THE EMPRESS WRECK.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 120, 26 June 1914, Page 10

THE EMPRESS WRECK.

HER ACTUAL INJURIES. DIVERS TO RESUME WORK. By Cable. — Press Association. — Copyright. QUEBEC, June 25. Mr Percy Hillhouse, of the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company, which constructed the Empress of Ireland, continuing his evidence, stated that one foot had been added to the rudder of the Empress of Ireland after the accident in 1908 to improve her steering qualities. He stated that he had heard no complaints from captains of the vessel regarding her steering. He gave the first adequate explanation of the actual injuries of the Empress of Ireland, telling of water rushing through the wound in her side, 28 square feet in area, at the rate of 260 tons a second. He believed that the twist to the bow of the Storstad was caused by the impact before she penetrated the Empress of Ireland. Divers of the cruiser Essex have been ordered back to the scene of the wreck after a conference between Captain Walsh, of the Canadian-Pacific Railway, and Captain Watson, of the Essex, at which it was decided to make a further attempt to recover the eight hundred bodies entombed in the ship. Captain Kendall, recalled, gave the times the ship travelled on two courses after leaving Father Point prior to the accident, showing discrepancy between the captain's time for dropping the pilot and the time given by the captain of the pilot boat which picked up the pilot.