Sinking of the Empress of Ireland (1914)

The 1914 collision of the Canadian Pacific Railway ocean liner Empress of Ireland with the Norwegian vessel Storstad in the Gulf of St Lawrence resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 people. The Empress of Ireland made regular crossings of the Atlantic, between Quebec City and Liverpool, England, and at the time of its sinking, it was carrying 1,477 passengers. On 29 May, at about two o’clock in the morning, a thick fog bank arose, restricting the two ships’ visibility. The Storstad rammed the Empress of Ireland, which sank in less than 15 minutes. At the time, the tragedy was the focus of attention in the international press, but with the outbreak of the First World War a few months later, other stories quickly took over the front pages.