It took just 14 minutes for the majestic passenger liner to sink near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada after setting sail from Quebec
As Liverpool mourned the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland on May 29, 1914, a poem written in tribute by local poet James Ernest Bygroves was distributed to a city in grief.
“And deeds were done on that dark morn of which we’ll never hear,” read one line. Almost 110 years on, those words could not sound more prophetic.
It took just 14 minutes for the majestic passenger liner to sink near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada after setting sail from Quebec.
The Empress was on a regular homeward journey to Liverpool docks when it collided with another vessel in dense fog. A total of 1,012 died â 840 passengers, plus 172 crew, who were mainly Liverpudlians.