Deadly collision of an ocean liner which killed 1,012 at sea two years after the Titanic

As Liverpool mourned the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland on May 29, 1914, a tribute poem written by local poet James Ernest Bygroves was distributed to a grieving town.

“And deeds were done in this dark morning that we will never hear of,” reads one line. Almost 110 years later, those words couldn't sound more prophetic.

It only took 14 minutes for the majestic ocean liner to sink near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in Canada after leaving Quebec.

The Empress was on a regular return trip to Liverpool Docks when it collided with another ship in thick fog. A total of 1,012 people died - 840 passengers, plus 172 crew, mostly Liverpudlians.

That was almost as many as the 1,197 people who perished aboard the RMS Lusitania, which sank in 1915 off Cork, Ireland, after being torpedoed by a German U-boat.

Lucky women rode on lifeboats (

Picture:

Shutterstock/Everett Collection)

It echoed the tragedy of the Titanic, which sank 400 miles off Newfoundland, Canada, in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. Some 1,517 people died.

The Belfast-built Titanic was registered in Liverpool and bore the name of the city on its stern. Although it never visited the city, the Titanic had strong ties to its home port of Liverpool.

Yet despite all the heavy losses the Empress suffered and the drama of her horrific plunge out of sight, her disaster is little known.

Its wreck, still 130 feet under water, does not encourage Titanic tourism, nor tons of books or movies. It pales in memory in the gigantic shadow of the sinking of that most prestigious ship.

But not in Liverpool. The Daily Mirror, reporting the tragedy, described a few days later: "A steady stream of investigators at the Liverpool offices of the Canadian Pacific Railway on Saturday, and some pathetic scenes."

Tea was brought for the bereaved women who waited as friends and relatives of the passengers "anxiously awaited news in Cockspur Street".