Lost at Sea

Word spread quickly through the small town that a ship had gone down and survivors were being brought ashore. With a working waterfront on the St. Lawrence River, Rimouski, Quebec, has known its share of lost seamen, but in the still-dark hours of a quiet spring morning, no one could have imagined it was the Empress that had sunk in the river’s cold water.

The Empress of Ireland was the pride of the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. Built in Glasgow, Scotland, the made its maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to Quebec in June of 1906. For the next eight years, it would safely carry tens of thousands of passengers across the Atlantic between Canada and the United Kingdom. Young and old alike sailed to the new country in search of adventure or a fresh start. Families having established themselves in the Americas also frequently booked return passages to the U.K. to show loved ones back home their newfound success and newly born grandchildren.