THEIR VERSION OF THE ACCIDENT
Captain Andersen declined at first to discuss the disaster, declaring that he would make a statement later in the evening. Subsequently a statement based on Captain Andersen’s report as well as the reports of other officers to Messrs. Lange and Griffin was given out.
According to the captain and officers, contrary to what had been stated by the captain of the Empress of Ireland, the Storstad did not back away after the collision. On the contrary, she steamed ahead in an effort to keep her bow in the hole she had dug into the side of the Empress. The Empress, however, according to the Storstad officers, headed away and bent the Storstad’s bow over at an acute angle to port.
After that the Empress was hidden from the view of the Storstad and despite the fact that the Storstad kept her whistle blowing she could not locate the Empress until the cries of some of the victims in the water were heard. The captain absolutely denied that he had backed away from the Empress after his vessel struck the passenger steamship. The Storstad had not moved. It was the Empress which had changed position, he declared.