RMS Empress of Ireland

Built in Scotland by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering, the *Empress of Ireland* and her sister ship, the *Empress of Britain*, were constructed for Canadian Pacific Steamships. The company, which also ran a transcontinental railway, called this network the "World's Greatest Transportation System." These liners were designed for the North Atlantic route connecting Liverpool and Quebec City. The *Empress of Ireland* was lost on what would have been her 96th voyage.

The ship had watertight compartments and, following the *Titanic* disaster, carried lifeboats with capacity for 1,686 people—280 more than the ship’s licensed maximum. Despite these precautions, she sank in just 14 minutes after colliding with the Norwegian collier *Storstad* in thick fog near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in the early hours of 29 May 1914. Out of 1,477 people aboard, 1,012 died, making it the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in Canadian history.

The wreck now rests in 22 fathoms (about 40 metres or 132 feet) of water, accessible to experienced divers. Artifacts recovered from the site are displayed at the Empress of Ireland Pavilion in Rimouski, Quebec, and at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Canadian government has enacted laws to protect the wreck site.

The *Empress of Ireland* was the second of two ocean liners ordered by Canadian Pacific Steamships as they expanded into the North Atlantic passenger trade. In 1903, the company bought Elder Dempster & Co, gaining three ships from its Beaver Line subsidiary: *Lake Champlain*, *Lake Erie*, and *Lake Manitoba*. *Lake Champlain* made the first crossing on the Liverpool-to-Montreal route in April of that year. The service was a success; in its first year, the three ships completed 33 westbound voyages, carrying 23,400 third-class passengers, most of them emigrants to Canada.

Construction began in early 1904 at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering in Glasgow. Francis Elgar designed the twin-screw liners, each with a service speed of 18 knots. They looked identical, with two funnels, two masts, and capacity for just over 1,500 passengers. Originally to be named *Empress of Germany* and *Empress of Austria*, the names were changed to *Empress of Britain* and *Empress of Ireland* after Canadian Pacific decided that future “Empress” ships would be named after British dependencies or colonies.

The keel for hull number 443 was laid on 10 April 1905 at Fairfield’s berth 4, next to her sister ship. The *Empress of Ireland* measured 570 feet overall, with a beam of 65.7 feet and a depth of 36.7 feet. She had twin four-bladed propellers, each driven by a quadruple-expansion steam engine rated at 3,168 NHP, giving her that 18-knot service speed. She had two funnels and two masts.

Her safety features included ten watertight bulkheads dividing the hull into eleven compartments, with 24 watertight doors that could seal them off. These bulkheads ran from the double bottom up to the Shelter Deck, three decks above the waterline. In theory, the ship could stay afloat with two adjacent compartments flooded. However, a critical flaw was that the watertight doors had to be closed manually, unlike the *Titanic*’s bridge-operated system. After the *Titanic* disaster, her lifeboats were upgraded: the original wooden boats were replaced in 1912 with 16 steel lifeboats on radial davits, plus 26 wooden collapsible boats stored beneath them.

Launched on 27 January 1906, the ship originally required a crew of 373 and could carry 1,542 passengers in four classes across seven decks.

First-class accommodation, located amidships on the upper and lower promenade and shelter decks, held 310 passengers. They had access to the open boat deck and two enclosed promenade decks that wrapped around the ship. The upper promenade deck featured a music room with built-in sofas and a grand piano, centered around a glass dome above the first-class dining room. The first-class main staircase, similar to that on the *Titanic*, faced aft and descended two decks to the dining room entrance. The first-class library was on the lower promenade deck, situated forward.