The St. Lawrence Disaster.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14982, 1 June 1914, Page 6

The St. Lawrence Disaster.

A brief cable message which we published on Saturday gave dire foreboding of a great tragedy fn the St. Lawrence .River, and the details published 'this morning confirm the worst misgivings. The Empress of Ireland; one of the finest steamers in the Canadian Paciflc Railway Company's service, came into collision with a Norwegian collier in a dense fog, and sank in about ten minutes. Over one tfiousand lives have been last. It is a peculiarly poignant feature of the disaster that only twelve women were saved. This is no doubt accounted for by the suddenness of the catastrophe, and tho fact that at the time of the collision most of tho passengers wero below. There was no time to launch the boats, and little chance of safety presented itself except to thoso who were on deck at the time, and woro able to get clear of the wreck when the ship went down. Next to the wreck of tho Titanic it is the biggest disaster recorded in the history of the mercantile marine. As far as one can tell Do known precaution for safety seems to have been neglected. Tho Canadian-Pacific steamers do not attempt to break records, but tho policy adopted is to put tho safety and comfort of the passengers as the first consideration. In the matter of bulkheads and boat accommodation, no ship could have been better provided. So far from running any undue risks in order to keep tirae c . the Empress of Ireland was actually hove-to on account of the fog when she was rammed and nearly cut in two by the Storstad. The sad event shows that even when all human pre-

cautions have been taken there remain dangers of tho sea against which tho puny efforts of man aro unavailing. In all parts of the world there will be mourning over the loss of dear ones thus suddenly called away, and even New Zealand has not been kept outside tbo circle of personal bereavement. Tho hearts of all our readers will, we feci 6ure, go out in sympathy to the stricken ones in every country.