The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1914-06-06
CANADIAN LINER
SUNK By COLLIER
PASSENGERS DROWNED IN SIGHT
OF SHORE WITHOUT HAVING
A CHANCE TO ESCAPE.
CT Total of 1887 Persons on Beard
But 433 Were Saved, Many of
Those Rescued Suffering Fright
full Injuries.

Rimouski, Quebec.-Of total OF l..
1857 persons on board the Canadian
Pacific liner Empress of Ireland when
she sailed May % from Quebec tor
Liverpool, 954 were lost when the lin
er was ramed by the Danish collier
Storstad and sank off Father Point in
the st. Lawrence river before day
light May 20.
OF the eighty-seven frst-class
passengers. the late figures show
twenty-nine to have been saved. OF
the 1853 in the second cabin, twenty
nine were rescued; of the It's third
class passengers there are 101 sur
vivors, while 237 of the crew of 4Sz
were brought ashore.
These figures account for the 396
survivors landed here and taken by
train to Quebec. where they arrived
Friday night. There remained here
thirty-seven rescued passengers, TN
classified. excepting the 433 known
Survivors.
So deep was the cash In the strck
ell liners side inflicted by the shpr"
prov Of the heavy laden collier al!
so fast was the thrush of the sea, that
although the first rescue steamer
reached the scene within twenty min
utes after the meeting of the two yes
sells the liner already had gone
down.
The wireless could hardly have
worked to better effect or the re-
Spouse been prompter Yet within
sight of shore, in land-locked waters,
with help close at hand, nearly 1,00C
persons lost their lives when fog OBJ
scured the vision of the river navga.
tcrs and the vessels, one virtually AT
a standstill as measure of precau
lion, and the other, from all accounts
moving at not more than moderate
speed, crashed together
Investigation of the cause of the
disaster is to be started promptly
The story of the Storstad, which, al
ter picking up few of the survivors
and landing them here, resumed will
crumpled bow her way up the river
has not been told From the evidence
OF officers on the Empress, however
the liner had come to a halt in the fos
and was blowing her whistle as {
warning of her presence.
The fate of the smartly equipped
and speedy liner, the queen of he
fleet, seems to have been fastened b.
the unintentional withdrawal of thu
Storstad's bow from the cash sh,
had inflicted in the passenger vessel
side. AS the waters rushed in tn
liner quickly inclined sidewise 1T
sharp angle, the sea enveloped tn
boilers and an explosion followed tina
ripped apart still further the vessel
sides and sealed her doom.
Passengers who had crowded tn
upper works, hoping for rescue, wer
blown into the water, many beeing il
stantly killed. Others who had e
capped death or injury in the spli,te
Ing OF wood and smashing of stee
met their fate below decks. withol
a chance for their lives. Most of tn
came. When the warning was SCUM
ed many could not realize that da
ger was present, with the steamer sti
in river waters, the surface calm al
the shore near at hand.
Some turned over in their berth
survivors stories indicate, and startt
= to go to sleep again. But soon IL
a sudden listing of the steamer arou
II ed them, too late even to get out
their staterooms, much less to ga
the decks and reach the lifeboats.
5 When the survivors were broug
ashore here by the rescue craft-tl
Eureka and the Lady Evelyn, DO
e government vessels-the town open,
C The French Canadians literally turn
b their homes inside out to give eve
a possible aid to the scantily clad re
n nant of the liners human cargo
| Captain Kendall of the illfat
d steamer stod on his bridge as t
as ship went down. One of the boa
u from the liner picked him up al
! he directed its work of saving othe
te until the craft was loaded. The c,
ID tain was injured in the crash and S,
u fered from exposure, but his spec
!; recovery is expected.
u There was no time to save the o
X sengers, no chance to get out I
# boats and issue the edict of WON
: first" as in the case of titanic d
: aster. Within seventeen minutes
ter the Empress of Ireland was strr
k by the Storstad, the injured vessel b
o gone to the bottom. 1t is proba
that many who lost their lives ne,
nc realized that they were in danger
q Members of the crew of the T
c. press of Ireland said a majority
r those saved had to swim. All t
ii was possible was done to lower boz
1, but the strong list of the ship m;
~ 1t impossible to lower more than
boats, they said.
on Only two children are known
NO have been saved from the wreck.
thrilling rescue was one Of thasa