Empress of Ireland Stamp

A collectors stamp issued by Canada Post - Postes Canada to commemorate the 100 years since her sinking in the Saint Lawrence river in Quebec

Graphic designer: Susan Scott

Painting: Aristides Balanos

Issue date: May 29, 2014

Cancellation site: Pointe-au-Père, QC

The Story (Wikipedia)

The RMS Empress of Ireland was an ocean liner that sank in the Saint Lawrence River following a collision with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad in the early hours of 29 May 1914. Of the 1,477 persons on board the ship, 1,012 died. The number of deaths is the largest of any Canadian maritime accident in peacetime.

The Empress of Ireland was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland and was launched in 1906. The liner, along with her sister ship Empress of Britain, was commissioned by Canadian Pacific Steamships (at that time part of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) conglomerate) for the North Atlantic route between Quebec and Liverpool in England. The transcontinental CPR and its fleet of ocean liners constituted CPR's self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Transportation System".
Empress of Ireland had just begun her 96th sailing when she sank.

The wreck lies in 40 metres (130 ft) of water, making it accessible to divers. Many artifacts from the wreckage have been retrieved, some of which are on display in the Empress of Ireland Pavilion
at the Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père in Rimouski, Quebec. The Canadian government has passed legislation to protect the site.

Numerous books have been written about the sinking of Empress of Ireland and several films and documentaries have been made.