The Empress of Ireland had had five captains throughout its eight year career sailing across the Atlantic. On June 29th, 1906 Captain Francis (Frank) Carey was the first captain to take the new vessels called the Empress of Ireland across the Atlantic. Captain Carey would command the Empress for another eight more voyages until October 12th, 1906. During that brief time while he was in command Captain Carey would complain about the Empress’s rudder capabilities and had complained that the steering had been difficult at times and finally refused to command the vessel by 1907. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company finally had to give the Empress a larger rudder. This problem would continue to haunt the Empress of Ireland and the owners for the next eight years and during the Formal Inquiry of the Empress of Ireland collision with the Storstad, the question came up again about the steering! The Quartermaster Galway had stated that he had trouble with the steering during his watch of May 28th, 1914. Was there a problem with the steering? During my continuing research I have found some interesting information that may indicate that the Empresses may have had steering problems from time to time. What do you think?
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 23:27:10 +0000
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