The Empress of Ireland | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

"On the 29th of May, 1914, two ocean liners collided in heavy fog in the St Lawrence estuary on the east coast of Canada..."
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:37 - Background
03:18 - The Sinking of the Empress of Ireland
08:28 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "The Plan's Working" by Cooper Cannell
SOURCES:
► "Disaster at Sea: Shipwrecks, Storms, and Collisions on the Atlantic" by William H Flayhart, published by WW Norton & Company, 2005. Link: wwnorton.co.uk...
► "The Collision between the S/S Empress of Ireland and the S/S Storstad" by Marion Kelch, published by Norway Heritage, February 2005. Link: www.norwayherit...
► "Report and evidence of the Commission of Inquiry into the loss of the British steamship Empress of Ireland..." by John C Bigham, published by J de L Tache, 1914. Available via:
open.library.u...
​​​​​​​#Documentary​​​​ #History​​​​​​​​​ #TrueStories​

[@TheRealChristopherB]

Major kudos to Captain Kendall for his actions during the disaster. Despite being at command of The Empress for only a month, he performed his duties admirably and did everything he could to save as many lives as possible, in spite of the slim chances. Many would shirk from the daunting tasking but Captain Kendall stepped up to the task with courage and valor. Side Note: Not only was Kendall a valiant ship captain of The Empress, but he also helped capture a murderer on the run, Hawley Harvey Crippen, who tried to escape on board one of his previous ships, The Montrose Crippen and an accomplice attempted to sneak aboard the Montrose in disguise but Kendall had recognized them and telegrammed a description of the two to the proper authorities, leading to their arrest Kendall was a truly admirable man who lived the old age of 91.

[@dinascharnhorst6590]

The first murderer to be apprehended using transatlantic wire, as I recall reading. That's interesting about the Captain being involved in that as well. What a life he had!

[@nicofolkersma2535]

Crippen's travelling companion was not his accomplice, but his misstress.

[@dinascharnhorst6590]

@@nicofolkersma2535 And dressed as a boy.

[@LakeofCrystalclan]

Godspeed, Kendall.

[@TigerRose246]

Dang! This is why I read the comments first. You beat me to it. Well done!

[@steve3291]

It's surprising how certain tragedies get public attention whereas others seem to fade into obscurity.

[@c.w.8200]

Maybe it's because there were all these super rich American industrialists on the Titanic. If you sink two ships today and on one of them is Jeff Bezos that will get more attention I imagine.

[@CJODell12]

@@c.w.8200 And the Empress of Ireland sank less than two months before the First World War began.

[@eatenbyghouls1849]

@@c.w.8200 that but also it was the titanics first voyage and there was alot of media talking about it already leading up to it setting sail

[@Unownshipper]

It’s weird to say but it feels like some times it’s “just not a good time” for a tragedy. With the Titanic still fresh in the public memory and the rumblings of WWI on the horizon, it’s like the world had no time to focus on The Empress.

[@harridan.]

@@eatenbyghouls1849 yes. wasn't there also a bit of buzz about Titanic breaking all speed records crossing the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage? that would be newsworthy in the days before electronic opiates absconded with the collective attention span of the entire population of the planet.

[@thomasgiles2876]

Wow, this captain actually did fall into a life boat, but still returned to the ship. YOU HEAR THAT SCHETTINO!?!

[@Joaquin602001]

It’s better than that: he was on the port bridge wing and was catapulted into the water when the Empress rolled over. He’d been directing the evacuation until that moment and then took charge again once he was in a lifeboat.

[@mindyschocolate]

@@Joaquin602001 that’s a real skipper there.

[@DarthAverage]

It turns out that "schettino" is Italian for "he who hauls ass" ...

[@Boolsrealm]

My thoughts exactly

[@ripwednesdayadams]

Captain Lee Joon-seok of the Sewol too. Disgraceful. Many more ppl died in that tragedy due to the captain and crew doing next to nothing to coordinate a rescue and saved themselves.

[@Staticjokes]

Thank you for covering this! My great grandfather was on this ship & thankfully survived. Excellent video

[@charleneelyce]

Oh my gosh, thank goodness he survived! I bet he had some stories to tell about it!

[@katiekane5247]

Glad he made it or you wouldn't be here! My grandfather was a child when he immigrated, I don't recall him telling any stories. Wish I'd asked him.

[@dr.chungusphd108]

Obviously 😂😂😂😂

[@aceventuraify]

How did he survive? Which class was he?

[@Staticjokes]

@@aceventuraify he was a steward, joined the navy in ww1. Always loved the sea no matter what it threw at him

[@ohthehorror6402]

My chihuahua was playing with her toy, but when she heard your theme music, she came and cuddled up on me to listen. She loves to listen to your voice. You are one of our favorite narrators. ❤

[@happyfacefries]

Omg that's so cute!!!

[@evegreenification]

That is so sweet.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Dog gone!

[@Whatever8197V]

He knows class when he hears it...super cute and I agree 👍

[@ZeldAry1999]

Nothing I could ever say to anyone will be as good a compliment as this holy shit

[@eringemini7091]

Interesting & equally as heartbreaking & disastrous as the Titanic, but like you said it didn't receive the same publicity. I had never heard of it. Its amazing that the Empress was able to launch any lifeboats considering the angle she sunk at, & imagine the sheer terror of those asleep in the lower decks, awakened by freezing🥶 water in the dark!😔

[@RHR-221b]

❤

[@dimbusjenkins]

and nobody had to shoehorn in a bunch of tall tales and misapprehensions to make it interesting, unlike the titanic

[@Pipppo]

Probably because the titanic disaster was totally avoidable and was already known for claiming to be "unsinkable".

[@AndrewJamesWilliams]

News of the disaster got lost in the build up to the first world war a.k.a the great war.

[@giovannirastrelli9821]

@@dimbusjenkins But the Titanic Disaster is notorious for shoehorned tall tales and misapprehensions.

[@honeybie170]

Amidst the tragedy, it's nice to hear the captain was acting with urgency and sincerity. Although Captain Kendall's attempt to block the hole failed, it sounds like he was actually trying to mitigate the chance of disaster. Plus, his rescue efforts after getting pulled to safety by his crew are worth something. He did what a captain should do in event of disaster: trying to minimize damage, rescue as many crew and passengers as possible, etc. Too often on this channel have we heard stories where you hear about the captain showing little regard for the safety of his passengers or crew during disaster, putting his life before evacuation or rescue efforts. It's refreshing coming out of a story like this knowing the captain at least tried. It's sad the bar is that low, but that's where it is 😓

[@Joaquin602001]

If I’m remembering correctly he also stayed on the ship as long as he could, and was directing the evacuation from the portside bridge wing when the Empress capsized, catapulting him of and into the water.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

This is neither an Irish nor a maritime disaster I was expecting to hear talked about...because I had never heard of it before this despite the sheer loss of life apparently involved. It's also surprising that there was no greed, other stupidity, and/or outright malice involved unlike most other accidents you've covered, instead just sheer bad luck brought on by a freak fogbank of all things. That could arguably make it more tragic though.

[@GogglesVonAwesome]

I was thinking the same thing! It's quite rare that this channel seems to cover stories that aren't caused by greed or gross incompetence.

[@datdude3327]

@@GogglesVonAwesome they just happen to be the most common denominators behind man-made disasters

[@kathyjones1576]

I had just commented something very similar. It's rather nice to know that sometimes tragic events happen because of bad luck and not because of someone's money grubbing ways. They did everything right, but weird things happen. Not that it's "nice" that so many people lost their lives, but that a greedy person didn't cause it. I don't know if I'm making sense.

[@KebabMusicLtd]

No greed? The court ordered the owners of the Storstad to pay $2m (Canadian Dollars) as compensation for the loss of silver bullion. No mention of compensation for the families of those killed???

[@Dill_Pickle1997]

I heard the captain of the ship was cursed by a dentist the captain had put away thanks to a new invention called two way radio

[@ceilinh6004]

I love to see the sinking of The Empress of Ireland getting some attention. Even in Canada, we tend to hear more about the Titanic than about this sinking, closer to home. I don't think I learned anything about The Empress in school. The first time it really pinged on my radar would have been only a few years ago, when I saw a museum exhibit dedicated to The Empress of Ireland.

[@LJB103]

Unfortunately, this may probably be a class issue. There were no Astors, Guggenheims, or Strauses on the Empress of Ireland (and it wasn't her maiden voyage)

[@vercingetorixwulf9298]

First time I've heard of it .....

[@shimmeringfairydust3275]

This is the first time I have ever heard of it.

[@brianaalee1]

This is the first time I've ever heard of it... And I'm in Nova Scotia.. we see/hear a lot more about the Titanic and the Halifax Explosion than most other maritime tragedies. 😞

[@zombiedoggie2732]

Same in the US. We hear more about the "Titanic" and not much about the "SS Sultana," that bears by many estimates, a higher death toll than the "Titanic."

[@classicmicroscopy9398]

If parallel with another ship in the fog, don't turn. What an unintuituve lesson that was definitely worth over a thousand lives to learn.

[@drumdad54sdl47]

You'd think this would be a no-brainer, even for the most elementary of navigators.

[@gary1961]

..... and slowing down to an absolute crawl would also help.

[@classicmicroscopy9398]

@@gary1961 Yeah why go full speed in fog?

[@joehayes9933]

@@classicmicroscopy9398 Time, Ever since steam became a thing reliable schedules have ot be kept for various reasons and as such captains have gone at speeds greater than is probably good for them. Ironically the US, bastion of capitalism and Free market was the one to try to put the brakes on and demand a speed limit (To no ones surprise, this wasn't listened to).

[@Jacob-ed1bl]

I'm a towboat Captain that primarily works in the Port of Houston and New Orleans, this incident was brought multiple times during the pursuit of my license. I really enjoy this channel but all these maritime incidents creep me out. I've been in some pretty bad situations but thankfully we avoided disaster. I can't imagine losing or even severely injuring a crew member and losing my vessel would devastating as well, I hope I never face such tragedy.

[@hopefulpellinore5490]

I hope with all my heart you don't either Jacob. Stay safe out there:)

[@LonerWithBoner03]

Stay safe out there man

[@Jacob-ed1bl]

@@LonerWithBoner03 I truly appreciate your comment! and best to you.

[@stevetournay6103]

One of CP's liners yet survives: MS Keewatin, a Great Lakes liner built in Scotland in 1905. Except for her delivery voyage, her entire career was spent on the freshwater lakes, and consequently her steel hull is in stunning condition. Regrettably her future is uncertain; the real estate company that owns her has lost interest, and it is now uncertain where, or indeed even whether, she will survive. She is the only surviving large passenger liner from the "Titanic" era. Though nowhere near the size of the White Star ships, nor even of the Empress Of Ireland, she is a most impressive sight, with her entire interior beautifully preserved. I'm a land and air transport enthusiast mainly, but earnestly hope Keewatin, the last of her ilk worldwide, survives.

[@sherrygray8261]

I've toured the Keewatin a few years ago, it's a simply stunning ship. Beautiful carved wood and elegant like a smaller version of the Empress or Titanic.

[@Adam1nToronto]

@@sherrygray8261 I know where this ship is! Are there tours offered, or does one merely make their way aboard and look around?

[@PhantomStella]

Would love to see that ship

[@XDrZaneX]

Are there any action we could take to have her marked as a historical site or similar? Maybe petitions or letters?

[@EncounterswithStrangeness]

The sheer loss of life is difficult to fathom. Thank you for sharing this story. I'd love to hear of the experience from any descendants of survivors who may be watching...

[@chatteyj]

An abandon ship order should have been given immediately with a hole in the shop like that a sinking or worse a capsize was inevitable. Life boats should have been launched empty for people to swim to them.

[@AwakeAndGrateful]

One of the comments, towards the top, contains replies from a descendant.

[@Scraggledust]

Up late/early caring for my elderly dog (11yrs old) whose dying. These vids are helping me not to cry and lose my chit. Ty for keeping minds engaged🥹

[@deanothemanc5281]

Feel for you lost our 14 yr oldGerman shepherd Sabre last year

[@Scraggledust]

@@deanothemanc5281 thank you. It’s hard losing them, because their loyalty and unconditional love are irreplaceable.

[@cxzact9204]

❤

[@MyNameHere101]

It's funny how hearing about past tragedies helps you forget your own. May your dog go gently. ❤️

[@GenXfrom75]

I'm sorry. We lost our 11 year old Golden Retriever (had him from 7 weeks) a few years ago. It still hurts 💔

[@reachandler3655]

Thankyou for another amazing episode. I suppose the Titanic got more press coverage because it was the maiden voyage of an 'unsinkable' ship. I can't decide which is worse, relitively slow sinking knowing there's not enough life boats and no immediate rescue, or sinking too fast to escape from within the ship. RIP to all who lost their lives at sea.

[@morley364]

I think (unfortunately) it was also partially because a significant number of rich people/'celebrities' died on the Titanic or were affected- they tend to make up a significant amount of the media coverage on the sinking.

[@nathanviebranz9111]

Empress was overshadowed more so due to unfortunate timing. The world was paying more attention to the events in Europe that would eventually lead to the Great War later that same year.

[@mahmoudsalaheddine8358]

@@nathanviebranz9111might have been a combination of the 2. Titanic’s sinking was shocking (one of the biggest ocean liners touted as “unsinkable” sunk on it’s maiden voyage), and the Great War beginning only short while later.

[@jettanyx1]

After hearing so many of these where captain and crew just bail it’s nice to hear these guys were there the whole time doing their best to save as many as they could

[@peterf.229]

also in this case it wasn’t the captain’s fault ( regardless it’s impressive when they do all they can to save as many as possible)

[@failedartist3994]

I went to a museum when I was a kid and picked up a very pretty purple t-shirt. There was an image of the Empress of Ireland on it. I swear, I'm wearing that shirt on all the pictures from my childhood. Now that I think about it, it was a tad weird to be walking around with a shirt that have such a dramatic backstory to it...thanks parental units...

[@stevec6642]

Here is an interesting tidbit of trivia, during the investigation into the sinking the investigators were very keen on interviewing “Frank Tower”. Frank was a stoker on the Empress of Ireland. The specific questions they had were “ how did the Empress sink in comparison to the Titanic. Frank Tower (was a stoker on both ships) commented that “the Titanic went down like a baby in a cradle, the Empress rolled over like a hog in the ditch”! It would have been very interesting to hear his account of the sinking of RMS Lusitania (because he was on that ship also).

[@baileywright1656]

The Tragic Story of the Empress of Ireland and Other Great Sea Disasters is an interesting contemporary book if you can find a copy. It goes into more detail about the collision and has some survivor accounts. I had no idea about the Empress until I found copy at a used book store. The wreck is located very close to the Quebec office of the Canadian Hydrographic Service whose job it is to map hazards to navogation and appears as a historic wreck on the chart there.

[@craigmarriott6759]

The Empress of Ireland has 10 pages in the book 'Lost Liners' by Robert D. Ballard and Rick Archbold. There are some haunting photos of the wreck.

[@peterf.229]

i read one of Ballard’s books about finding the wreck of the Titanic , i’ll see if i can get a copy of that Lost Liners book.

[@Thatguy-of5re]

I recognized the ship pictured at 0:40 at the brief slideshow in the beginning. The ship depicted is the W.H. Gilcher, a steam freighter that operated on the Great Lakes. The story of this ship and her only sister ship, the Western Reserve, could be their own video, and could even be seen as a forerunner to the Titanic disaster. Both of these ships were among the first on the Lakes to be built from steel. Western Reserve was launched in 1890 and W. H. Gilcher was launched in 1891. On August 30, 1892, the Western Reserve foundered in a Lake Superior gale near Deer Park, Michigan. The waters of Superior are extremely cold even in the summer months so many who fell into the water soon died from hypothermia. Many who made into boats perished when the boats capsized in heavy waves near the beach. Harry Stewart, the wheelsman, was found barely alive on the beach by patrolling Life Savers. He was the ship's sole survivor out of 21 people on board. Stewart later testified that the ship broke in two in the heavy waves. It was clear that brittle steel had caused the accident and a push was made to increase the standards of the use of steel in US ship manufacturing. This change came to late to benefit the W. H. Gilcher, which continued sailing after the death of the Western Reserve, despite being made from the same steel from the same mills. On October 26, 1892, just eight weeks after the death of her sister, W. H. Gilcher departed Buffalo, New York for a voyage to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Two days later, she sailed past Mackinaw City, Michigan and was last seen sailing straight into a northern Lake Michigan storm. The W. H. Gilcher and her crew of 18 were never seen again, and her wreck to this day has never been found. The scandal surrounding the loss of these two ships lead to a major overhaul in the use of steel in American and Canadian ships, ensuring much better quality steel was now in use. The British, however, never made such an overhaul in their ships. Ships continued to be built with brittle steel. By 1912 it was common for ships on the Great Lakes to hit ice flows, take damage, but remain floating. It's been speculated that if the British had made changes to the quality of ship steel years earlier, the loss of the Titanic never would have happened. My sources for this comment are Wikipedia anda short essay in the book Lake Superior's Shipwreck Coast by Great Lakes maritime historian Frederick Stonehouse.

[@ryano.5149]

If Titanic's older sister surviving WWI and numerous collisions isn't enough evidence that her steel was of acceptable quality, then I don't know what is. Ships TODAY aren't designed to collide with solid objects at over 20 knots. Titanic was neither the first, nor the last ship to founder due to a collision with an iceberg - the most recent one that I know of is the MS Explorer in 2007. Thankfully, evacuation procedures and life-saving equipment have come a long way since 1912.

[@livinglikeananimal]

If I had a nickel for every time a Norwegian ship was involved in a horrific maritime disaster in Canadian history that resulted in the deaths of thousands I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice (to my knowledge; the other disaster I'm referring to is the Halifax explosion). I don't even want to think of what it would have been like to be on the Empress in the rapid time she went down, a truly devastating loss of life and so little that could be done in that time. It's the stuff of nightmares. May their souls rest in peace.

[@Dill_Pickle1997]

Did you make a phineas and ferb reference in the begging of your comment?

[@rcallumto5627]

Asian drivers and Norwegian sailors..!!

[@elennapointer701]

I've heard a number of theories and explanations over the years for how this disaster came to pass, and one that frequently crops up is a rule about maritime conventions in the event of fog. I don't pretend to have more than a basic grasp of this, but here goes. Apparently ships travelling at night or in the dark displayed two prominent lights of differing colors on their superstructure - a green light on the starboard side and a red light on the port side, meaning that ships passing each other would either go "red to red" (port side to port side) or "green to green" (starboard side to starboard side). It seems that the fog caused confusion on both ships. Before the fog rolled in, the ships had intended to pass one another "green to green", i.e. the Empress' starboard side would be facing the Storstadt's starboard side, but Empress halted as the fog bank rose and signalled via her whistle that she had done so. When the Storstadt's whistle answered, however, it seemed to be coming from the port side, meaning that the Empress' crew thought the Norwegian ship had decided to pass "red to red" instead. Thus the Empress began to change course to accommodate this. Meanwhile, Storstadt's officers saw the Empress's lights shift and likewise believed the Empress was the ship that wanted to pass "red to red". As a result, they both tried to move to opposite sides of the river channel and so the collision happened. The question of blame can't really be settled easily because it seems to have been down to mutual confusion, but the chances are that class and snobbery played their usual roles: the Empress being a prestige ship of the British Empire, while the Storstadt was just a collier from Norway, meant that the British judge was never going to blame anyone but the Norwegians.

[@bubba99009]

The Canadian Pacific Railway owned and operated the ship. They had a number of ships that followed the "Empress of " naming convention.

[@laurencebeaudry2892]

I live there, in Rimouski, Québec, there is a beautiful museum and you can go in the lighthouse too, the same one. You can dive to see the ship, but it’s quite dangerous, some lost their lives doing so. Thank you for your storytelling beautifully done

[@Joaquin602001]

I’ve wanted to go to Rimouski since I was in high school to see the museum!

[@tsktsklookslikerain4578]

Something about your narration and music choice combined with the choice to commemorate the dead at the end of each video always gives me chills ❤️ You handle disasters with care and respect and learning about terrible occurrences is eased by knowing the dead are loved and missed.

[@chrissy4782]

🚢⚰️🚢⚰️🚢⚰️🚢⚰️🚢⚰️ Please keep doing what you’re doing and don’t change your format, no matter how many subs you get. Your theme music, your content, and your voice- This is quality KZbin!

[@ZeldAry1999]

Fun fact: learned about the tragedy as a child, and got a wave of nostalgia because of your upload. Through a friend, I learned about a « museum » dedicated to it and now I just might go this Sunday, so thank you OP

[@flyboy152]

I had never heard of this ship or its sinking until I read “Night Probe” by Clive Cussler. The original sinking, and a salvage operation to retrieve a critical item that went down with the ship form a major portion of the book.

[@carolsummers8734]

Me too.

[@ridethasno]

2:15am here in Washington State USA. Sending love to whoever reads this. ❤️

[@FedSmokerSaverOfBabies]

6:19 AM in Nova Scotia, Canada sending it all back friend ❤️

[@user-vr3hj7is6q]

4:19am in Minneapolis, have a nice day

[@ashleyking6743]

7:15 pm here in Queensland Australia

[@aliccolo]

11:20am in Italy 💓

[@AbeusMaximus]

2:19am here in Southern California USA. Spreading the love! ❤️

[@ProtozoanKid]

My absolute favorite part of your videos is how you talk about all the changes that came about due to the disasters. As a practicing engineer myself, I love seeing the events that sparked these changes in the industry. Absolutely love it. Keep up the good work!

[@DiscipleOfHeavyMeta1]

I used to live a fifteen minute drive away from where the ship sank. Hard to believe it's a world famous naval tragedy.

[@14supra14]

L'Islet or St-Jean Port-Joli?

[@DiscipleOfHeavyMeta1]

@@14supra14 Rimouski-Est. I think it's even closer than 15 minutes, actually. Those towns are West of Trois-Pistoles, so it's well over an hour away.

[@TheMountyPresents]

Another great episode. With this level of detail, I'm interested to see how you'd cover something like the Princess Sophia disaster, which was dubbed as Canada's Titanic.

[@Joaquin602001]

I’ve been fascinated by this disaster since I was in high school, thank you for covering it! One interesting fact about the survivors is the one guy who was swept off the ship and managed to swim to shore, four miles away, wearing only a bathrobe and slippers. He got up to someone’s front door and knocked on it to ask for help, apparently none the worse for wear, despite having just been submerged in freezing water.

[@John-no8sy]

Love waking up to these here in the US! By far among the best channels on KZbin, and one of very few i have watched every video and continue to do so. Keep it up!!

[@seandelap8587]

You never hear this tragedy mentioned much here in Ireland because its overshadowed by the Titanic.

[@Mgaffo222]

Because the Empress of Ireland wasn’t built in Ireland or had any Irish roots other then the name of which was just chosen by Canadian pacific while titanic was built here In Belfast

[@ALuimes]

@@Mgaffo222 And Ireland never had an empress either.

[@stanzanossi]

It was also overshadowed by the start of World War 1!😮

[@joec4871]

This is a good channel. Straight to the point and only facts. No long drawn out filler parts to extend the video. And the narrator has a cool voice with a smooth accent. It's a shame all those folks died. And the crew rescuing as many people as they could was heroic.

[@Unownshipper]

Ah, the overlooked sibling of maritime tragedies. Lost in the shadow of the Titanic and WWI, over too fast for dramatic tales of heroism and survival, not happening at sea specifically, and not record-breaking “enough” in its loss of life, size of the ship, etc. Thanks for bringing this story to life for (what I must assume is) the first time for a good portion of the audience here. The Empress and her passengers deserve to be remembered.

[@rachelk7784]

Before this, Captain Kendall was most well known for spotting and being instrumental in the capture of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, who was fleeing murder charges in England.

[@stasia1942]

Thank you, I would have never connected the two stories otherwise. He really sounds like a brave man who strove to fill his duties.

[@rachaelbeaver7285]

Always a pleasure when I see you've uploaded!! Love what you do, keep up the amazing work! Cheers from Portland Oregon!

[@thepinkyprincesspoetc.a.5767]

Such a horrific disaster that I had never heard of before until now Thank you so much for telling the story of this horrific disaster ... May those that lost their lives Rest In Peace🙏🙏🙏🙏💙🌈🌈🌈💙💙🦋🦋🦋🌸🌷💐🌺🌼🥀🌻🔴🍀💐💜💜🌸💛🌹🌼💛♥️

[@waverlh]

With almost 50 years on this planet and I've never heard of this before. Thanks for the great work! Keep it up. You're depressing, I mean, enlightening us all. 😆

[@catliciousoz]

Thanks for all you do, your channel is awesome and so is your content!

[@chicagotransitauthority3161]

I’m so glad you’re talking about the Empress of Ireland! I’ve known about this story ever since I was 9 when I rented a Canadian documentary from Netflix

[@Treblaine]

The inquiry seemed far more concerned with preventing the collision than ensuring the vaunted watertight bulkheads worked as intended. If they had recognized the danger of collision in advance the watertight bulkhead doors and portholes could have been closed so that a collision would cripple the ship but not sink it.

[@reachandler3655]

I was thinking the same. Watertight bulkheads are useless if the doors are open and can't be closed in time, makes more sense to keep them closed, opening to traverse and closing behind you.

[@P_RO_]

What is being spoken of aren't regular-sized walk-through doors, but very large ones weighing tons which need to be open for ventilation and normal operation of the ship. The ship can sail with them closed but with less comfort and efficiency. After WW2 it became normal for portholes to either be locked or welded shut because of their role in numerous sinkings.

[@Treblaine]

@@P_RO_ They didn't have to keep them closed all the time, just close them when in a dangerous part of the voyage.

[@opwave79]

If technology is the answer to everything, then why do we still have deadly accidents? Prevention is a valid thing to focus on. It’s much better to avoid a ship to ship collision altogether by observing maritime rules than it is to over-rely on tech to save you. Things happened too fast to close the bulkheads anyway.

[@Treblaine]

@@opwave79 Technology is the answer as we can totally avoid accidents. In 2017 there was not a single fatality in commercial aviation. There is no way so many people could walk the same distance they flew without any fatal accident. I never said maritime rules should be ignored, but you are disagreeing with me saying that safety features should actually be used. You need layers of defences. The problem with depending on the rules is The Empress Of Ireland followed all the rules but because an entirely separate third party broke the rules, their ship paid the ultimate price. If everyone followed the rules then no one would ever have a car crash and you wouldn't need a seatbelt. This accident was caused by human error, you need technology to reduce the lethality of human accidents.

[@emilymuckler]

this is next to my hometown! I'm so happy to have you talk about this unfortunately too often forgotten tragedy!

[@brianclingenpeel5123]

Always stoked to see another submission to his catalog. I really enjoy this channel and his style of presenting

[@cingkobrasfj]

I love these videos! Close to a million! I’m sure it’s coming in the next few weeks. Super keen to see this channel grow to a million. Don’t change a thing. You’re on it mate!

[@guydastous6583]

I have been interested about the Empress of Ireland for more than 30 years. I did 35 dives on the wreck. If you went to Gatineau, Quebec to see the Empress of Ireland exhibit in 2014 and Pier 21 in Halifax in Nova Scotia in 2015, you probably saw about 30 artefacts from my personal collection. If you live close to Toronto, there is a small exhibit right now about the Empress of Ireland at the Old Mill Heritage Center. The exhibit will be there until mid-October 2022. You will be able to see about 90 artefacts from my personal collection and from the Canadian History Museum. One mistake I noticed in your video, which is one made often, your image of the Empress of Ireland that you show many times is not the Empress of Ireland but the sister ship Empress of Britain. Keep on the good work! Guy D’Astous

[@coldzero8584]

As always, very informative, captivating and respectful, with no over dramatisation. Top work.

[@dfuher968]

I have always found, that this sinking in itself was a horrible tragedy, that did not deserve to be a mostly forgotten footnote in history. But also, that it was outrageous, that it was followed by another tragedy in the farce of the "inquiry".

[@katherynedarrah4245]

I find it funny that she switched to steel lifeboats. The material had nothing to do with the problems of the Titanic. It was entirely the fact that the full compliment of lifeboats would "block the ocean's view". She had enough space. Even without the collapsibles.

[@princessmarlena1359]

Right?

[@Unownshipper]

While that’s certainly true, I suppose the thinking was that the metal lifeboat would be a better investment than the wooden ones which could rot over the years if not properly maintained. Therefore in that sense they would be more safe for the passengers.

[@katherynedarrah4245]

@@Unownshipper Not really. The wooden lifeboats were weather sealed. Supposed to be inspected every 30 operating days *or* after every voyage, whichever was shorter, according to international custom at the time. And the collapsibles are supposed to be tested every 3-4 days (weather dependent) for pop-out ability and leak tests. The Titanic never did their lifeboat/evac drills, never tested the davits before getting underway (3 were suspected to be faulty cause of how lifeboats failed to launch properly) nor was the crew properly trained in evacuation drills. Many were fresh hands.

[@davidjones332]

@@Unownshipper Another factor may have been that ships then were of riveted construction. if the ship was listing there was a danger that the loaded lifeboats would be raked by the rivets as they scraped down the ship's side, possibly causing serious damage, or be overturned if the planking caught on the rivets. A steel lifeboat might get dented but was unlikely to shed chunks of planking or be flipped over.

[@Unownshipper]

@@katherynedarrah4245 Then what's your solution for the action?

[@Luminary2]

I live on the St.Lawrence and always wanted to know more about this. Thank you!

[@newcarpathia9422]

Something else worth of note is that the Empress's watertight doors were hand-operated. Systems like on the Titanic, where you could hit a switch on the bridge and close them all automatically were too new to be on the Empress. It takes a long, long time to hand-crank one of those doors shut by hand.

[@Frankfurter420]

Will you do a video about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff? I imagine the torpedoes that sunk it would not have been fired had the submarine captains known their actions would immediately result in the deaths of almost 10,000 people.

[@annahill99]

And with so many children on board. I didn’t learn about this one until I was an adult and was shocked it’s not more talked about. At least, it’s not in American history materials

[@johncameron2241]

Don't bet on it the was a Soviet Union sub they were out for revenge.

[@bubba99009]

@@annahill99 The Germans don't get a lot of love in the history books despite the fact that most of them were just trying to live their life and survive to see another day.

[@alyssamcintosh5868]

As an American, I’m willing to learn more about the tragedy also. As much as Empress of Ireland, and S.S. Norge *A Danish steerage ship that sank collided Mount St.Helen’s rock off the coast of Rockall on June 28,1904 taking with her Danish, Swedes, Norwegian and Russian-Jewish immigrants on their way to a better life in America* Including Sea Wing ferry disaster *not an ocean liner, but was tossed aside during a dangerous storm in Lake Pepin on a hot mid July in 1890

[@danem2215]

@bubba99009 The Germans didn't get any love in history books because they were Nazis.

[@donnix1192]

I have always been fascinated by ships going back to my childhood when I learned that my great grandfather Albert Horswill worked for White Star Line and survived the sinking of the Titanic. It’s strange how much attention Titanic gets when there have been thousands and thousands of horrific shipwrecks. Thanks for covering the empress of Ireland, as well as the SS Eastland and the riverboat Sultana. These tragedies deserve more recognition and this channel is doing that.

[@DeadLightDuhWicced]

Ahhhhh yes the Empress Of Ireland Canada's "Titanic" I'm glad you discussed this disaster I have always enjoyed learning about maritime disasters you should also cover the sinking of the RMS Lusitania

[@nathann7401]

Thanks so much!! Feel free to extend the video to make it longer:) this is definitely my favorite subscription. Leading information about tragic events, of many folks have tragically lost, horrifically. Very, Very well written and it helps to remember and become aware of frightful events of the past.🥶

[@Stormbolter]

I went to the maritime museum of Rimouski and found the wreck fascinating, specially because so little of it is publicised beyond the local area. I strongly recomend visiting the museum at point au pere if you happen to pass by Rimouski.

[@saragrant9749]

Interesting and well done dissertation on this sadly forgotten tragedy. Another maritime incident you might find interesting to do a video on is the Great Lakes Storm of 1917. At least 20 ships were lost and God only knows how many lives. It led to improved weather forecasting and a greater respect for the Great Lakes.

[@zapzeus988]

You never ask for likes, subscriber's or to activate the notification bell. You also never ask for money via ads or donation's, and that is why I do all those freely on my own. Thank you, your channel is one of the best!!

[@Markus_Andrew]

What I enjoy about this channel is how you relate historical events of which I've never heard, such as this one, and with excellent presentation. Thanks very much for another superb video 👍

[@williamcote4208]

I actually once went to the Empress of Ireland near Rimouski, Qc. They even had some parts that were recovered from the wreck.

[@fjh5249]

Absolutely fantastic and informative as always, I never miss a video on your channel keep up the great work!

[@mmoscoviumm]

i have autism and one of my favourite things to look into and talk about is maritime disasters. just a couple days before this video, i was talking to my sister about how the lusitania and the empress of ireland tragedies are hardly ever talked about. then i see this. it makes my heart happy to know that some other people haven’t forgotten about this tragedy.

[@Zimin_Anatoly2000]

Never heard about this disaster earlier. Thank you.

[@LDN_MZK]

I love this channel! Keep up the good work! These videos show parts of history that deserve to be know, but all falling into obscurity. Thank you for reviving their memory. This is a service to the victims of these disasters, modern people to learn from mistakes in the past and preserves History itself. ❤ ☮🕊

[@purplecelery7380]

Great video. I'd never heard of The Empress of Ireland until now. It's crazy how it (and other maritime tragedies, such as the SS Eastland) don't get anywhere near the same amount of attention as the Titanic. Still, I guess there are a number of factors with the Titanic that make it so compelling: the maiden voyage, the deliberate decision to not carry enough lifeboats, the (completely avoidable) decision to not change route when warned of icebergs, the relatively slow sinking time, the first use of the SOS code, the band 'playing on'' until the end, the mysterious ship that failed to come to the rescue, the high profile people who perished (JJ Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, etc). Not to mention the crazy rumours that sprang up afterwards, like the Egyptian mummy on board the vessel!

[@Unownshipper]

I agree, it’s like a sinking “needs time” for proper drama to develop onboard and bold tales of heroism and survival to develop. The Empress was tragically over all too suddenly.

[@wyomingadventures]

Keep up the great work Fascinating Horror! Won't be long and you will have a million subscribers. Nice to see your channel grow. 😊

[@nr4930]

My great uncle Joe came to Canada on this ship a yr or two before the sinking. He had a good life working in lumber camps in northern Ontario. Glad he made it safely and had his life to live into old age.

[@ktkat1949]

I cannot imagine the terror those people suffered being thrown into the icy water and then having all the lights go out on the ship. God rest their souls.

[@bradcoram509]

I did a lot of diving on the wreck of the Empress in the 90s and have a number of artefacts, including a porthole from 3rd class. . . This video brings back a lot of memories and emotions.

[@Kaidhicksii]

One of the big factors that led to the collision was that, at the time of the fog, the captain on the Storstad left the bridge to take a nap (I believe), and left a younger, inexperienced teenager (who I believe was the third officer; I forgot) in charge. In short, this story is an example of exactly why you don't leave an inexperienced person in charge of a situation such as navigating a ship in fog in a busy sea lane, unsupervised. Edit: I'm honestly amazed at the amount of people here who have never heard of this story before. Guess they haven't read Robert Ballard's 'Ghost Liners.' Regardless, it is true on how some disasters are more overlooked than others. In the case of the Empress, I'd say it had to do with a combination of the ship not being as large, glamorous or famous as the Titanic sailing on her maiden voyage, nor her sinking as dramatic, and that this took place only a year before WW1.

[@stanzanossi]

The Canadians are notorious for not publicizing their history as much as other nations! For example, how many people know that the largest man-made explosion occurred during the First World War in Halifax, Nova Scotia! Two ships collided in the Halifax harbour, one of them loaded with an enormous amount of munitions for the war, and the resulting explosion devastated the city of Halifax! Thousands of people were killed! 😮 There were many other cataclysmic events in Canada's history as well, which are not that well known!😱

[@SurfingTubes]

"The Terrible Disaster of the SS ARCTIC (1854)," is a horrific story as well. Lot of collisions in the North Atlantic.

[@warmhandswarmheart]

6:42 a.m. here in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Having my coffee before I have to go to work. Hope everyone has a safe, productive day.

[@Piper79h]

Your videos are concise and very well done. You have a really good narrative voice. Your channel is one of my favorites.

[@kleineb334]

There’s a great documentary done a few years back that really went into detail finding who was truly at fault for the sinking. Mostly found that both crews played a role in the collision with the captain of the empress lying his way through the investigation. It was found that the empress on its final turn to have a more direct run had over corrected and the storstad spotted the turn and the fog removed all visibility where they never saw the empress readjust it’s course leading to the storstad to make the fatal turn to avoid where they believed the empress was going to be passing. Also the empress captain lied about the condition the ship was in (claiming the ship was stopped in the water due to the fog) but dives into the wreck show the ships engine room telegraphs were at ahead full

[@kellark]

Ive had the opportunity to visit a few of those monuments while passing through Quebec. Its hard to imagine why this didn't get more attention when it happened.

[@jelyfisher]

I've never heard of this before! How tragic.

[@valerieengelleiter698]

My grandmother used to tell me about how she, her siblings, and her parents emigrated from Sweden aboard the Empress of Ireland. And about how the ship tipped over and sank in fifteen minutes in the Saint Lawrence Seaway on the very next voyage. The way she told it, the ship bottomed out, but she was very young when it happened, and it's possible that it wasn't reported on very well. Now I know that it was actually a collision that caused it. Thank you for giving it the attention it deserves. Grandma would have been tickled to hear you tell the story.

[@sunnyscott4876]

Your channel is excellent, your narration is on point, your stories are fascinating and you are thoughtful and respectful of the people who may have been lost in these tragic events. Well done. Keep up the great work.

[@SupermarketSweep777]

I knew about this sinking since I was a little kid reading Ghost Liners by Robert Ballard. (Along with Titanic, Lusitania, Britannic and the Andrea Doria.)

[@scolipede491]

this is how i knew about it too :)

[@ManxAndy]

Thankyou for this video…..I had never heard of this incident till now…👍🇮🇲

[@kspen6110]

Never heard of this story. I'm surprised it isn't more well known considering it happened only 2 years after the Titanic. Eerie how it was clear and then suddenly fog came in and then cleared up just before impact. The Captain is definitely a hero even though there was no way to save those in 2nd and 3rd class. And such a loss to the Red Cross community.

[@melissag9160]

How have I never heard of this before?! Not to diminish the Titanic tragedy, but it seems that Titanic's story overshadowed the Empress of Ireland catastrophe. Thank you for sharing this story. It's important to know our history and learn from it.

[@Ford_Raptor_R_720hp_V8]

*Thank You for covering this often overlooked tragedy with a massive loss of life that was taken so quickly.* *It must have been Terrifying for those poor souls trapped on a Fast Sinking Ship in the middle of a black night.*

[@nodrogdivad]

WOW! This was VERY close to where I grew up in Plattsburgh, NY, 50 miles south of Montreal.... Never heard of this. Thanks for the video! Great Job as always. Cheers. and RIP all you souls.

[@nodrogdivad]

Shame I never got into Diving... almost.... That's insane! They only asked foir money for the Silver lost?!?

[@14supra14]

I am also VERY VERY close from the sank. Only at about 10 min in car!

[@taco.escobat5565]

I love your content! please consider doing a video on the Queen Isabella causeway (Texas) collapse in 2001. it happened days after 9/11 and got lost in the news. It was absolutely devastating to the area. Keep up the good work!

[@benisaten]

Thanks for this video. Cheers and Respects from Niagara 🇨🇦

[@Scousestrongmanfan]

Crazy you just uploaded this today i was speaking with customer the other day in work and he brought up the empress of ireland , and how it doesnt get as much publicity as the titanic despite the numbers.

[@toboe156]

I see fascinatinghorror upload, I like. I’m always ready to learn how not to die horribly.

[@nono-hg7yd]

My great great grandmother came to canada on this ship, I have a pamphlet from it.

[@scolipede491]

"You have sunk my ship!" - Captain Kendall, to the captain of the Storstad as the person who requested this, i'm glad to see it finally surface. it really is a whole lot of information to condense into such a short time frame, isn't it? to the rest of you: the empress wasn't done claiming lives after she went down. among the salvage operation crew was a man named edward cossaboom. if you don't have a weak stomach, you should look into what happened to him.

[@EGReviews]

Well I weren't expecting that.... water pressure truly is a terrifying thing

[@gordonaliasme1104]

🙄😟💀

[@TiaKatt]

Oh. I recogize that. Yeah, the Mythbusters did a segment based on this and similar incidents (like the Byford Dolphin). The Compressed Diver.

[@Joaquin602001]

There’s been over a dozen deaths since diving on the Empress started to be a thing, one guy who was illegally salvaging portholes got lost in the cargo hold and was found hours later. He’d run through all of his oxygen and chewed through his bottom lip waiting.

[@aceckrot]

Thank you for sharing this story. Although this took place on the St. Lawrence River and technically not on the Great Lakes, it's one disaster that I am familiar with. I love stories of disasters that I am familiar with, but also like learning about new ones.

[@mrloverman76]

An incredible fact about this; William Clark working aboard the Empress of Ireland and the Titanic did survived both tragedies!

[@alaingadbois2276]

I think he was a stoker, which makes his survival even more incredible! Wonder how he felt the rest of his life.

[@mrloverman76]

@@alaingadbois2276 like in Final Destination 😅

[@homersimpsonsfatguyhat9541]

Well done, as always.

[@marvindebot3264]

Another quality production.

[@morganosborne9258]

This disaster was one I had not heard. So close in time to the sinking of the Titanic, it is astonishing it had so little coverage. It is always amazing to hear how disasters change how various things are buillt, as well as the regulations covering them. Thank you FH for another wonderful narration. I especially appreciate the coverage with such respect to the victims.

[@joethebrowser2743]

Great channel. 👍🏻🇬🇧

[@jessicad83]

@Thanks 🅥 🖕🖕 - reported

[@monkeywentbananas]

Never heard of this disaster before! Keep finding these hidden stories!

[@robstrukk]

I’m glad you’ve covered this, one of many maritime tragedies that are so easily overlooked because of Titanic. It’s a story I know well, but your videos are always well worth a watch - this comment is mainly me again respectfully asking you to cover the Wilhelm Gustloff 😬

[@SocialWorkerGene]

My family has a chair from the ship that washed up on shore in the days following the disaster - St. Luce-sur-mer is filled with reminders of this accident and everyone has a story related to the sinking