Gilpin observer., 1914-06-04

men and women in night attire stun
bled along the corridors and up the
companion way to the promenade
deck-the deck below, the one on
which the boats rested.
Swarm to Deck.
Up they swarmed on deck In their
night clothing to find the ship heeling
away to port and the deck slanting at
a degree that made 1t almost impos-
sible to stand even clinging to rail-
ings.
Men and women, shrieking, praying,
crying for aid that was fated to arrive
too late. fell over one another In that
last struggle for life on board the
doomed Empress of Ireland.
Frenzied mothers leaped overheard
with their babies in their arms 9th
ers knelt on deck and tried to pray in
the few moments left to them. Some
were flung overheard by the heeling of
the sinking ship and some broke their
legs or arms in trying to reach the
lifeboats
Above the din of the struggle on the
great promenade deck could be heard
Captain Kendall shouting commands
for the launching of the lifeboats. Sew
eral were launched In the 10 minutes
that the ship floated.
There was no time to observe the
rule Women first" in this disaster,
for those nearest the boats scrambled
to places in them.
But even as they were being
launched, while the wireless still was
calling IS. o. s." there came terrific
explosion that almost rent the ship in
twain.
Ships Boilers Explode.
1t was the explosion of the boilers
struck by the cold water. A geyser Of
water shot upward from the midship
section, mingled with fragments Of
wreckage, that showered down upon
the passengers still clinging to the
Cling in the water.
The explosion destroyed the last
hope Of the ships floating until succor
could arrive, for the shock had
smashed the forward steel bulkhead
walls that had up to then shut out
the torrents invading the after part.
The water rushed forward and the
Empress of Ireland went swiftly to
her doom, carrying down with her hun
dreds Of passengers who stood on her
slanting deck, their arms stretched up
ward and their last cries choked in
the engulfing waters.
Intense darkness covered the waters
when the Empress of Ireland made
that final plunge, but the fog lifted
few minutes later and then came the
first faint streaks Of dawn.
1t lighted waters strewed with
wreckage and struggling passengers.
who strove to keep afioat.
The crippled Storstad, which had
wrought this tragedy of the waters,
had lifeboats out picking up as many
survivors as possible.
The gray dawn revealed the govern
ment steamers Lady Evelyn and
Eureka near the scene of the disaster
and Fastening to aid.
Some of those in the water tride to
swim to the Eureka as she neared the
point where the Empress had gone
down. One woman, wearing only an
undervest, swan to the Lady Evelyn,
and was helped on board, but died of
exhaustion soon afterwards.
The Work Of Rescue.
The work of rescue still was going
on when the sun arose in a cloudless
sky.
Men and women were clinging to
spaTs and bits of broken planks. Many
of the survivors were injured Some
had broken legs, others fractured
arms. and still others had been injured
internally in that last mad rush to get
away from the sinking liner.
Women clinging with one hand to
little ones, while with the other they
tried to keep clutch on pieces OF
wreckage were picked up by the life
boats and carried on board the res
cuing vessels.
Captain Kendall, dazed and unable
to give any coherent account of the
loss of his ship, was found clinging to
a broken spar.
The Empress of Ireland was a twin
screw steamer of S,20S tons burden.
She was 45S feet long and equipped
with modern apparatus not only for
wireless work but for submarine sig
mailing. The liner was built in 1906
and three years later set record on
run from Quebec to Liverpool.
The steamer was one of the most
popular vessels in the service OF the
Canadian Pacific railway and always
carried a large number of passengers.
She has piled for several years be.
tween St John and Quebec and Liver.
pool.