Chief Engineer Sampson, who remained in the engine-room until the fires were drowned and the lights extinguished, was too ill to appear, and his testimony was taken at his bedside.
“I was in the engine-room until the lights went out and there was no more steam,” he said. “I had great difficulty in reaching the decks owing to the great list of the ship. No sooner had I got on deck, when the boats of the port side, which had broken loose, swept down on top of us and carried us under water. When I came to the surface I found myself under a life-boat and entangled in wreckage.
“I was finally pulled into one of the boats and could see the collier about a mile and a half away. Immediately before the collision we went full speed astern and then stopped. Then I got the order full speed ahead, but had only started the engines when the crash came.
“We then kept her full speed ahead to try to reach the shore as long as we had steam. Owing to the steam failing us and then the lights also, we could keep the engines going for only a few moments.
“There was no explosion of any kind. I saw no reason why the collier did not keep much closer than she did, as, if she had, there would have been many lives saved. I am also of the opinion that had she stuck to us we should have reached the shore.”
WIRELESS OPERATOR’S STORY
William James, wireless operator at Father Point, told of being awakened by his assistant at 1.55 A. M. by the news that the Empress had been in collision with another ship. He then took charge and forwarded the word to the Lady Evelyn and Eureka. The Empress gave no reply further than to say that she was twenty miles from Rimouski.
Captain Boulanger, of the Eureka, told of the trip he had made to the scene of the wreck. He was not sure on his first trip of the exact position where she had sunk. On the second, however, he could tell from the boiling up from beneath of the muddy water where the wrecked vessel lay. He told of gathering what bodies he could find.
After a moment’s deliberation by the jury it was decided to adjourn the inquest for the present.