The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1914-06-03
BIC Liner
SINKS WITH
969 SOULS
Empress Of ireland Goes to
Bottom After Collision
ONLY 4O3 PERSONS SAVED

River When Collier Storstad De-
livers Death Blow to Fine Trans
Atlantic Liner-vesseI Stays Afoat
Only Fourteen Minutes After Crash
Unchecked speed in fog cost 960
lives when the collier Storstad sank
the Canadian Pacific liner Empress Of
Ireland in the st. Lawrence river.
The death estimate is furnished by
the railroad officials after receiving a
lsurvivors' list which numbers 403.
Trapped in their berths as they
were, many of them imprisoned in
staterooms whose doors had jammed,
many more unable to climb to the
decks, were overwhelmed by the ter
rife rush of water.
Among the dead are Lawrence Ir
wing, the English actor, who was a
son of Sir Henry Irving; his wife,
Mabel Hackney, and Sir Henry Seton
Kerr, famous hunter of big game
and prominent at the English bar.
Very few of the first or second cabin
passengers were saved.
1t was 1:45 a. m. Friday morning
when the Norwegian collier Storstad,
ship hardly a fifth of the size of the
Empress OF Ireland, blundered against
her and cut her down as if she had
been made of paper board.
The collier, freighted with 1000
tons of coal, was following the course
of the channel as she came on at good
speed. She drove into the port side
of the Empress and her steel sheathed
bow raked inward and backward.
1t cut through a length of state.
rooms, water tight compartments and
deck beams until there was an enor.
nous cash that opened from amid.
ships to the stern of the liner.
The water did not flow in. 1t rushed
in. Captain Kendall and his officers
did all that was humanity possible in
tile fourteen minutes that the Empress
hung on the river.
Kendall was hurt and in great pain,
but he showed the pluck of a naval
officer. In the first minute of the dis.
aster he ordered Edward Bomford, the
wireless operator. to flash the S. o. S.
call. He ordered officers and stewards
to collect as many passengers as
could be found and hold them for the
boats. JIe had nine lifeboats over.
board within ten minutes.
Had there been time hundreds who
went down with the ship would have
survived. A thousand men and wo.
men who had been asleep awoke too
late to scramble to the decks. They
were crushed or mangled by the bow
of the Storstad, injured by spl.ntered
timbers or overwhelmed in the ter.
rife rush of water.
1t is probable that scores were killed
instantly, but hundreds perished while
feebly struggling for doorways while
trying for footing on sloping decks.
The terror and confusion of the few
minutes while the Empress staggered,
listed and sank can hardly be put in
words.
The proportion of the crew saved
far outnumbered the proportion OF
passengers rescued. That is explained,
however, by the statement that an
unusual number of the officers and
crew were on duty when the collision
occurred and that il was impossible
for them in the brief time they had
to arouse and save the passengers.
Very few of the seventy-seven in
the first cabin were alive when the
Eureka and the Lady Evelyn, the
little relief steamships, found a
wreckage strewn river and nine over.
crowded lifeboats. Only a handful
from the second cabin managed to get
into the lifeboats or be picked up by
the relief steamers and the Storstad.
The toll among the third cabin pas.
sengers was very heavy.
1t is impossible to say how many
were ground to death when the
Storstad ripped through tiers of state.
rooms. Many of the survivors were
brought ashore suffering from broken
legs or arms or deep cuts or bruises.
Many died after reaching this place.
Big and powerful as she was, OF
14,500 tons register and displaying
10000 ions, the Empress went to the
bottom as a stone sinks. Fourteen
minutes after the collision there was
nothing on the surface of the river
save the llfeboats drifting with tho
tide, a little wreckage and the Grip
pied collier backing away into the fog.
One of the saddest features was the
inability of the collier to rescue many
of the passengers. The officers were
afraid for a few minutes that she
would sink. Her bow was crushed to
the water line and she took ia a great
deal of water, but she was able to
continue on her way up the river to
Rimouski and land few survivors
that her crew had taken from the
wreckage or who managed to swim to
her in the fog.
The Canadian government steamer
Lady Grey brought from Rimouski
1873 bodies recovered from the wreck
of the Empress of Ireland. The cof'
fms were carried ashore at Quebec
and the mournful work of identifica'
ton began without delay.
l The Lady Grey was escorted by his