Show rah m IH great liner goes to bottom at mouth of st lawrence river following a collision with a collier quo may 31 nine hundred and sixty tour four persons lost their lives friday morning when tho the great canadian pacific twin screw liner empress of ireland was rammed amid chips in a thick fog oft off father point in the st bt lawrence and sunk by the norwegian collier Storo tad four hundred and three survivors were picked up from floating wreckage and two lifeboats and only 12 of tho the saved caved are women gathered piecemeal from survivors the horror of this wreck grows with the telling waters quickly engulf ship the doomed ones had little time even to pray they were engulfed by the onrushing waters that swallowed the big ship inside of nineteen minutes from the time she was struck tho the wireless operators operator on the empress sticking to their posts to the loaf last had time only to send bond a few S 0 S calls for help when the rising waters silenced their instruments that silence told the rescuers miles away more potently than a bugle that doom had overtaken the ship only six hours before this fateful collision the passengers sang as a goodnight good night hymn god die de with you till wo we meet again played by the salvation army band on board the members of that band and most ot of the Salvation salvationists lats were among tho the lost survivors tell of fog it was foggy according to survivors when the empress of ireland a stele etele hulled steel ship of more than eight thousand tons left montreal at thursday day afternoon in command of it II G kendall of the royal roal naval lle Ite serve one of the most skilled of navigators forest fires also obscured the atmosphere mo sphere and the big ship in charge of a pilot proceeded slowly on her ier way to td sea at midnight the pilot aldo aide left near father point shouting outing Bh a merry eon boli voyage voyage as lie he went down their ladder to his waiting boat the darkness at this time was intense and tho the ship under the slowest speed possible pos sible with steerageway held her cours rt iler her decks were deserted the passengers had all sought their berths bertha with no thought of impending death out of the darkness on the po port rt side elde soon boon after 2 30 in the morning there loomed the little norwegian collier not half tho the size of the empress but fated to be bb her destroyer not until the collier was almost abeam of the big liner was the danger known on either ship the fog had blotted out tho the lights as well as the port po tt and starboard etar board lights of both ships quick orders on both yes essela were heard but aut they came all too late strikes ship the steel pointed pov plow of tho the s t ad struck the liner amidships and then forged aft ripping and tearing its way through the empress of ireland I 1 clear to the stern of the em empress pr e 0 of i ireland was this great steel shaving cut from her side from the top of the hull far below the water line into that rent tho the water poured with the force of a Nia niagara garv the bow of the smashed its lt way through berths on that side of the ship chip killing passengers sleeping in their berths and grinding bodies to pieces reaching the stern of the big liner the staggered off in the darkness her bow crumpled by the impact iler her commander was ready a few minutes later when ho he found his ship would float to aid the crippled and sinking empress but lie he was too late to save the majority of those on board carried to bottom the empress of ireland recoiled almost on her starboard beam ends from the blow of the collier and passengers were flung from their berths against the walls walla of their staterooms state rooms many were stunned and before they had time to recover were carried to the bottom with the ship the vast torrents pouring into the great gash on the port side aft filled the corridors and flooded every stateroom abaft the section inside of four minutes there was never a chance tor for the helpless ones in the after cabins and staterooms state rooms of the liner with her port side laid open for halt half its length from the section to tho the stern a selve had more chance to float than the empress of ireland and the trapped passengers in that after section were doomed from the moment the struck heeling from the blow the ship began to settle almost immediately as the water rushed into the big rent from the forward cabins however men and women in night attire stumbled along the corridors and up the companion way to the promenade deck the deck below tho the one ou on which the boats rested swarm to deck up they swarmed on deck in their night clothing cloth lne to find the ship heeling away to port and the deck slanting at a cegred that made it almost impossible to stand even clinging to railings failings rai lings men and women shrieking praying crying for aid that th at was fated to arrive too late tell fell over one another in that last struggle for life on board the doomed empress of ireland frenzied mothers leaper overboard with their babies in their arms others knelt on deck and tried to pray in the few moment loft left to them some were lung flung overboard by the tha heeling of the sinking still ship and some broke their legs or arms in trying to reach the lifeboats above the din of the struggle on the great promenade deck could bo be heard captain kendall shouting commands for the tha launching of the lifeboats several were launched in the le 10 minutes that the ship floated there was no time to observe the rulo rule women first in this disaster for those nearest the boats scrambled to places in them 1 lut hut even as they were being launched while the wireless still was calling S 0 S there thare came a terrific I 1 explosion that almost rent the ship in twain it was the explosion of the boilers struck by the cold water A geyser of water shot upward from the section mingled with fragments of wreckage that showered down upon the passengers still clinging to the ril forward and upon those struggling in the water the explosion destroyed the last hope of the ships floating until succor could arrive for the tha shock had smashed the forward steel bulkhead walls that had bad up to then shut out the torrents invading the after part the water rushed forward and the empress of ireland went swiftly to her doom carrying down with her hundreds of passengers who stood on her slad el ting dieck deck their arms stretched upward and their last cries choked in the engulfing waters one of the survivors relating that last tragic scene on the decks of the liner said 1 I was asleep like most of the paz passengers when the collision came there was a sickening crunching of wood and steel and then a grinding ripping sound as the smashed her way along the port side of our ship 1 I knew that hat wo we had been struck and I 1 rushed to the staterooms state rooms of some friends and shouted to them to get up as the ship was sinking stateroom doors flew open all along the corridor and men and women iwan began to rush for the grand companion forward those aft must have been drowned in their berths darkness Is intense on deck officers of the ship partially dressed were rushing about urging passengers to be calm sailors under orders were trying to launch the lifeboats the darkness was intense and a few minutes after I 1 reached the deck the electric lights went out at that time there were still hundreds of passengers below trying to grope their way through the darkened corridors to tho the companionway and reach the deck most of thorn them wont went down with the ship for the corridors below filled right after the explosion of the boilers 1 I leaped overboard in despair just before the ship went down and managed to find a bit of wreckage to which I 1 duns clung intense darkness covered the waters ngien alien the empress of ireland made that final plunge but the fog lifted a few minutes later and then came th tho 0 first faint streaks of dawn it lighted waters strewed with wreckage and struggling passengers who strove to keep afloat the crippled which had wrought this tragedy of the waters had lifeboats out picking up as many survivors as possible the gray dawn revealed the government steamers lady evelyn and eureka 1 near the scene of the disaster a and 1 lit hastening to aid some of those in the water tried to swim to tho the eureka as elie neared the point where the empress had bad kone gone down one ona woman wearing only an swam to the lady evelyn and was helped on board but died of exhaustion soon afterwards the work of rescue still was going on when the sun arose in a cloudless sky men and women were clinging to spars and bits of broken planks chany of the tha survivors were injured some had broken legs others fractured erms and still others had been injured internally in that lait mad rush to net get away from the sinking liner women clinging with one hand to little ones once while with the other they tried to keep clutch on pieces of wreck age were picked up by the lifeboats and carried on board the yes tea sels gels captain kendall dazed and unable coherent account of the to give any loss of hta his 0 hip was found clinging to a broken cpr spar J W langley rancher of canford B C went do down wn with the ship but held his breath and coming to the surface found a piece of wreckage e ard clung to it until picked up one on a of the survivors Burrl vora in explaining the quickness with which the of ireland went down said bald tho the col collier tier being only something over tons did not reach up even to the upper 0 or topmost dock deck of our hull bull ller her bow bov cut under the upper deck and took a peeling off the the side aide of our ship that allowed the water to rush rug h into the lower decks then the liner heeled over and ven iven those in the superstructure dick rooms had bad no chance to save themselves Ilund hundreds reds of them must have been dumped out of their berths and slammed against the walls with 8 stunning force scenes on shore father point quo may 29 the empress of ireland passed and landed her pilot here at this morning said an official of the canadian pacific 1 there was a haze at the time at 1 50 a m I 1 was awakened by an S 0 8 ring on my door bell and rushing down was waa informed by a mar mall coni operator that the rr era press of ire land was sinking having been i by some borne vessel in undress I 1 started to help no other signal could be b got from the doomed vessel she bhe had no time to give another ns as she saut cant ten minutes atter after being struck mr whiteside manager of the marconi station rendered effective service by notifying the government steamer eureka at father point wharf and the lady eve evelyn yn at ra its houski wharf help rushed hushed to scene capt J B belanger langer De of the eureka immediately rushed to the scene and captain with the lady evelyn followed later his ship chip being three miles farther away meanwhile daylight broke and scanning the horizon with a telescope I 1 saw the two government steamers nine lifeboats and a collier in the me vicinity ef ritty going here and there later the eureka arrived at father point wharf with 32 survivors and several poor drowned bodies also several of the survivors who had bad been wounded agent in narrow escape the scene on the eureka was most distressing the survivors walking around their dead shipmates stretched out in their last sleep the eureka was sent to Remo Remous uski kl wharf with all on board and the canadian pacific agent mr webber who was here having just got giat off the ill fated vessel with the pilot engaged all the cabs he could find and and telephoned tor for all possible medical assistance As the com banys agent here I 1 advised all the survivors that their cables and tele i trams s to their families would be paid by the canadian pacific railroad the lady evelyn passed into re wharf about 4 a m with some more survivors and bodies among the survivors was captain kendall commander of the ill fated ship who was picked up by a lifeboat from the wreckage after the ship had gone down survivors almost naked most of the survivors were almost naked in the cold morning with the temperature degrees and white frost on the ground at the norwegian collier coal laden from sydney N S for montreal cama along slowly when her bow had been smashed in it became known that she was the vessel that had struck the empress 0 ot ireland the fatal blow the tad was too tao much damaged to allow her to proceed to quebec under her own steam but before proceeding she landed a few survivors and some dead bodies which were taken oft off by the steamer eureka and lady evelyn and landed on the wharf sing god be with you on ship montreal que may 30 20 when the liner empress of 0 ireland steamed away from here thursday she carried members of the salvation army from the united states and canada bound for the world convention in london to the accompaniment of the army band they were singing si god be with you till tillee ive meet again aaen this prelude to the accident in tho the st lawrence mado made the disaster a near n ear parallel to the sinking of the titanic whose passengers sanz sane nearer my aly god to thee as the white star liner i went down author new york may 3 31 laurence 8 n B irving irvcng drowned on steamship empress of 0 ireland is an actor author and manager he received his adu cation at marlborough college college rollan parts and spent three years in Ilus sla stud studying yina for foreign office his klavs are widely known in 1908 ind and 1909 lie he presented sketches of his own authorship in england and america on may 3 1910 mr irving addressed dres the equal suffrage league at now new york scenes at liverpool liverpool may 30 Pat pathetic hette scenes w were ere enacted at the office of tile the canadian pacific railway in this city friday crowds of weeping men and women begged for news of tile the officers and crew of tho the empress of ireland the majority of whom we re gathered here hare aben hen oil of the dic disaster was revived several of the worn wom en fainted fridays a scenes were ata ia I 1 duplicate of those witnessed at the uma the tits titanic nic went to the bottom r |