The poignant and very human drama of a 1914 maritime disaster that claimed the lives of more passengers than the Titanic

On May 28, 1914, the RMS Empress of Ireland began her 192nd trip across the Atlantic from Quebec City, Canada, en route to Liverpool, England, carrying 1,056 passengers and a crew of 423. In the early hours of May 29, fog descended on the St. Lawrence River, and the ocean liner was rammed by the Storstad, a Norwegian coal ship. In the fourteen minutes it took for the Empress of Ireland to sink, there was time to launch only four of the forty lifeboats, and rather than women and children first, it was everyone for themselves.

Over a thousand people died that night, claiming the lives of more passengers than either the Titanic or the Lusitania, and the tragedy stands as the worst peacetime maritime disaster in Canadian history.

Investigative journalist and author Eve Lazarus draws on a trove of historical documents, including small-town newspaper reports, the Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry, and first-hand accounts passed down through personal letters and family lore, to tell the story of the wreck and its aftermath through the eyes of the survivors. Through these records, as well as interviews with experts and descendants of the passengers, Lazarus recounts the story from both a Canadian and a Norwegian perspective and investigates why many of the accounts regurgitated in newspapers and books for over a hundred years are wrong. The result is an absorbing and utterly stirring narrative that uncovers tales of heroism and sacrifice, human endurance, and modern-day shipwreck hunters.

Beneath Dark Waters is an epic chronicle that restores the Empress of Ireland - largely forgotten in the shadow of the Titanic disaster - as well as its survivors and victims to their rightful place in maritime history.

With black-and-white photos.

Eve Lazarus has worked as a freelance journalist and writer for more than 15 years. Originally from Australia, she is the Vancouver correspondent for Marketing Magazine and the author of Frommer's with Kids Vancouver 2001 (John Wiley & Sons). She is a former newspaper reporter and has written for a variety of periodicals in Canada and the United States including the Globe & Mail, the Vancouver Sun, Style at Home, B.C. Business and Canadian Family magazines. In 2001, she won gold and silver awards at the Canadian Business Press KRW's. Lazarus has a communications degree from Simon Fraser University and a journalism diploma from Langara College. Since becoming obsessed with home histories, she has written articles on the subject for Style at Home; REM; the Globe & Mail, and Nuvo Magazine. Eve lives in North Vancouver with her husband, three kids and miniature Schnauzer.

Eve Lazarus' profile page

Eve Lazarus's book centres around some of the life stories that were changed forever by the Empress of Ireland's tragic sinking, which has long been overshadowed by other sea disasters. A very interesting read and a significant contribution to this ship's history. -David Saint-Pierre, author of In the Wake of the Empress of Ireland