Episode 270: Having just set out from Quebec City the previous day, in the early hours of May 29, 1914, the passenger ship Empress of Ireland sank in the Saint Lawrence River near Rimouski, Quebec. She was on a return trip to Liverpool, England and due to heavy fog, the ship collided with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad.

Just two years after the Titanic calamity in international waters off the coast of Nova Scotia came the deadliest shipwreck in Canadian history. The event was so significant it is number 11 on the list of deadliest all-time Canadian disasters, just behind number 10, the Halifax Explosion.

The collision occurred when most of the 1,057 passengers and 420 crew members were fast asleep. The aftermath was devastating; the liner plummeted beneath the waters in less than a quarter of an hour, resulting in the tragic loss of more than 1,000 lives.

Sources:

Commémoration Empress of Ireland 2014

ARCHIVED: Investigating the Empress of Ireland | Library and Archives Canada

The Empress of Ireland disaster | National Museums Liverpool

Into the Mist by Anne Renaud - Ebook | Scribd

Losing the Empress by David Creighton - Ebook | Scribd

Dark Descent by Kevin F. McMurray - Ebook | Scribd

Empress of Ireland, ‘Canada’s Titanic,’ finally getting its due after 100 years - The Globe and Mail

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The Empress of Ireland Disaster