The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-06-03
STEAMER RAMMED;
THOUSAND DROWN
BOAT RESTS ON BOTTOM
OF ST. LAWRENCE
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY
AMID DENSE FOG

u \
EMPRESS Of Ireland Bound for Liver
pool From Quebec Is Cut Wide
Open by the Collier storstad and
Passengers Are Caught Like Rats
in q Trap-vessel Carried 1,4S7
Persons and Few Oyer 400 Have
Been Accounted for-Dead Esti-
mated Between 6zS and 1,1e0-
Wireless Messages Tell Of Disaster.
The twin screw Canadian liner En-
press of ireland, carrying 1,z37 per-
sons, passengers and crew, sank IN
the darkness before dawn Friday IN
the st. Lawrence river, near Rimou-
ski, Quebec, with loss Of perhaps
1000 lives. Estimates, Of the dead
vary from CTS to more than 1,l00.
The vessel, bound from Quebec for
Liverpool, with II first, 206 second
and 504 third class passengers, was
cut wide open by the collier Storstad
and sank within 20 minutes IN ~
fathoms Of water. OF those saved
the majority appeared TO be mem
bers of the crew or from the steerage.
Many were badly injured and p2 died
after being picked up.
The crash occurred about 2 o'clock
In the morning of Father Point,
oebec. The collier, bound for Que
bee, struck the Empress of Ireland
on the port side about the middle OF
the ship. She literally tore her way
back almost to the liners screws,
leaving a rent through which the
water poured in in such a deluge that
the sank before many OF the passen-
gers were aware Of what had hap
pened.
I. 2 Brief wireless calls fer help sent
out by the Marconi operator were
heard by the pilot boat Eureka at
Rimouski, 10 miles from the scene,
and the Eureka, followed by the Lady
Evelyn, mail tender, made all speed
for the spot. It was these two boats
that found afioat the few hfeooats
that were launched from the stricken
ship and picked up the survivors
Z they contained. Three hundred and
thirty-nine were saved by the Lady
Evelyn and so by the Eureka. Among
those saved was Capt. H. G. Kendall
of the Empress.
Most of the first class passengers
apparently perished. Among those In
the first cabin were Sir Henry Seton
Karr, a noted English lawyer and big
game hunter, and Laurence Irving,
son of the late Sir Henry Irving, and
his wife, Mabel Hackney. OF a party
OF 14o Salvation Army members on
board only 20 were rescued. They
had left for the conference in Lon
don.
First News OF Disaster.
Montreal, May 29.-First official
word of the Empress of Ireland dis
aster came from Capt. Kendall, who
sent this wireless message to Capt.
Walsh, marine superintendent Of the
Canadian Pacific at Montreal, Cam
ada: Empress of Ireland stopped by
dense fog. Struck amidships in vital
SPOT by collier Storstad."
Later Capt. Kendall, in conveying
the intelligence to Capt. Walsh that
the Empress had gone down. SAID:
.'Ship gone.".
a snecial train was dispatched
at $40 to Father Point to bring back
the survivors. Capt. Kendall won
renown as the man who first detected
Crippen, the murderer, on the steam
ship Montford. -
Another Wireless Account.
The Marccai Co.'S operator at Ri
mouski, Quebec, Friday gave the fol-
lowing account of the sinking OF the
Empress Of Ireland:
s'The Empress of Ireland was ram
med this morning at 1:45 by the
storstad, twenty miles out from
Father Point. The Empress sank
within ten minutes. The S. o. S.
signal sent out was received at Faith
er Point and the government steam
ers Eureka and Lady Evelyn were
DISPATCHED to the distressed vessels
assistance. The Empress Of Ireland
listed and was unable TO get many OF
the boats out.
"Capt. Kendall was saved, being
nicked up on some wreckage by a
Iifeboat 80 minutes after his ship had
foundered. Both wireless operators
assistant pursers, chief engineers and
chief steward were saved. Chief Of
6cer and purser are among the miss
ing"
Faint Glimmer Of Hope.
A message received at montreal o1
the Canadian Pacific Offices from Ri
mouski said that call the passengers
have been picked up by the boats o.
the Lady Evelyn and Eureka"
A similar message was received o!
LaPatrie, French newspaper, from
a Rimouski correspondent. He sale
that 400 survivors had been landed
and that the Lady Evelyn and Eure
ka we're going back to pick up the
remainder of the passengers, who
were in boats.
From the wording of the Canadian
Pacific message it could not be de
termined whether call the >passen
gers" meant all those on board the
Empress Of Ireland or simply al
those who were able to make the lift
boats.
orr rYuonnoupfad EcT