Reaction - Canada's Titanic, the Tragic Sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland 

From a Canadian cousin.. Respect and love for the work you do here brother! 👍🍻🇨🇦❤

I am Canadian and 60 years young and I don't remember ever learning about this. Thank you for sharing.

The St. Lawrence river is so big that in World War II Germany had U-boats patrolling in river as far up as Quebec City, sinking 23 ships in what was know as The Battle of the St. Lawrence.

I live on the St Laurence River in rural Quebec, recently moved here. I can't believe how big some of the freighters and cruise ships are that go by... I googled - apparently, at its deepest the river is only 40' deep?! The ships do seem to move with the tide at times (I am on the river east of Trois Rivieres, so there is some tidal effect from the Atlantic). Fascinating....

Robert Ballard visited the Empress for a Discovery channel documentary on lost liners back in the nineties . He was embarrassed that he hadn't heard of the ship himself. He interviewed the family of someone lost in the sinking. So sad!

The thought of being stuck in a pitch black room going under the water is horrific !

Thanks for the explanation, John - I thought I was going crazy. lol I was sure i had commented on this video before - to tell you about the sinking of the CPR's Princess Sofia and that the figurehead of the Empress of Japan is on display at Stanley Park in Vancouver. There is so much history wrapped up in the CPR - their ships and trains got you almost anywhere in Canada - and they had swanky hotels you could stay at along the way. But that's for another reaction. Keep up the good work!

Love the show . My sister lives in America , have an American brother in-law Grand father was born in Holding Ford Minnesota . Love America .

Glad to have you back. Awaiting your next video

The St Lawrence River can easily accommodate ocean liners and freighters, which is the reason large cities like Montreal and Toronto grew to be so large. If the River couldn’t handle the larger ships, the Maritimes would have a much larger population as incoming freight would’ve had to have been off loaded there and shipped by smaller ships and then by trains

Besides Pier 21 in Halifax, there is also Grosse Isle just down river from Quebec City. It was the quarantine station for Canadian immigrants and is likely where many of my ancestors entered into Canada. I went there in 2022 and it was a moving experience. There is a memorial that lists all those who had died while in quarantine or who had died at sea.

I'm Canadian, from NB. This is the first time I have heard about this. Thank-you for covering this video.

I never learned about this in school. But even then, the approach to history lessons in the past was often about facts and figures. Dry as dust. So much of it passed us by, momentary and brief. And I was a history student, who loved looking into the past. It's good that we have the chance to look back and truly consider the human part of the equation. Thank you for granting us the opportunity. And thank you for being such a thoughtful and caring individual. It's clear that you put a lot of thought into the cultural and historical forces that have shaped us all, on both sides of the border. I truly hope that you are also feeling enriched by what you're discovering, and are enjoying the journey. All the best.

Incredibly tragic! Like you, I was especially saddened by the number of children lost in this disaster. The fact that most passengers would have been sleeping, as well as the speed of the sinking of the ship obviously contributed greatly to the low survival numbers. And how sad is it that the dear little 8 year-old girl felt it would bring shame for her to have cried about the horror she experienced during the sinking of the ship and the shock of losing her mother and her sister! Boggles the mind! Thank you, John, for another informative and thoughtful review of a piece of Canadian history. I know we never learned about this tragedy in school in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1960s, and I wonder if it was part of the curriculum in other provinces.

Thank you for increasing my knowledge of my country I dont remember learning about this at school Of course I grew up in \English part of c\Canada in the 50s

I was unaware of this tragedy, so thank you for posting. My grandmother immigrated from Ireland around this time.

I do not remember ever learning about this in school or from any other source of historical information. Good video about a terrible tragedy and again I have learned something new about Canadian history from our American cousin. Thank you John.

I knew about this because my great grandparents went down with this ship. They had come to Canada but had decided to go back home to Ireland. My grandmother had decided not to accompany them and so survived.

Thanks for posting this. I've missed several videos due to ongoing health issues, and am trying to go back and watch them when I can.

I came to Canada by ship in 1957, I was just a baby, so I don't remember it.

I am Canadian and tbh we never learned anything about this at all in school. Perhaps those who grew up in the maritimes may have learned about this. At my age it's great to learn new things about my country. Thanks

Here is a fact about Storstad. She was built to break through thick ice. So, of all the ships to strike the Empress of Ireland, it had to be one with a heavily reinforced bow.

Pier 21 was the port in Halifax. I suspect my grandparents got there from Poland after the war.

AS A YOUTH LIVING IN MONTREAL I WOULD GO DOWN TO THE DOCKS TO WATCH THE EMPRESS SHIPS COME IN. REMEMBERING THE EMPRESS OF CANADA IT WAS HUGE THE GLEAMING WHITE PAINT I STILL REMEMBER. WE WERE TAUGHT IN SCHOOL OF THE SINKING OF THE EMRESS OF IRELAND. BY THE WAY I ENJOY YOUR YOU TUBE CHANEL BRING BACK MEMOREIES. .

Hey brother its me Derek from Windsor Ontario Canada I have commented on your past videos before again a great video I love the work you put into these videos for me you can ' t be born and raised in Southwestern Ontario without learning and hearing stories of the Empress of Ireland and the Edmund Fitzgerald and many other shipwrecks in the great lakes and the seaways for that matter you can ' t be a Canadian without learning about the Titanic disaster and the Halifax explosion of 1919 there is a grave in Halifax with the Titanic dead in which I plan too go this summer . Again many thanks and I look forward too seeing more content from you .

The tragedy was part of my curriculum and was taught in Ontario schools in the late 40's (not certain about later on). Chimo

And if you didn’t see my msg- on st. Patrick’s day I had a pint with the Trews here in Hamilton- they said hi to New York John👍 great Jam session great guy’s!

The idea was ( and it did work way back in that time as far as I know ) was that you could go pretty much around the world with Canadian Pacific. Or at least between Europe and Asia. The two Empress ships got passengers to Quebec. From there the guests would board trains and cross Canada. Sometimes staying at the fancy CPR hotels, like the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City, or the Banff Springs hotel. Once reaching Vancouver, there were other CPR ships that carried guests across the Pacific to places like Hong Kong.

I was drawn to your interesting bit of history because, as a child, I crossed to Quebec City from (I think) Southampton in 1962 aboard a later Empress of Britain. The early years of the 20th century was a dangerous time for trans Atlantic shipping, with radio communication lagging behind the increasing size and speed of ships plying foggy and stormy North Atlantic routes. Radar and bridge voice radio were still decades in the future. From the description of the actions on the bridges of the two vessels, I suspect the two relatively inexperienced watch officers would both be found partially at fault under today's interpretation of the collision regulations. The estuary of the St. Lawrence where the fatal collision occurred seems to be remarkably close to the stretch of water where she had her run-in with a sunken wreck a few years earlier, emphasizing the variety of hazards for ocean going vessels in narrow waters.

Thank friend always good to see you! Love from Canada 👊

also James Cameron, the director is Canadian. ;-)

Thank you

lost family and a whole salvation band on this ship

My grandparents came over in the mid 1900's from scotland, and wales, so i guess that makes me... third? Generation canadian? They do teach about this accident in history class here. At least where i live anyhow. Sad that it happened, same with the titanic, and the halifax explosion, that said. Its history, you can't change it, only learn from it.

There were more passengers and crew that died on the Empress of Ireland than on the Titanic. 840 people sank with the Empress while 832 died on the Titanic.

a re-upload?

opps Title check Otherwise enjoyed it

Umm, I haven't yet watched; however, you will need to edit your title.