Fourteen minutes: The last voyage of the Empress of Ireland

by James Croall

Book by Croall, James

Genres: History, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Nick Guzan]

Wow! This was an amazingly researched and excellently written account of this underreported tragedy. Tense moments are described with the gravity of a pulse-pounding thriller, aided by James Croall's balance of narrative sensibility and depth of knowledge gained from his naval background. I've rarely been in such suspense reading a piece of nonfiction writing, let alone nonfiction about a story I'm already pretty familiar with. In fact, the ex-Royal Navy Croall seems to take a special interest in making this story accessible to readers. A careful author, Croall tells all stories and legends of the ship, tactfully presenting facts as facts and theories only as unconfirmed possibilities.

Much like A Night to Remember, Walter Lord's seminal account of the Titanic disaster, Croall cuts through the least exciting exposition to effectively tell the story of the ship and those aboard it during the incident that made it notable. Like Second Officer Lightoller in Lord's book, the Empress's affable and relatively young captain, Henry Kendall, made for a fine "protagonist" with his quick thinking expertise, fascinating experiences (like his role in the Crippen case!), and modest pride. The book reinforces the heroics of the Empress's crew and their disciplined, unselfish approach that likely saved many lives in the short time they had to act. As one passenger recalls: "I never heard people who spoke with such tenderness to each other in that time of deep distress and danger, as there were there."

I had always been intrigued by the Empress of Ireland, and this detail-packed tome answered any questions I've had and then some, bringing the horrors to life with a human touch and an ability to perfectly recreate the ship's brief voyage that led to the 14 terrifying minutes that gave the book its title.

[Justice Beckner]

Croall said it best. Disasters come in threes. The Empress’ disaster is sandwiched between the Titanic’s and Lusitania’s sinking. Oft forgotten, this book provides a straight forward account from primary sources discussion all facets of the Empress, her passengers, her crew, the Stockholm and her crew, and the inquiry. For those looking for a detailed story on the forgotten Canadian disaster, I strongly advise picking up the book.

[Glenn Griffiths]

A detail account of the last trip of the Empress of Ireland. Which sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada following a collision in thick fog with the Norwegian collier Storstad in the early hours of 29 May 1914.

Of the 1,477 people on board, 1,012 died, making it the worst peacetime marine disaster in Canadian history. It also took quicker to sink than thr Titanic even though there were lifeboats, people had no time to reach them. Due to issues of the stairs and the ship falling on its side.

A must read for ship accident readers.

[Sophie Cimon]

Après la visite du site de Pointe-au-père, une lecture s’imposait. J’ai beaucoup aimé les détails données sans être submergé de détails techniques.

[MeriBeth]

The tragic loss of the Canadian Railway Steamship Empress of Ireland is often lost to history and historic memory for the simple fact that it was lost between two other great tragedies, the wreck of the RMS Titanic and the sinking of the Lusitania. Yet, their was a greater loss of life in the sinking of the Empress than in the Titanic. Mr. Croall's book is one of only two that I've been able to find about the Empress of Ireland sinking. Both books suffer from the lack of interest in the story of the Empress, the distance from the event, and general poor writing quality. Mr. Croall's book in particular has the problem of dragging to the point of the collision between the Empress and the Norwegian cargo ship Storstad and then being rushed through the events of the sinking - with lots of digressions of 'we can't be certain this happened' - before dragging its way through the inquiry and aftermath yet contains no followup on the survivors at all. Its almost as if the survivors just disappeared after the event save for the captain of the Empress who shows up often in the inquiry section of the story. While I can't recommend this book the way I can the classic study of the Titanic sinking, I have to say that it needs reading if only to keep the memory of the Empress of Ireland alive so she isn't completely lost to history like other major sea and river disasters for the loss of the Empress of Ireland does have lessons to teach us even today.

[Patrick Matte]

C'est une réédition d'un livre publié en 1978, le premier livre racontant l'histoire du naufrage de l'Empress of Ireland, paquebot disparu près de Rimouski en 1914 et tuant 1012 personnes. C'est le 2e naufrage parmi les 3 plus importants du siècle, tous arrivés en l'espace de 3 ans à cette époque : le Titanic (1912), l'Empress of Ireland (1914) et le Lusitania (1915).

J'ai trouvé ce livre lors d'une visite au Musée maritime du Québec. Très content de ma lecture. James Croall réussi à raconter l'histoire tragique de façon intéressante, en se collant aux faits sans nous ennuyer. On connait les noms de l'Empress of Ireland et du Storstad, mais j'ai réalisé à quel point je ne savais pas grand chose sur cet événement qui s'est pourtant produite tout près d'ici.

En préface, un texte de Serge Guay, directeur du Musée de la mer de Pointe-au-Père.

[Elizabeth]

Many years ago I read this book aloud to my children as we travelled the St. Lawrence Seaway. The book recounts an important part of Canadian history. More lives were lost in the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland than in the sinking of the Titanic but it was overshadowed by the June 19 mining disaster and the August 4 declaration of WWI.

[John]

A tragedy at sea on the magnitude of the Titanic disaster

[Laura JC]

good account. Some photographs.
Small paperback, 1978.

[Tess Mowrey]

I loved this book because it told the full story of this sinking. One of the things that I liked was it showed how tragic this night was. It showed how quick and sad the sinking was. All of these people sleeping inside this beautiful ship as she sinks. Another thing that I liked was that the author showed the survivors' emotions as the ship rolled onto her beam ends and sank into the St. Lawrence River. I also liked that they showed the results of the public inquiry and its findings.