Medium: Television
Program: The Fifth Estate
Broadcast Date: Sept. 23, 1986
Guest: Grace Hanagan Martyn
Reporter: Hana Gartner
Duration: 6:10
In the early morning hours of May 29, 1914, the Canadian Pacific ocean liner Empress of Ireland was cruising the St. Lawrence, headed for Liverpool. Travelling the opposite way was the Norwegian collier Storstad, weighed down by a full load of coal. Each ship had spotted the other, but a sudden fog obscured both. CBC-TV's The Fifth Estate recreates what followed when each ship took evasive action: a collision that sank the Empress of Ireland in just 14 minutes. Seventy-two years later, survivor Grace Hanagan Martyn recalls being awoken by the crash, then making her way up to the deck with her parents. Because the ship was listing badly, launching more lifeboats was impossible. Then seven years old, Grace landed in the frigid water and was rescued by a lifeboat. But her mother was missing and her father had perished - 1,012 passengers and crew who would die in the disaster.
