RMS Empress of Ireland - Collision

Collision

The Empress of Ireland departed Quebec City for Liverpool at 16:30 local time (EST) on 28 May 1914 with 1,477 passengers and crew. Henry George Kendall had just been promoted to her captain at the beginning of the month, and it was his first trip down the St. Lawrence River in command of her.

In the early hours of the next morning on 29 May 1914, the ship had reached Pointe-au-Père, Quebec (or Father Point) near the town of Rimouski where the pilot was disembarked. Shortly after resuming her journey, and on a normal outward bound course of about N76E, she sighted the masthead lights of a steamer, which proved to be the Norwegian collier Storstad, on her starboard bow at several miles distant. Likewise, the Storstad abreast of Métis Point (Métis-sur-Mer) and on a course W. by S., sighted the Empress' masthead lights. At the time of these first sightings the weather conditions were clear, but very soon the ships were shrouded in the notoriously dangerous fog. Shortly afterwards, at about 02:00 local time, and despite the fog whistles of both ships being repeatedly blown, the Storstad crashed into the Empress' side.

The Storstad did not sink, but the Empress – with severe damage to her starboard side – listed rapidly, taking on water. Most of the passengers and crew in the lower decks drowned quickly when water poured into her from the open portholes, some of which were only a few feet above the water line. However, many passengers and crew in the upper deck cabins, awakened by the collision, made it out onto the boat deck and into some of the lifeboats which were being loaded immediately. Within a few minutes of the collision, the ship listed so far on her starboard side that it became impossible to launch lifeboats (beyond the three already launched). Ten or eleven minutes after the collision, she lurched violently on her starboard side, allowing as many as 700 passengers and crew to crawl out portholes and decks onto her side. For a minute or two, she lay on her side, while it seemed to the passengers and crew that the ship had run aground. But a few minutes later, about 14 minutes after the collision, her stern rose briefly out of the water, and her hull sank out of sight, throwing the hundreds of people still on her port side into the near-freezing water. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 1,012 people. As reported in the newspapers at the time, there was much confusion as to the cause of the collision with both parties claiming the other was at fault. If the testimony of both captains were to be believed, the collision happened as both vessels were stationary with their engines stopped. As noted at the subsequent inquiry, the witnesses from the Storstad said they were approaching so as to pass red to red (port to port) while those from the Empress said they were approaching so as to pass green to green (starboard to starboard), but "the stories are irreconcilable".

Ultimately, the immense loss of life can be attributed to three factors: the location in which Storstad made contact, failure to close her watertight doors, and failure to close all portholes aboard. It was later revealed in testimony from surviving passengers and crew that nearly all of her portholes were left open by the passengers and crew who craved fresh air from the cramped and poorly ventilated staterooms. Under maritime 'Safety of Life at Sea' regulations all portholes (that are capable of being opened) should be closed and locked before the ship leaves port, but this rule was frequently broken especially in sheltered waters like the St. Lawrence River. When the Empress began to list to starboard, the water poured through the open portholes, flooding parts of her that were not damaged by the collision, and once that water hit nearly all the decks and compartments, her end was inevitable.