Cruise Ship Sinks
1,012 Passengers and Crew Die
RMS Empress Of Ireland - May 29, 1914
In the deadliest maritime accident in Canadian history, one that surpassed in the number of dead, that of RMS Titanic, Canadian Pacific Steamships' (CPS) RMS Empress Of Ireland was rammed by the Norwegian coal freighter SS Storstad midship during heavy fog in Canada's St. Lawrence River and sunk in 130 feet of water within a few minutes, taking the lives of 1,012 passengers and crew on May 29, 1914.
The sinking cruise ship, captained by Henry George Kendall, had 1,057 passengers and 420 crew aboard. Of the passengers, 87 were First Class, only 36 of them survived, 253 were Second Class, only 48 survived and 717 were Third Class, only 133 survived. From those numbers only 4 children survived of the 138 aboard, only 41 women survived of the 310 aboard and 172 men of the 609 survived.
Yet, a high percentage of the crew, 248 of 420 survived. Reports say one of the crew members, fireman (stoker) Frank 'Lucky' Towers survived the sinking of the RMS Empress Of Ireland, also claimed to have survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic on May 15, 1912. He later went on to survive the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915. However, the name Towers may actually be Tauer, Tonner, Turner, Tozer or William Clark, depending on who tells the story.
The collision and sinking took place around 0200 hours in the morning, when most of the passengers were asleep. Since the ship had poor ventilation and the weather was mild, it was stuffy aboard the cruises ship. Passengers opened the porthole windows, though current regulation of the day, prohibited the opening portholes while the ships were underway. After being rammed by the SS Storstad, the ship listed severely, allowing water to poor through the portholes, causing the ship list even more, ultimately sinking her in only 14 minutes. Due to the severe listing, the crew was unable to launch all the lifeboats, with only four lifeboats being launched.
While both captains blamed the other, ultimately CPS sued and got a judgement of $2,000,000 against the owners of SS Storstad, A. F. Klaveness. A. F. Klaveness handed over the SS Storstad to CPS, who then sold it for $175,000, placing the funds into a trust fund for victims.
Captain Henry George Kendall went on to serve aboard the HMS Calgarian until it was sunk in March 1918 by the German submarine U-19. He survived that sinking as well and went on to live until he was 91 years old.
