Shipwrecks - Time Capsules of Human Civilization

Journey to Deep within the Ship - Empress of Ireland Food Stores

Having over one hundred dives to the ship has given me an opportunity to penetrate into areas on the Empress of Ireland  that are fairly exotic. Two of my most exotic trips are : 1) to the barbershop where the barber's chair is sticking out of the side surrounded by red and white checkered flooring and 2) the deep food stores of the Empress where all the wheat, oats, vegetables etc are stored.

Since we have just visited the third class pantry, I thought that we would go deep down into the food storage area. When I got down there, I was very fortunate to find a friend who decided to give me a guided tour of the food storage area. Unfortunately, my guide was going a bit too fast and was getting me to go deeper and deeper into this unexplored area.  I think that he wanted to introduce me to all his other friends but I thought that it was a better idea to decline their offer to converse and get back to more familiar grounds. The amount and diversity of the sea life around the Empress is astounding. One time while I was exploring the stern exterior of the ship, I was startled and scared half to death by a playful seal that wanted to get to know me better!

Weather-front Moving Down on the Empress

We decided to get a very early start this morning as weather forecasts predicted a strong weather front moving into the area. We left our living quarters at 4:30 am and anticipated a bumpy ride out to the Empress. Once outside the shelter of the Rimouski marina, the seas were relatively calm but the waves were rolling. This is a good indication for rougher waters ahead.

Charlie and Ray started the morning dives while hooked into the bow tie-in. Utilizing his video camera, Charlie went towards the crew's quarter where he captured some wonderful shots of this section of the Empress. An extremely close-up from his video revealed a black, leather shoe - another reminder of this monumental tragedy.  Charlie went as far as the end of the crew's mess until the area narrowed due to slit and mud. On exiting this area, he decided to go back and get better film footage of the second-class pantry area and carving table. As time was soon ending for this dive, Charlie made the long swim back to our bow tie-in. On his journey, he observed some black and white tiles that were in another collapse piece of the superstructure.

The beginnings of the weather front began to slowly move in and Charlie made a second dive to the area of the grand staircase between the first-class cabins and the first-class dining room. Because of the swells, it was decided not to bring a video camera on this dive. He did not go as far as the railing and lower stair of the grand staircase from this vantage point but decided to observe this area from the top portion of the superstructure. Sometime over the past ten years, the staircase step and railing could be viewed from above and outside the ship, rather than visiting this area during a penetration dive. The Empress is slowly decaying and many of the external and internal features are losing their structural integrity.

A Taste of Third Class - Empress of Ireland's Third Class Pantry

Being the first to visit an area of a shipwreck is a great feeling. I had an opportunity to have this exhilarating feeling when I visited the Empress of Ireland's third class pantry with my dive partner and good friend, the noted Canadian diver Dr. Steve Brooks in 1987.  This part of the ship at about 150 feet is fairly deep compared to the outer portions of the ship. This can be easily explained as the ship settling on the bottom of the river, where the pantry is now actually submerged in the muddy bottom. Initially Steve and I dove the dining room portion of the third class area together but mucked-up the visibility so bad, it made for an interesting trip out of the ship. On subsequent dives, one person would go in while the other would stay out of the area. In that way, if you messed up the visibility, then it was your fault. Once I saw this area devoid of the silty mess, the wall structures became apparent and going through the doorway aft of the dining room, you would go in and see the pantry where foods were prepared and plated for the passengers. Please note the stack of beautiful Minton porcelain plates that are stacked together and waiting 91 years for someone to come by. The wire that is hanging down was used for lighting the pantry and can easily wrap around an unsuspecting diver. Care is always taken when penetrating a vessel and the Empress gives you a lot of slack-enough to hang yourself with! The Empress of Ireland is a protected wreck, therefore the only thing that we recovered this day was some great video. Our expedition will be shooting some very high-end digital video using some of the latest SONY technology and revisiting all the notable areas of the ship.

Perfect Day for Visiting the Empress

This morning at 5:15 am, our dive boat captain, Jean-Pierre Bouillon, greeted me at my hotel door with an important message. Our original plan was to leave the marina at 8 am but the captain felt that the time to go was now. Although, I was up already and had the computer fired up for a little writing before our scheduled later dive time, I immediately shut-down and woke up the rest of the dive team. The seas were very calm and the weather was in the high 60's – just perfect for a dive out on the Empress. We made our way down to the Rimouski marina by 6:15 am and we were out of the harbor on our way to the Empress by 6:30 am.

We decided to moor over the extreme bow section as I had a little project that I wanted to do with visiting the entire length of the downed mast. I decided to have Charlie Howlett dive with me the entire day, as he had a video camera and wanted to checkout some novel places on the Empress. It only took about 3 minutes to get down to the bow railings at about 85 feet as we were positioned on our downline between the bow letters 'of' from the brass portside letters that say EMPRESS of IRELAND. I took Charlie aft of the downline and we proceeded to the entranceway to the third class cabins. From this area we could see a piece of porcelain china that has the logo "Canadian Pacific Railways" on it. The mast was easily recognizable and had fallen over the starboard railing and out into the muddy waters of the St. Lawrence. The mast was not as thick as Titanic's mast and the lookout had to climb into the crow's nest from the outside. The crow's nest was fairly intact and relatively low to the deck. Following the mast into the mud, we decided to visit the stairs where crewmen and third class passengers made their way down into the bowels of the ship. Although the stairs were missing, the railings were perfectly in place. One poignant item that we saw in this area was a passenger's leather shoe-this is a constant reminder that 800 people are still entombed here and to treat the wreck with much respect and dignity.

Following an hour and a half surface interval, I decided to take Charlie to the Second Class Dining room and pantry area. This section of the ship has collapsed quite significantly since a salvage operation that took massive amounts of fine teak decking from the mid-ships of the Empress in the early 1990's. From the narrowing view into the pantry, clearly visible is the carving table where passengers lined up to get their food. Additionally, there are several plate racks still standing but with their fine Minton porcelain missing or slid off the starboard area down to the lower parts of the ship. On returning to the downline, I discovered a beautiful intact First Class porcelain pitcher with the familiar flower pattern. I left this wonderful pitcher where is was and will have Tony film this later this week on our subsequent dives to the Empress.

Empress of Ireland - View from the Bridge

Much of the superstructure on the Empress of Ireland is starting to lose its structural integrity. The enclosure of the bridge has collapsed and the ship's wheel has been recovered (and placed in the Empress of Ireland museum at Father's Point Pointe au Pere) - but the walkway to the sides of the ship from the bridge are intact. The teak decking in this area is very well preserved as is the teak railing.  The following video will place you on the bridge of the Empress of Ireland-almost frozen in time to the day it sank.

The place where we are diving here is where the officers would be taking directional sightings off the bridge. As we move from the bridge, we will be coming to the teak railing and the entrance-way to stairs that allows the officers to go down to the cargo hold area. As we look down the stairs, we can easily see the huge cargo winches that were used to hoist steamer trunks, cars, materials and other items from the docks into the vast cargo hold of the Empress. This is one of my favorite areas of the Empress as I can virtually look over the majestic surrounding that this beautiful shipwreck has become.

Schizophrenic Day of Weather out on the Empress

A weather front has finally taken over the Rimouski area and replaced the hot and humid weather (thank goodness) with a more temperate and comfortable climate. The winds came from all directions throughout the course of the night into the morning with the exception of the east. This unsettled weather pattern produced severe whitecaps out on the river and it was doubtful whether we would get out to dive today.

Just when we were about to give up the dive day, the winds calmed down and the seas flattened. All of a sudden, it was beautiful day! Although we got a late start at noontime, conditions on the wreck site could not of been more optimal. Calm seas, no current and a short run out to the Empress were great ways to lift our spirits. Unfortunately, due to business matters (Titanic), I was not able to go out with the other divers today :^(

The following is a report from my three divers (Tony, Ray and Charlie) that were taking photos and video of the Empress. Conditions on the Empress were pretty near perfect with about 15 feet of visibility and not so dark underwater. With no currents, it made the dive to the ship fairly relaxing. The divers decided to stay exclusively in the bow section of the ship, so they descended a down-line tied in near the bowsprit. The objective of the first dive was to clear of the portside letters that make up the name Empress of Ireland and then photograph/film them in their entirety. There was a piece of metal railing that was covering the N in Ireland but they were able to move it away for their photo shots. Following these pictures, they descended towards the crew's quarters and the third class entranceway to the front of the ship. Within the confines of this space you can see two distinct stairwells leading downward to cabins. This made for a very spectacular dive! On their second dive, they repeated their survey of the portside bow to include a visit to the huge anchor and the remainder of the area surrounding the cargo hatch.

Following the dive, Captain Jean-Pierre Bouillon, Dany St Cyr and my divers gave me a surprise birthday lobster dinner and a birthday cake with sparklers! Wow-what an evening! Hey, I like being twenty-nine every year!

Empress of Ireland - Lifeboats Could Not Help!

Because the Empress of Ireland sank so quickly in fourteen minutes, many of the lifesaving procedures could not be accomplished. Most passengers were in bed at the time and were only on board the ship for a few hours; therefore, they were very unfamiliar with the layout of the ship. Although the Empress carried more than enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew, the time that it took the Empress to sink would make the lifeboats useless-as no one could lower and man them in such a brief time period.

The Empress lies on it starboard side in the slightly muddy bottom of the St. Lawrence. If we dive straight down to where the impact area was, we see that the top deck levels have slid downward towards the starboard side. Slightly forward of the midships area, you can observe the framework of several wooden lifeboats that never got released from their davits. These lifeboats are in very good condition and their woodwork is fairly pristine. The depth of these lifeboats are about 147 feet depending on the swift tidal currents. Although relatively shallow in depth, the Empress is very cold with water ranges of 28-37 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the summer, the currents are extremely swift and it is very, very dark on the ship-as very little surface ambient light can make it down to the wrecksite.

Dive Site Live - Early Call to the Empress

I received a knock on my door at 4:30 am from Jean-Pierre Bouillon that I was to have our dive group meet at the Rimouski pier at 5:00 am. It appears that there were small craft warnings with 30-knot winds that would be a problem the later we got into the day. I got everyone up and did my fastest time for putting together the closed-circuit rebreather than I ever had. As we were putting all our gear together and rushing down to the marina, we could see the flags whipping straight-out with the winds from the southwest. Jean-Pierre told me ahead of time that because of the weather we would only be getting in one dive so we had to make it a good one. Once out on the wreck site the winds were brisk and there was a slight chop to the water. We had a beautiful seal feeding off some scattered sea growth that greeted us as we moored over the same position on the Empress of Ireland-amidships forward of the explosion hole. The first team to hit the water was Tony Granata and Charlie Howlett as they were going to do some photography and video. The second team would be Ray Stine and myself with the plan to give Ray a similar tour of the bow. Because of his rich Nitrox mix, he was limited to only about 125 feet depth so no stairs and lifeboats. The water was much clearer on the surface but the wreck site was much darker than yesterday. Slowly swimming on the promenade, I noticed that there was a pretty good current running from the stern to the bow. This would make our swim to the bow very easy but we would have to fight the current coming back to the tie-in spot. I wanted to show Ray the cargo area and the plaques. By seeing the plagues, it gives you a quick jar into the realities of the sinking of the Empress as well as the dangers in diving the ship. The water temperature was about 35-37 degrees Fahrenheit and the visibility was about 5-8 feet and VERY DARK. As I was checking my PPO2 readings on the rebreather, Charlie bumped me to get me attention. I did not immediately know what he wanted and assumed that he wanted me to take him to the letters on the bow. After another nudge, I realized that he was having some regulator problems and that we would have to abort the dive. It appears that his primary regulator was free flowing and that he had to change over to one of his back-ups. All our divers carry many different redundant support systems so although it aborted the dive, Ray handled the situation like the pro that he is. Once on the surface the seas had picked up and we decided to head in for the day. Back at the hotel, we had a mini-entertainment session looking at the photos and videos that Tony and Charlie took-very beautiful! A quick run to Tim Horton's for coffee, a viewing on the CPR gravesite between Father's Point and Rimouski and a visit to the Empress Museum at Father's Point will be the highlights of the day.

Tragedy in Fourteen Minutes - The Sinking of the Empress of Ireland

One its first outboard journey of the 1914 season, the Empress of Ireland was leaving its Quebec City port in the late afternoon. The temperature was quite mild and the Salvation Army band, that was making its way to Britain for a conference, was on board playing music as the passengers embarked the ship. Following a delicious meal, many passengers were out on the deck admiring the twinkling lights that dotted the St. Lawrence River's banks. Many passengers were tired after their full day of getting to the ship and went to bed early. Slowly the Empress made itself down river and proceeded to pick-up and drop off the harbor pilot at Father's Point (Pointe au Pere) where the last of the mail was gathered for its trip to England. At approximately 2 am, while tacking into the deep channel in fog, the Empress was struck on the starboard amidships and between the funnels by a Norwegian collier named Storstad. The Storstad had an ice-breaking, reinforced bow that literally melted the steel plating of the Empress like a hot knife in butter. Immediately the Empress heeled-over and she was mortally-wounded while sinking fast. Captain Kendall tried all that he could to keep Storstad in the wound but to no avail. Kendall had the Marconi radioman, Ferguson give a distress call and to have the pilot boat return for assistance. Unfortunately, nothing could be done and the Empress of Ireland sank in FOURTEEN MINUTES with the loss of more passenger lives than both Titanic and Lusitania. Overall, more than one thousand lives were lost on this ship with over 800 bodies still entombed on the ship. We treat this lady with a lot of dignity and respect while considering this ship a grave site.

Dive Site Live - Visit to the Empress of Ireland

The weather gave us a welcomed break and we met the dive boat A.B. Marie and our captain, Jean-Pierre Bouillon at the marina at 10 am. Although this is a bit late to start the day, it gave me an opportunity to check and re-check the closed-circuit rebreather that I will be using throughout the course of my dives to the Empress. I will be using air as my diluent and my deep PPO2 setpoint will be 1.3. In my dive group, I will have some of New Jersey's upincoming leading wreck divers named Tony Granata, Charlie Howlett and Ray Stine, all making their first dives to the Empress. The trip to the Empress from the Rimouski marina is only a brief 25 minutes and the seas were very calm. I had Jean-Pierre place our mooring right at the forward mid-ships section of the Empress of Ireland. The first dive team to the shipwreck consisted of Charlie Howlett and myself. Our plan was to circumnavigate the entire bow from the tie-in at the mid-ships area. Our tie-in is through two portholes that are in the first class dining salon forward of the explosion hole that hard-hat divers used to get the mail and silver from the Empress back in 1914. Once on the wreck, it was very dark and I led Charlie down to the promenade level where beautiful teak flooring is readily apparent. We proceeded to the remnants of the ships bridge, where we saw the port side access way where the bridge officers would walk out to take their daily readings. As we move forward, we went over the bridge area and down the forecastle where several decks are seen. Their empty portholes and window seem to call us to take a peek inside. While down on deck the huge cargo winches are clearly seen and I took Charlie down to an intact stairwell that connected the crew's quarters and the cargo area to the rest of the ship. As we passed over the huge expanse of the cargo hold, we can see two plaques that were dedicated to three divers who lives were lost on the Empress and another plague that marked the 80th anniversary of the loss of many Salvation Army lives while going over to England for a band competition. Going forward, we saw the crew's quarters with very wide access that could entrap an unsuspecting diver. I proceeded to go to the extreme portion of the bow so that I could showcase the beautiful port side letters that spell out the ship - EMPRESS of IRELAND! No mistake about what we are diving here. While making our way back amidships, I decided to show Charlie one of the remaining lifeboats on the ship. I took an unconventional route that saw us take a diagonal swim right across the collapsed bridge, over the collapsed music room where a beautiful glass dome once stood and down to the bottom of the murky St. Lawrence where a starboard lifeboat was still in place on its davit. The wooden lattice of the lifeboat was very apparent. Now it was time to end our dive but before we surfaced, I showed Charlie some beautiful black-and-white checkered tiling from one on the social rooms that were very pristine. Small pieces of broken porcelain littered this area of the wreck. As we hit the portside railing, we were right at our tie-in spot. Having over 100 dives to this shipwreck gives you the opportunity to be that precise on a wreck where visibility was about ten feet and the temperature was between 34-36 degrees Fahrenheit. We spent about 25 minutes decompressing and then got back on our dive vessel. Following a ninety-minute surface interval, we got in a second dive where I treated Tony to a similar dive that I had initially completed with Charlie.