A group of the crew on board the “Storstad” which sent the “Empress” to the bottom on their arrival at Montreal where the “Storstad” was placed under arrest by the Canadian Government.
SHIP FOUNDERED QUICKLY
I said: “Get the boats out as quick as possible.” That was the last I saw of the chief officer. Then, in about three to five minutes after that the ship turned over and foundered. I was shot into the sea myself from the bridge and taken down with the suction. The next thing I remember was seizing a piece of grating. How long I was on it I do not know, but I heard some men shout from a life-boat, “There is the captain, let us save him.”
WORK TO SAVE OTHERS
They got to me and pulled me in the boat. The boat already had about thirty persons in it. I did my best with the people in the boat to assist in saving others. We pulled around and picked up twenty or thirty more in the boat, and also put about ten around the side in the water, with ropes around their waists, hanging on.
Seeing that we could not possibly save any more, we pulled to the Storstad, which was then about a mile and a half away. I got all these people put on board the Storstad, then left her with six of the crew and went back and tried to save more. When we got back there everybody had gone. We searched around and could not see anybody alive, so then we returned to the Storstad.
NO PANIC ABOARD
I had full control of the crew, and they fought to the end. There was no panic among the passengers or crew. Everybody behaved splendidly. As the ship sank and the water rose the boats floated away. The people who were saved were saved by the Empress’ boats and by the wreckage.
The Storstad had three or four of her boats out and they pulled around and took people off the wreckage. They did not get many.