- The Empress of Ireland had been
an impressive liner designed to be competitive in the
lucrative Transatlantic trade.
 Along with her sister
ship, the Empress of Britain, she was built in
Scotland by the esteemed Fairfield Shipping Co. Both
ships were fully inspected and approved from drawing
board to sea trials. They were twin screw
steamers of 14,000 tons, 550 feet long, and was able
to draw 27 feet of water loaded.
- The sisters made their maiden
voyages within weeks of each other.
 With the designed
speed of 20 knots, they made the journey from
Liverpool to Quebec consistently in 6
days. The Empress could comfortably
hold fifteen hundred fifty passengers, 300 first
class, 450 second class, and 800
third.
- She was a steady ship with a
reputation for solid comfort.
 The
number of passengers that the ship could carry was
determined by the capacity of her lifeboats rather than
the number of berths, or beds.
The Empress carried 16 steel lifeboats,
20 Englehart collapsible, and 4 collapsible Berthon
boats.
(Empress Stern Video Clip) (From the
video
"Empress of Ireland - Lost Not Forgotten" by SeaView
Imaging. To buy this video click
here.) (Computer
Animation provided by
Moving Graphics)
 The
crew trained extensively. Frequent
navigation, evacuation, and fire drills were mandatory.
The Empress was designed for optimum safety.
She would float with any two
compartments flooded. The ship was divided into
eleven sections by sealed walls, or bulkheads.
Doors used for general ship operations made each unit
watertight when closed.  Even with such
structural and emergency precautions employed, the
Empress lies in nearly 150 feet of cold, salty water,
eight miles east of Rimouski, Quebec, a victim of human
error.
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