The Shipwreck of the Empress of Ireland was the most horrible marine disaster in Canadian maritime history. Having taken place two years after the Titanic sinking, the Empress of Ireland had more than enough lifeboats onboard, yet the passengers didn't have time to use them as the boat foundered in only 14 minutes. Besides the history of the Empress of Ireland, Logan Marshall collected the most spectacular maritime disasters of different times in one book.

Think of a major shipping disaster and the first that jumps into mind is that of the Titanic, the White Start liner sunk by an iceberg on her maiden voyage.

Describes the building and early voyages of the steamship and explains how the great ocean liner sank to the bottom of the Saint Lawrence River in 1914.

"Dark Descent makes the reader a vicarious participant in what is a very extreme sport."—Philadelphia Inquirer On May 29, 1914, the passenger liner Empress of Ireland was struck by the freighter Storstad and sank in fifteen minutes, taking more than 1,000 victims with her. It remains one of the largest losses of life ever in a maritime accident. At more than a hundred feet deep in the frigid Gulf of St. Lawrence, diving the Empress is like trying to navigate an unfamiliar sixty-story building lying on its side at a forty-five-degree angle, in pitch blackness with only a flashlight. In Dark Descent, Kevin McMurray takes us deep into the bowels of the lost ship, first to relive her tragic death and then to join the divers who have probed the wreck's secrets. It's an adventure from which some divers don't return. "Impressively researched. . . . For those who love the lure of the deep water and the mysteries of shipwrecks, this specialized history will be a pleasure."—Publishers Weekly "Kevin has a remarkable knack of adding life and realism. A great job."—R. W. Hamilton, Chairman of the Board, Divers Alert Network

Delve into the tragic history of the ship whose sinking was as disastrous as the Titanic’s. When we think of a major marine disaster, the Titanic usually springs to mind. Yet a mere two years after the Titanic, a tragedy of similar proportions took place in the confines of the St. Lawrence River. On a dark night in May 1914 the Norwegian collier Storstad rammed the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Ireland. In less than fifteen minutes, more than 1,000 people died, trapped in the ship’s hull or drowned as they were trying to escape. They died within sight of land. Despite the scale of the disaster and the fact that the ship had an excellent safety record with eight years in service, the Empress tragedy has been sadly overlooked. Now this lavishly illustrated luxury edition seeks to remedy this oversight, on the centenary of the tragic event.