HEROES OF THE EMPRESS DISASTER
DR. GRANT THE CHIEF HERO -- SIR SETON-KARR GAVE UP LIFE FOR STRANGER
-- LAURENCE IRVING DIED TRYING TO SAVE HIS WIFE -- H. R. O'HARA
DIED FOR FAMILY -- CAPTAIN KENDALL SAVED BELL-BOY -- HOW CHIEF
OFFICER STEEDE DIED -- HERO SAVED WEE GIRL -- GAVE UP HIS LIFE-BELT
IN the luxurious Hotel Chateau Frontenac, in the seamen's mission, in
the hospitals and on ships, where the survivors of the Empress of
Ireland disaster were cared for and nursed, they spoke of their
dangers. There were stories of self-sacrifice where men died that
women might live, of battles in the water, of life-boats falling on
struggling men and women in the water.
Every such disaster as that which befell the Empress of Ireland seems
to bring out at least one man who stands out above all others for
coolness, resource, and courage. These are men who control mobs and
who bring order out of chaos.
DR. GRANT THE CHIEF HERO
The survivors united in laying such honor on the shoulders of Dr.
James F. Grant, a 1913 graduate of McGill, the ship's doctor, who
calmed the terror-stricken, kept hope alive in the breasts of those
who felt themselves bereaved of loved ones; who quieted the ravings of
those whom the shock had, for a time, made insensible to those human
attributes which make heroes; who went about among the rescued and
gave them treatment, not only for their physical injuries, but for the
awful mental shocks which had been endured.
Miss Grace Kohl, of Montreal, was among those who heralded the heroism
of Dr. Grant. When she was asked to tell her story, she said:
"Miss Brown, the stewardess, wakened me and helped me put on my shoes
and coat and a life-belt. I went up on the promenade deck, but there
was scarcely anyone there. Then the boat began to list in a really
dangerous way, or so it seemed to me, and I jumped overboard. I swam
around for about five minutes, and some one picked me up and placed me
in a boat. That was all.
"But there was something else," she continued. "You must say something
very, very nice about Dr. Grant. He was quite wonderful. The way he
took charge of things on the Storstad and controlled the situation was
marvelous. I think he deserved the thanks of every one, and there is
no doubt but that for his skill and quickness in tending people, many
more would have died."
SIR SETON-KARR GAVE UP LIFE FOR STRANGER
M. D. A. Darling, of Shanghai, was saved by the life-belt that might
have saved Sir Henry Seton-Karr. Darling said:
"My cabin was opposite Sir Henry's, and when I opened my door he
opened his, and we bumped into each other in the passageway. He had a
life-belt in his hand and I was empty-handed. Sir Henry offered me the
life-belt and I refused it.
"He said, 'Go on, man, take it or I will try to get another man.' I
told him to rush out himself and save his own life while I looked
after myself.
"Sir Henry then got angry and actually forced the life-belt over me.
Then he pushed me along the corridor. I never saw him after that. He
went back to his cabin, and I believe he never came out again, because
the ship disappeared a few minutes later.
"I owe the fact that I am alive to Sir Henry, and, while I believe he
lost his life because he wanted to give me the life-belt, I am certain
that he would have given it to some one else."
LAURENCE IRVING DIED TO SAVE HIS WIFE
Laurence Irving, the noted actor, son of the late Sir Henry Irving,
died trying to save his wife. F. E. Abbott, of Toronto, was the last
man to see Irving alive.
"I met him first in the passageway," he said, "and he said calmly, 'Is
the boat going down?' I said that it looked like it.
"'Dearie,' Irving then said to his wife, 'hurry, there is no time to
lose.' Mrs. Irving began to cry, and, as the actor reached for a
life-belt, the boat suddenly lurched forward and he was thrown against
the door of his cabin. His face was bloody and Mrs. Irving became
frantic. 'Keep cool,' he warned her, but she persisted in holding her
arms around him. He forced the life-belt over her and pushed her out
of the door. He then practically carried her upstairs."
Abbott said: "Can I help you?" and Irving said, "Look after yourself
first, old man, but God bless you all the same." Abbott left the two,
man and wife, struggling. Abbott went on deck and dived overboard. He
caught hold of a piece of timber, and holding on tight, he looked
around. Irving by this time was on the deck. He was kissing his wife.
And as the ship went down they were both clasped in each other's arms.
H. R. O'HARA DIED FOR FAMILY
H. R. O'Hara, of Toronto, died that his wife and child might live.
There were two life-belts for three of them. He fixed the belts on the
two, hoping that there would be buoyancy enough to hold up all three.
Not one of them could swim. O'Hara bobbed in the water, resting on the
belts to keep himself afloat. He saw the two sinking, and then
slipping a little behind them he disappeared beneath the water. Mrs.
O'Hara was found afterward hysterically clinging to the keel of an
overturned boat by Henry Freeman, of Wisconsin.
CAPTAIN SAVED BELL-BOY
Charles Spencer, a bell-boy on the Empress, told of the manner in
which Captain Kendall of the Empress saved him. Still hysterical from
the suffering he endured, he cried as he told of his experiences.
"When the crash came I ran down to the steerage to wake up the boys
there and get them to go to the bulkheads and turn them. They are
closed by hand wheels. I did not have much time, because when I
reached there the water was two feet deep and I could hardly get
through it. I know two of the boys were drowned there. I and another,
Samuel Baker, were the only bell-boys saved out of the dozen on the
vessel. When I woke the boys below I ran to the boat deck where the
men were trying to put the life-boats overboard. The Empress had a
list to starboard and the top deck was down to the water. She was
going very fast. One of the funnels toppled into the water and almost
fell on a life-boat. When the boat made a final lurch I dived into the
water, because I felt I could get somewhere. When I came up Captain
Kendall was near me. He caught hold of me and helped me along, and we
were in the water about twenty minutes when we were picked up and
taken to the coal boat."
HOW CHIEF OFFICER STEEDE DIED
"There are few people," said one survivor, "who really know how the
chief officer, Mr. Steede, died. He was at his post to the last and
was killed by tumbling wreckage.
"Each man has his post at a certain boat, and his was at boat No. 8,
on the port side. The ship was struck on the starboard, but an effort
was made to launch the port side boats at once after the collision.
But the list on the vessel made it impossible to get away these boats.
"We went over to the port side. 'No good, boys, on this side,' said
he. 'Go to the starboard.' We went there, but the chief officer
remained at No. 8, directing passengers, until he was swept from his
post either by falling ropes, boxes or perhaps a boat, for the
starboard boats broke loose and did a lot of damage to life. No one
actually saw Steede disappear."
HERO SAVED WEE GIRL
The description of the wreck and the heartrending scenes that
followed, given by Robert W. Crellin, of Silverstone, British
Columbia, was graphic.
Crellin is a prosperous farmer. He was one of the heroes of the wreck.
He saved Florence Barbour, the eight-year-old daughter of a neighbor,
by swimming with the child on his back, and, with the aid of another
rugged passenger, pulled two women and several men into a collapsible
boat.
Clad only in a night shirt, Crellin said the water and air were as
cold as winter, chilling all hands to the bone.
Despite the peril and exposure, flaxen-haired Florence Barbour clung
to Crellin's neck and never even cried.
"The child was pluckier than a stout man," said Crellin. "She never
even whimpered, and complaint was out of the question. You should have
seen how the girls and women in the little village of Rimouski hugged
her when we got ashore.
"Time and time again I feared Florence would lose her hold, and I
would speak to her when my mouth and eyes were clear. Each time her
little hands would clutch me tighter, until it seemed she'd stop my
breath, but I welcomed the hold because it showed she had the pluck
and courage needed.
"Poor child! She lost her mother and sister, and only a year ago her
father, William Barbour, of Silverstone, was killed. She's alone in
the world, but Florence will never need a friend or home while I have
breath in my body."
Big and rugged as he is, Crellin's eyes grew moist as he recalled how
the child's mother and three-year-old sister Evelyn were drowned.
GAVE UP HIS LIFE-BELT
A well-built young fellow, Kenneth McIntyre, was disinclined to go
into the part he had played, but a Salvation Army officer, also a
survivor, related how McIntyre had taken his own life-belt off a few
minutes before the Empress took her last plunge, and put it about a
woman close by. The woman was picked up later by one of the
life-boats.