him!" Yea, it is only when God seems to slay us that we can trust in Him, for trust begins only when knowledge fails; just as the stars shine only when the sun is gone! HE rS THE PILOT IN A FOG — CHAPTER I The Empress of Ireland Sails to Her Doom another toll of the sea—the empress sails from que- bec—the holiday humor of the passengers—captain kendall warned of fogs—the storstad sighted—^fog suddenly settles—the storstad crashes into the empress—^injury on stahboard side—^a mortal blow wireless calls for help—^hundreds drown in cabin no time to rouse passengers—^life-boats launched in record time—the empress goes down. ONCE again an appalling sea disaster comes to remind us that no precautions man can take will make him immune against the forces that nature, when she so wills, can assemble against him. It is a truism to say that the most recent marine disaster was preventable. An acci- dent suggests the idea of preventability. The Empress of Ireland was equipped with modern appliances for safety. She had longitudinal and transverse water-tight steel bulk- heads and the submarine signaling and wireless apparatus. She was being navigated with all the precaution and care which the dangers of the course and the atmospheric condi- tions demanded. The Storstad had been sighted and sig- (13J 14 THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND SAILS naled. The Empress was at a standstill, or slowly moving backward in response to a hasty reversal of the engines. Nothing apparently that those responsible for the lives of their passengers could do to safeguard those lives was left undone, and yet hundreds of people perished miserably. THE EMPRESS SAILS FROM QUEBEC Proudly the Empress of Ireland, under the command of Lieutenant Henry George Kendall of the Royal Navy Reserves, moved from her dock at Quebec, about half past four on the afternoon of Thursday, May 28, 1914, bound for Liverpool. Amid scenes that are ever new and full of deep feeling to those who are taking their leave or bidding God-speed to dear ones, the majestic ship began what her hundreds of light-hearted passengers anticipated as a hon voyage. The last "' Good-bye, and God bless you!" had been said; the last embrace had been bestowed; the last '' AU ashore that's going ashore," had been called out; the last home-stayer had regretfully hurried down the gang-board; and then, while hands, hats and handkerchiefs were waved, with the ship's band playing a solemn hymn, distance grew apace between the Empress and the land.