INQUIRY CONDUCTED BY CORONER PINAUT—NO REPLY TO “STAND FAST” CRY—TESTIMONY OF JAMES RANKIN—CHIEF ENGINEER EXPLAINS—WIRELESS OPERATOR’S STORY—GOVERNMENT INQUIRY—CAPTAIN LINDSAY’S WORK—CAPTAINS’ STATEMENTS CONTRADICTORY—STORSTAD DEFENDED—PILOT NAULT TELLS STORY—AN OFFICER’S STORY—THIRD OFFICER’S STORY—“WAIT FOR THE VERDICT”
WHILE final tabulations of the casualties in the sinking of the ill-fated steamship Empress of Ireland were being made on Saturday, May 30th, Captain Kendall, of the liner, was telling his story of the disaster at an inquiry conducted by Coroner Pinaut at Rimouski.
Captain Kendall in substance declared that he had taken all possible precautions against a collision. His ship had been stopped, and he had given the requisite signals when the collier which dealt the blow that sent the Empress to the bottom, was still two miles away; but the collier had kept on through the fog, which settled down after the two vessels sighted each other, and had rammed the Empress of Ireland while the latter was virtually motionless. Then, despite his plea to the master of the collier that he run his engines full speed ahead to keep the hole in the liner’s side plugged with the Storstad’s bow, said Captain Kendall, the Norwegian vessel backed away, the water rushed in and the Empress sank.
NO REPLY TO “STAND FAST” CRY
“What was the cause of the collision?” asked the coroner.
“The Storstad running into the Empress, which was stopped,” answered Kendall.
Captain Kendall, in answer to a question by a juror, said that when he shouted to the Storstad’s captain to stand fast he received no answer. It was impossible for him not to have been heard, he added.
“I shouted five times. I also shouted, ‘Keep ahead!’” said Captain Kendall, “and if he did not hear that, he should have done it anyway, as a seaman should have known that.”
“There was wind?”
“It was quite still.”