I don’t know why but I’m fascinated by stories of disasters. We often think of ourselves as invincible and put so much faith into the work of other people but the truth is that anything can happen at any time. I think that maybe, by looking at these disasters, I feel like I can learn how to stay safer. Or maybe it’s knowing that disasters have endings meaning that we can all get through tough times no matter how crazy they are. Or perhaps, I’m just an odd duck! Whatever the reason, the pandemic has reignited this interest and with several YouTube channels pumping out stories, it was hard not to get hooked.

One of my favorite of these disaster storytellers is called Fascinating Horror. Last Tuesday, they posted a video that seemed oddly familiar. I don’t remember hearing about this disaster before but something about the name of the ship rattled in my head while watching the clip. Once it was done, I walked over to my stamp collection, and lo and behold, I had a stamp of the Empress of Ireland!

Let’s start with a bit of history. The so-called “Gilded Age” of passenger travel bought thousands of ships to and from Canada carrying a variety of passengers and cargo and the Empress of Ireland is no exception. Built in 1905, The Empress brought tens of thousands of immigrants to Canada and many Canadians still have a connection with this ship. The Empress was just one of many ships operated by Canadian Pacific which many today know only as a cargo railway company but in the late 19th and early 20th century was a major transportation company.

On May 29, 1914, the Empress of Ireland departed from Quebec City with 1477 people aboard, bound for Liverpool. Also on board were several mail bags and $1 million in silver bars. The Empress had made this journey countless times as this was a popular run and off she went to drop off some of the mail at Rimouski, Quebec. From there, she was to set sail to Point aux Peres when a dense fog rolled in. A coal ship called the SS Storstad was coming down the St Lawrence River in the opposite direction. Between the fog and some miscommunication, the Storstad crashed into the starboard side of the Empress. Many ships of this time were built with numerous bays underneath so that if there was a breach, the other holds wouldn’t flood and the ship could limp on to a nearby destination. But this was not enough to save the Empress of Ireland. The damage was so severe that she started sinking right away. The Empress did have lifeboats but the speed of the sinking made many of these unusable. It only took 14 minutes before the Empress of Ireland was completely submerged. While the SS Storstad was able to rescue some passengers from the water and other nearby ship came to help too, 1012 people lost their lives that night making it Canada’s worst maritime disaster.

The sinking of the Empress of Ireland is a strange event to learn about. Disasters of this kind always have inquiries and sometimes courtroom trials but as is often the case, there are multiple versions of the story. I’ve included another YouTube video to help explain more about that fateful night as I’m not familiar enough with ships and maritime protocols to be able to summarize this concisely enough.

In 1964, divers were actually able to locate the wreck of the Empress of Ireland 8.3 km from the shore near Rimouski, Quebec. She sits 45 meters below at a 65-degree angle on the starboard side. This wreck is still fairly intact and is considered an excellent example of a typical ship that was common during this time of massive maritime travel. In 2009, the site was officially recognized as a National Historic Site and a buoy currently marks the spot where she rests.

On May 29, 2014, Canada Post released a set of stamps to commemorate the event with the domestic “Permanent” stamps being designed by Isabelle Toussaint and the international postage designed by Susan Stoll. Both ladies admitted that they were surprised to hear of such a disaster in Canadian history. “I was surprised to learn that this majestic ship was laying at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, at approximately 300 kilometres from Québec, my hometown.” said Isabelle Toussaint in an interview. I wonder how many more of these kinds of disaster stories are near me.

Sources:

• https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/transportation/empress-of-ireland-remembered
• https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=12391
• https://canadianstampnews.com/otd-rms-empress-of-ireland-sinks/