Empress of Ireland
DivingNo permitMooring buoys
Wrecks · Also good for anchoring
- Best time
- Jun–Sep
- Water temp.
- 1–8 °C
- Dive depth
- 27–45 m
A 168-metre liner lying on her starboard side across four decks at 45 metres, big enough that divers describe it as almost limitless, and around her, cod, redfish, sea peaches, urchins and anemones colonising the plating in cold green estuary water. The Empress of Ireland was struck by a Norwegian collier in fog on 29 May 1914 and sank in fourteen minutes, killing 1,012 people, more passengers than the Titanic lost. The First World War began three months later and the disaster was largely forgotten. Four other wrecks nearby form the local route des épaves, the C-2, the Nipigon, the Germanicus and the Frederike. Anchorage: Rimouski marina is the shelter; the Bas-Saint-Laurent is a cold, tidal, fog-prone cruising ground. Hazards: A 45m wreck in 2-8 degree water with strong tidal current and a short slack window, and it is a grave. Trimix-level planning, licensed operator, and nothing touched.




