Salvaging the Empress of Ireland in 1914 | Shipwrecks Podcast #11

Did you know more passengers died on the Empress of Ireland than Titanic?
The doomed ocean liner sank in 14 minutes after a collision in the fog.
See amazing photos of the salvage operations that took place in 1914.
https://www.youtube.com/@FascinatedbyShipwrecks

"We tend to forget that the survivors were also victims. And when you put that into perspective, and you add to that the fact that they were pretty much never compensated for anything, it's a hard thing to live through." - David Saint-Pierre

*ABOUT OUR GUEST*
David Saint-Pierre was born and raised on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, hearing the tales and stories of his ancestors being lighthouse keepers, captains, shipbuilders and shipowners. History became a passion, and then an academic interest: he studied contemporary history up to Ph.D. level.

Saint-Pierre has been a consultant for maritime museums in Quebec for almost three decades, did independent research under contract with the Naval Museum in Quebec City, and worked for 5 years for the Empress of Ireland museum in Rimouski, Quebec, not far from where the Empress of Ireland foundered. Mr. Saint-Pierre was a lecturer at the Université du Québec in Rimouski in maritime history. He contributed to most – if not all – books, documentaries and TV and radio shows on the story of the Empress of Ireland since the late 1990’s. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Site historique maritime de Pointe-au-Père, which includes the Empress of Ireland museum, the only permanent exhibit on the Empress of Ireland in the world.

Mr. Saint-Pierre has published a number of books and articles on history, among which two books on the Empress of Ireland, one in 2016 and the other in 2023. These two books are only available in French for now, but the last one, mostly dealing with the deep sea diving and salvage operations on the wreck in 1914, has been translated and was released by the United Kingdom publisher The History Press in May 2025. The book will be released in North America in August 2025.

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*RESOURCES*

UK Book Release:
https://thehistorypress.co.uk/publica...

Canadian Book Release:
https://www.amazon.ca/Wake-Empress-Ir...

Empress of Ireland Museum
https://shmp.qc.ca/index-en.html

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*MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST*

Gaspé coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasp%C3...

St. Lawrence River
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Law...

Montreal, Quebec
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal

Rimouski
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimouski

Empress of Ireland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Emp...

Titanic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic

SS Storstad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Stor...

Father Point
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe-...

Engelhardt model lifeboats
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeboa...

Marconi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugliel...

Empress of Ireland Museum
https://shmp.qc.ca/index-en.html

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*PODCAST CREDITS*
Kathy A. Smith, Host & Founder
Earth Dreams (Victoria Denyx), Producer, Composer & Virtual Artist
https://www.youtube.com/@EarthDreams-...

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