FOURTEEN HUNDRED SOULS ON BOARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 30 May 1914, Page 5

FOURTEEN HUNDRED SOULS ON BOARD

ONLV TIME FOR ONE WIRELESS CALL SCENE BAFFLES DESCRIPTION THE EMPRESS KOV£ TO WHEN STRUCK AUSTRALIAN "AMITNEW ZEALAND PASSENGERS (Roc. Mav 30, 9 a.m.) OTTAWA, .-May 29. A thousand lives are believed to have been lost when the 'Canadian-! acifio steamer Empress of Ireland collided with the Norwegian collier Storstad off Father Point, near Rimouski, during a dense fog, and sank in ten minutes after the collision. Of a total of fourteen hundred crew audi passengers, 420 were taken from lifeboats to llimouski by 'Government steamers. The list is not known, but the- passengers included Mr Laurence Irving, the° actor, and a number, of New Zealanders. , No tiling is known o£* tliß fate -oi trie Storstad. _ t „ Immediatelv on receipt- of t-lie 0.0.0f. signals the Canadian Government steamers Eureka and Ladv Evelyn, fiom Father Point, hurried to the rescue. _ The early news was "barely more t-lmn the "5.0.5." call, naniing the ship; and -stating that she was .in fear of immediate sinking. The absence of a further call was explained *by tlie fact that the a sank almost at once. ... Till ere must have Tjeen. a- terrible shock, and the vessel is believed to have been cut in two. At earliest dawn boats were seen hovering'over the spot, but there "were no siccus of the steamers. 'The Empress of Ireland carried many Canadian members of the Salvation Army to attend a conference in London. Including most of the head officials. The passenger list included many Australians and. New ZlealanderSj including •Colonel, Mrs, and Miss Blomfield, Auckland ; • and Miss C- Town send, E. Byrne, and G. Byrne, of Brisbane. 'The steamer left Quebec yesterday with 990 passengers, for Liverpool. The scene immediately after the collision baffles description—the shrieks of passengers rudely awakened from their slumbers; the hoarse cries of the captain and officers; the wailing of women, mingled with the rushing- of water in the gulf opened up in ,the boat. There was little" time to launch the boats.

The Empress of Ireland had hove to in the fog when the collier struck her amidships. When the eteamer sailed away from Quebec the brass band of the Salvation Army played "God be with you till wo meet again." The Empress of Ireland was commanded by Captain Kendall, R.N.R.. who commanded the Montrose when the murderer Criprren -v--..-. captured. He is among the saved.