DIMENSIONS AND ACCOMMODATIONS
The length of the Empress of Ireland was 550 feet, and her width 66 feet. Her gross register (a term used in marine nomenclature to describe the carrying capacity of a ship) was 14,500 tons; when loaded, her displacement (the weight of the volume of water displaced by a vessel when afloat) was 26,550 tons. She was equipped with twin-screw propellers, driven by triple-expansion, reciprocating engines generating 18,000 horse-power, and was capable of attaining a speed of 18 knots an hour, or approximately 20¾ geographical miles.
The Empress of Ireland contained accommodations for 350 first-cabin passengers, 350 second-cabin passengers, and 1,000 third-cabin passengers. Elaborate provision was made for the safety and comfort of the passengers.
Six transverse bulkheads divided her into seven water-tight compartments, and, before the Titanic disaster demonstrated that all safety devices have their weaknesses, the Empress of Ireland was regarded as approaching to the ideal of the unsinkable ship. After the Titanic disaster, the life-boat accommodation of the Empress, in common with that of all other big liners, was overhauled and extended.
The Empress was built at the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company’s works, Glasgow, and was regarded by seafaring men as being of thoroughly sound construction. She was not the largest ship running to Quebec, the Calgarian and Alsatian, of the Allan Line, being of about 18,000 tons.