MONTREAL MAN SAW NO LIFE-BELTS
“When the boat commenced to slide over I looked for a life-preserver, but found that some one had taken every one of them from the promenade deck. So I went back to my cabin and took the life-preserver on the top of the wardrobe. The majority of passengers did not seem to know that there were life-preservers in their cabins, and although they were easily accessible they were not conspicuous and many could not find them in the confusion, although they looked.”
Thus did Lionel Kent, of Montreal, tell of the sinking of the Empress:
“I was in Cabin 41, which was aft on the promenade deck, and my traveling companion was Mr. Gosselin. He woke me about an hour after I had retired and told me there had been a collision. I did not feel it at all. I went on deck at once in my night attire and my bathrobe, and I saw the two boats just drifting apart. At that time there were no lights on the deck, and very few people were about, but they soon began to appear.
“I remained on the port side of the boat as the list continued until the starboard side was under water. Then I jumped into the water with many other people, and was picked up ten minutes later by one of the life-boats. Those in her, numbering about thirty, were mostly members of the crew, with four or five women.
“The boats on the port side of the liner could not be launched because, owing to the list of the ship, they swung inwards on the davits instead of out over the sea. The only boats that could be launched were those on the starboard side.
“I think a good many people were injured by the sliding of the port life-boat when it was released, for it slid along the deck to the starboard side and crushed many people against the railings.
“I think they did marvelously well considering the short time they had to work in. They could not get a foothold on the sloping deck, and there was very little confusion under the circumstances.”
CHAPTER VI
Heroes of the Empress Disaster
DR. GRANT THE CHIEF HERO—SIR SETON-KARR GAVE UP LIFE FOR STRANGER—LAURENCE IRVING DIED TRYING TO SAVE HIS WIFE—H. R. O’HARA DIED FOR FAMILY—CAPTAIN KENDALL SAVED BELL-BOY—HOW CHIEF OFFICER STEEDE DIED—HERO SAVED WEE GIRL—GAVE UP HIS LIFE-BELT
IN the luxurious Hotel Chateau Frontenac, in the seamen’s mission, in the hospitals and on ships, where the survivors of the Empress of Ireland disaster were cared for and nursed, they spoke of their dangers. There were stories of self-sacrifice where men died that women might live, of battles in the water, of life-boats falling on struggling men and women in the water.
Every such disaster as that which befell the Empress of Ireland seems to bring out at least one man who stands out above all others for coolness, resource, and courage. These are men who control mobs and who bring order out of chaos.