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To
go down among the perishing crowds is
your duty, wrote Salvation Army founder
William Booth in 1885. And while he'd
meant the words as a statement on
Salvationists' spiritual dedication to
humanity, the words took on a more
literal meaning nearly thirty years
later
It was on May 29,
1914, that the Empress of Ireland sank in the St. Lawrence
River. The loss of life was great, with more than one thousand
passengers and crew perishing beneath the waves. Among the
dead were 170 members of the Salvation Army, on their way to
the Army's 1914 Congress in London. David and Bertha Creighton
were two of those Salvationists. In Losing the Empress,
their grandson, David Creighton, sifts through the records,
the artifacts, and the memories to come to terms with the
tragedy that changed his family forever.
Creighton's personal
journey takes him to Quebec City, where the liner set sail for
the last time; to Toronto, where his family lived and worked;
to London, where the Empress was scheduled to sail; and to
Rimouski and the St. Lawrence River, where he joins
Titanic-discoverer Robert Ballard on an expedition to the site
of the wreck of the Empress.
As we follow
Creighton on his trek, we learn that the story of the Empress
is not just the story of a shipwreck and its victims; it is
also the story of those who were left on shore, awaiting loved
ones who would never return. It is the story of a city,
Toronto, that stood still on the day the mass funeral was held
to remember the dead. It is the story of the Salvation Army,
whose members to this day feel a personal connection when they
hear the words, "the Empress". And it is the story of the five
suddenly orphaned children of David and Bertha, split up and
sent to different foster families, but reuniting frequently,
tied by the bonds of family and tragedy.
This stirring and
lyrical work is David Creighton's third book.
Previously he has written Deeds of Gods and Heroes
(Macmillan) and Myths Within (Gage). He has also
written travel and op-ed pieces for The Globe and Mail,
Books in Canada, and Family Practice. A former
high school English department head, David and his wife, Judy,
live in Burlington, Ontario.
