Empress of Ireland: The Vancouver Connection

I gave the first talk about my new book Beneath Dark Waters at Black Bond Books in Ladner Thursday night.

I’ve been researching and writing this book for several years and usually when I tell people what I’ve been working on, few have ever heard of the Empress of Ireland, the CPR liner that sank in the St. Lawrence River in 1914.

But not this group. Almost everyone, not only knew about the shipwreck, but had a relative that was onboard and a story to go with it.

John Langley

I was delighted to meet several members of the Langley family. John Langley, their grandfather and great grandfather owned Willow Grange, a huge ranch in Canford, BC. Langley survived by squeezing through a porthole that measured just 12 inches in diameter.

Ellen and Thomas Clark:

Scott Wheatley’s family wasn’t so lucky. His great-grandmother, Ellen Clark, and her son, Thomas, 24 were among the lost.

Margret Heavey Potts:

Sharon Britz also lost a relative that night. Margret Heavey Potts was married to Hugh Potts, her grandfather’s brother. Twenty-six-year-old Margret was pregnant with their first child, and she was returning to her family in Ireland to have the baby. At the time, infant mortality was at a crisis high in Canada, and there were many women in all classes avoiding the Canadian healthcare system.

Kerrie Meek was researching a possible family connection to first class passenger Alfred Burrows of Nottingham.

One member of the audience told me that his grandfather came over from England on the Empress in 1906 and that he had kept his sketches of the voyage. Unfortunately, I didn’t get your contact information. If you’re reading this, please get in touch, I’d love to talk to you more about this.

Over a thousand people died on May 29, 1914—the sinking claimed more passenger lives than either the Titanic or the Lusitania, and the tragedy stands as the worst maritime disaster during peacetime in Canadian history.

The Vancouver Connection:

There were passengers travelling from eight provinces and they came from small towns and cities all across Canada—from Victoria, BC to St. John’s, Newfoundland. The majority of passengers were booked out of Toronto, but what surprised me was that the second largest number travelled from Vancouver. Seventy-five people travelling that night were from British Columbia, and only 10 would return.

If you live in Ladner and weren’t able to make the event, there are signed copies at Black Bond Books.

I’ll be giving a talk at the Museum of Vancouver for the Vancouver Historical Society on May 22 and delving into more of the human stories behind this tragic event.

There’s an interview in the current issue of the VHS newsletter 

Related:

• Beneath Dark Waters: The Back Story
• Beneath Dark Waters has arrived