The Empress of Ireland's Manitoba Victims

© 2021, Christian Cassidy

May 29, 1914, Winnipeg Tribune

A lot of attention was paid to the centenary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic back in 2012. The centenary of another tragic sinking that happened right here in Canada has not had anything near the same level of interest.

The C.P.R.'s R.M.S. Empress of Ireland sank on the St. Lawrence River on May 29, 1914. With her went the lives of 1,012 people, most of them Canadians.

Here's a look back at the disaster and some of its Manitoba connections.

THE DISASTER

Top: January 27, 1914, Winnipeg Tribune (wire story)
Bottom: Empress photo from Library and Archives Canada

The Empress of Ireland was built in Glasgow by Fairfield Ltd. for the Canadian Pacific Railway and launched in January 1906. She was one of two Empresses built for the company. Her sister ship, the Empress of England, was launched the November before.

The Empresses were the jewels of the sixty or so ships in Canadian Pacific's Atlantic shipping fleet.

Over the years, the Empress of Ireland brought tens of thousands of immigrants from Europe to Canada to settle the West. She could could carry nearly 1,500 passengers at a time, divided into first class (200), second class (480) and and third class (900).

Last ad for last voyage, May 11, 1914, Winnipeg Free Press

The first departure of the year after the break up of the ice on the St. Lawrence was a popular one for those wanting to take their summer holidays in Europe.

Ads appeared in Winnipeg newspapers until mid-May and tickets could be purchased at the CPR offices in the Canada Block on the south-west corner of Portage and Main. (CPR office in Portage la Prairie and Brandon reported that they had not sold any tickets for this voyage.)

The Empress set sail from Quebec City at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, 1914, with 1,477 passengers and crew bound for Liverpool.

Storstad's damage (Source: Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père)

On the St. Lawrence River near Rimouski, Quebec, she and the Norwegian coal ship Storstad approached each other at around 1:45 a.m. in a low-lying fog. The crews lost sight of each other and The Empress was struck at nearly a 45 degree angle which tore a large hole that extended around twenty feet into her bow.

In this post-Titanic era, the Empress was well equipped with life vests and rafts, but she turned and sank in under fifteen minutes which gave few passengers a chance to get dressed and onto the decks. By the time they did, the ship was listing badly and many of the life boats could not be launched.

A joint Canadian - British government inquiry held the Storstad's crew responsible for the disaster as it had made a course change in the fog thinking they had already passed the passenger ship. The finding was not universally accepted as both crews made incorrect assumptions about where the other ship was and they turned in on each other.

For more about the ship, the accident and the aftermath, check out the "related Links" at the bottom of this post.

Source: Library and Archives Canada

Manitoba's Dead

This list has been pieced together from dozens of newspaper articles, mainly from the Winnipeg Tribune and Winnipeg Free Press.

I can't say that it is completely accurate. As with most large disasters, confusion reigned in the days immediately afterwards. A list published in the Tribune three days after the disaster showed only three locals confirmed dead and nearly two dozen still missing. In some cases, people didn't appear on the initial lists at all or floated between the dead, missing and rescued.

By the time of the inquiry began in June, (they didn't waste a lot of time in those days), final lists came out, but only the First Class list had place names associated with the names of victims. 

When researching disasters it is sometimes easier to find a complete list of victims in newspapers on the one-year anniversary of the event after everything had been sorted out. In the Empress' case, World War I began just months after her sinking and the anniversary was all but forgotten.

My estimate is that the total number of Manitobans aboard was around 42 of which 27 died. That number includes people who were "temporary" Winnipeggers, here for a short stay, or had made their minds up to return for good to their home country.

If you have any additional information about Manitoba's victims, I would love to hear from you: cassidy-at-mts.net.

Mrs. Charlotte Gallagher 

Empire Hotel, Main Street

Initially, Charlotte and her teenage son Cedric, a student at Manitoba College, did not appear on the passenger list. The pair arrived in Quebec the week before to sat with her sister and purchased their tickets the night before the sailing. 

After the crash, Cedric and Charlotte jumped from the deck into the water next to a lifeboat but she got caught up in the myriad of ropes hanging overboard. Cedric tried to extricate her but she got pulled below the water. Cedric had to leave her behind and swam to the life boat. Charlotte's daughter Bessie (6) was initially listed as missing but it turns out that she stayed behind with her aunt.

Charlotte's body was returned to Winnipeg on June 5 where it was met at the new CPR station on Higgins Avenue by her husband and funeral cortege. It proceeded directly to St. John’s Cemetery for burial.

Mrs. Harriet Hakker (28) and Judith Hakker (7 mos.) 

Robert Street (now Galt Avenue)

Harriet lived in Winnipeg for just a year after marrying CPR employee J. Hakker. They lived in a residence attached to a bunkhouse for CPR employees where she and her husband were caretakers. Her mother became seriously ill and she was en route back to Amsterdam to see her.

Mrs. Christina Nuttall , Tom Nuttall (4) and Ralph (3 mos.) 

810 Strathcona Street

Christina was bringing her children to vacation for the summer in her native England. Her body and that of her son Ralph arrived in Winnipeg on June 5, 1914 and were buried the following day in Brookside Cemetery. No mention was made of the discovery of Tom's body, though he does appear on the list of the dead presented at the inquiry.

Christina was a prominent volunteer at St. James Park Congregational Church. Her husband, Thomas Nuttall, who stayed behind in Winnipeg, was an accountant with R. J. Whitla.

Mrs. Edith Prior (33 - nee Auger)

872 Alverstone Street

Edith did not appear on the initial list of survivors or missing.

George, her husband, was a mechanic at Maw's Garage who stayed behind in Winnipeg. He was so distraught that he travelled to Quebec to search through the unidentified corpses. A small note in the Tribune on June 5 says that he sent word back that he looked through all of the bodies but could not find her and was awaiting the arrival of the last of the salvage boats. 

There was no follow-up as to whether or not he found her body. Her name, though, eventually appeared on the final list of the dead.

It was yet another heartbreak for George. The couple had five children together but all had died at birth or in infancy.

Mr. Eli Evison (27), Julius Evison (9 mos)
655 Dufferin Avenue (now demolished)

Eli Evison was travelling with wife Fanny and son Julius. Initially, it was reported that they all perished but a local family member informed the Tribune that he had received telegrams from both adults saying that they were alive.

Despite this, Eli Evison ended up on the final list of dead. He may have been one of a number of people who were initially rescued but succumbed to exposure or injuries in the days after the disaster.

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Kitson, Monica Kitson (3)
277 Semple Avenue

A native of England, Mrs. Kitson was a frequent visitor to Winnipeg to see her sister who had settled here a couple of years before. In 1913, Kitson decided that she would marry in England and come return with her husband to join her sister permanently.

The couple tried farming near Younkers, Manitoba (sp ?) but Herbert could not get used to the cold weather. They ended up moving to Winnipeg and stayed with her sister on Semple Avenue before finally deciding to pack it in and return to their homeland.

Christopher Halliday, James F. Dandy

Pierson, Manitoba

Halliday was the postmaster and a grain dealer in Pierson and James F. "Jim" Dandy was a former hardware merchant. The two were vising Winnipeg together when they encountered some old friends from their native Britain and decided on the spot that they should go back for a visit, (apparently Dandy's wife telegraphed her permission !)

Initially, both men were reported as missing and presumed dead but the June 4, 1914 Free Press carried an interview with Dandy who had just arrived in the city with the body of his friend en route to Pierson.

Dandy said that the two awoke when water began entering their cabin. They made it to the deck just as the ship plunged beneath the waves and the force sucked them under. When Dandy reached the surface, he could not find Halliday but did find another man with two life jackets. They hung onto wreckage until a life boat picked them up an hour or so later and brought them to the Storstad.

A public funeral was held in Pierson for Halliday, one of the largest ever held in the village. He was buried in nearby Winlaw Cemetery.

As for Dandy, he had sold his business prior to the Empress trip as he had been suffering from ill health. A December 6, 1915 Free Press article noted: "The exposure in the water for so long a time was a shock to his system from which he never recovered." Dandy was 49 years old.

William Shattock

Nesbitt, Manitoba

Shattock had been working as a farmhand in Nesbitt for three years and returning to his native England.

Miss Alma Fedora Maude Assafrey (26)

 395 Simcoe Street 

Alma and a friend came to Winnipeg just a month earlier for Alma's marriage to A. J. Musgrave, a teacher at the Winnipeg School of Art. According to Into the Mist, Alma had a hard time adjusting to frontier life and she was returning to her native Scotland.

Alma stayed with the Lowe family on Simcoe Street while in Winnipeg. The Free Press reported that the day after the disaster the Lowes received a small thank-you gift in the mail that Alma had mailed from Quebec City. 

As for the ex-fiancee, he travelled to Quebec City to identify Alma's remains and escorted her body back to Scotland.

Miss Mary Frances Afanassief 

Alfred Avenue

Afanassief  was a recent immigrant from Russia who lived on Alfred Avenue and worked as a fur finisher for H. F. Hoerner. She was returning to the old country.

Marcus August Blomquist, Elisabet Blomquist, Eric (9), Fred (1)

Winnipeg

Mrs. Georgi Zuk (32), Wladislaw Zuk (6),Miss Josepfa Zuk (5)

Winnipeg

The Zuk family was in third class and are mentioned only once in the newspaper lists. According to the final list, the father, Georgi, and one of his sons, Kirilio, survived.

Miss Annie Jensen (Age unknown, third class)

THE SALVATION ARMY

Brandon Sun, June 3, 1914

There was a large contingent of Salvation Army members aboard who were heading to England for a large international conference. One report said that 169 members died.

Hardest hit were members of Toronto's Salivation Army band and head office, including the commander of the Army in Toronto.

The Salvation Army held a large memorial service in Toronto for all of their members who died. The same happened at the Walker Theatre on Sunday, June 7. Several of the Salvation Army victims had local connections:

SA Adjutant Nettie Beckstead
Grace Hospital, Arlington Street (now demolished)

Beckstead graduated from nursing at the Grace Hospital in 1913 and the following year was a head nurse there. The Salvation Army facility was built in 1905 to specialize in the care of wayward girls and included a small maternity wing. In 1911, the hospital underwent a major expansion and within a few years it was Western Canada's largest maternity hospital.

Beckstead's body was found June 1 and returned to her native Morrisburg, Ontario to be buried next to her parents.

SA Captain Matthew McGrath

McGrath was one of the Salvation Army's premiere musicians. He had been sent from England a few months earlier to visit Western Canada to work with bands in major cities. He had a brother, Edward McGrath, who lived in Winnipeg and was planning himself to settle here.

Ruth Greenfield (65)

311 Church Street

Greenfield came to Winnipeg two years earlier and lived with her daughter on Church Street. She was returning to England as part of the Salvation Army delegation.

THE ACTORS

May 18 1914, Winnipeg Tribune

The most famous people aboard the ship were the husband-wife acting duo of Laurence Irving and Mabel Hackney who were touring Canada with a trio of stage dramas. There was much anticipation for their show, especially The Unwritten Law which ran in London's West End for 350 performances with Irving as the lead.

They appeared at the Walker Theatre in the first week in April and returned in mid-May for a final week. The two then hurried from Winnipeg to Quebec City to catch the Empress while the rest of the crew took a later ship.

Walker Theatre, Winnipeg

A memorial tablet was installed in the lobby of the Walker Theatre on March 22, 1915.

It reads: "This tablet was erected by the citizens of Winnipeg to perpetuate the memory of Laurence Irving and his wife Mabel Hackney who made their last appearance on the stage of this theatre on the 23rd of May 1914 and were drowned in the St. Lawrence River on the 29th May 1914 with 1,014 others when the RMS Empress of Ireland was sunk in collision with the collier Storstad."

MR. SMITH - CREW MEMBER

Quebec-born Wilson Smith was a captain with the Canadian Pacific's Atlantic lines and had captained the Empress before. He left the company in 1908 and came to Winnipeg to join his brother B. B. Smith and created Smith Agency, a real estate and apartment rental company that is still around today. 

The 1908 year was given in a story written at the time of his death in 1955. Strangely, back in 1914 there were a couple of articles about him that mentioned he was the second in command on the Empress of Ireland the night it was rammed. Checking the crew list, though, he is not listed.

RELATED LINKS:
- The Sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland - Oceanliner Designs on YouTube
- Empress2014.ca

- The Empress of Ireland Museum
- The Tragic Story of the Empress of Ireland John C. Winston, 1914. (Includes numerous photos of the interior of the ship.)
- Journey to Oblivion: The Empress of Ireland Story NFB (movie trailer)
- The Empress of Ireland CBC Archives
- Empress of Ireland Merseyside Maritime Museum*

* It is their passenger lists that I am using as the "final list."

If you have any additional information about Manitoba victims of the Empress of Ireland, I would love to hear from you.