The Empress of Ireland in her death throes
The Empress of Ireland was a Canadian ocean lliner built in 1905 and sank in 1914 with a great loss of life. She could speed up to 18 knots. She made an unknown number of voyages in the 9 years she served as a ocean liner. On May 28th, 1914, she departed on her last voyage. The next night, at about midnight, she crashed into the ship SS Storstad. The ship began to sink instantly, listing severely. Only 4 lifeboats were launched before it became impossible due to the severe tilt to launch anymore. The captain was a survivor and was pulled into a boat after being washed off the bridge into the ice cold water. 465 people were saved, while a devastating 1,012 perished. Only 4 children of the 134 on the ship survived the sinking. The liner sank in just 14 minutes after the collision. Her wreck has been found, and is intact, but there are no known remains of humans. May they rest in peace!