Museum exhibit highlights Canada’s worst maritime disaster
GATINEAU, QC—The Canadian Museum of Civilization recently acquired an extensive collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck of the RMS Empress of Ireland. The collection is currently touring the country in an exhibit that marks the centennial anniversary of the disaster.
"Our exhibition is part of the process of remembering," says John Willis, museum curator of Economic and Environmental History. "We want to show a human story. Although the objects are very important to us, the real treasure is all those people who's bodies still lie at the bottom of the St. Laurence River. This was the greatest disaster in Canadian maritime history."
Willis explains that while the Halifax explosion of the First World War was more deadly, it involved significant casualties on land. The Empress of Ireland disaster took place entirely at sea.
Shrouded in fog, the Empress was struck by a coal ship just before 2 a.m. Of almost 1,500 passengers and crew on board, 1,012 drowned, including most of the Canadian Salvation Army senior leadership, on route to an international congress. The disaster claimed the lives of more passengers than the Titanic, two years earlier.
"Canada has a heritage well worth knowing and this disaster is a significant part of that," says Salvation Army national communications director Andrew Burditt. "We hope the exhibit helps educate Canadians about the disaster."
Burditt says of the 42-member Salvation Army Canadian Staff Band, only eight survived. In total, 167 Salvation Army members drowned.
"We have a porthole, which I think is a very evocative piece," says Willis. "The glass is all smashed in. It speaks to the fact that this was a violent collision with great loss of life. We want to talk about what happened to people afterwards, what sort of echoes does this story leave in Canada?"
Willis says the story of the Empress of Ireland was buried by the outset of the First World War.
"Did we forget this story? Some people believe we did. It is an important [Canadian] story, therefore it's worthy of our attention to find out why it happened and what it meant to Canada."
Dear Readers:
ChristianWeek relies on your generous support. please take a minute and donate to help give voice to stories that inform, encourage and inspire.
Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable receipt.Thank you, from Christianweek.
