Lost and found, then almost lost: 100-year-old photos linked to Quebec shipwreck make it home
Dogged maritime historian says album is 'once in a lifetime' discovery
David Saint-Pierre was reading in his living room when he received a message that would lead him to make a "once in a lifetime" discovery.
His friend, Sébastien Hudon, alerted him to two photos for sale on eBay. He said they seemed to be related to maritime history, Saint-Pierre's specialty.
"[He] just happened to stumble upon two photos that were for sale on an online auction site," said Saint-Pierre.
"He said, 'well David, I think this is probably in your turf.'"
He was right.
The background of the photos depicted Pointe-au-Père's lighthouse, in Rimouski, Que. with British sailors transporting heavy equipment on a wharf.
Saint-Pierre says he immediately connected the dots.
The only time British sailors were in Rimouski in that period was to prepare diving operations to search for the Empress of Ireland in 1914.
"So I knew exactly right there and then what it was," said Saint-Pierre.
As a maritime historian, Saint-Pierre has studied the history of the Empress of Ireland for about 30 years.
The ship sank off the coast of Pointe-au-Père on May 29, 1914 after a collision with a Norwegian cargo ship, killing 1,012 people on board.
WATCH | A survivor of the Empress shipwreck remembers:
In the 1990s, Saint-Pierre worked at the Site historique maritime de Pointe-au-Père, dedicated to the shipwreck's history in Rimouski, Que. Little did he know he would be the one to find precious historical material about the little-known salvage efforts to recover the deceased.
Saint-Pierre immediately reached out to the seller of the photos and began what was to become a year-long project to acquire the album, study the images and contact the relatives of the original owner.
EBay seller was based in Tennessee
The seller of the photos was a woman in Tennessee, who posted the photos on eBay after buying the book at an auction, said Saint-Pierre.
"She had started selling the photos one by one. So she tore off some pages, tore off photos from the album, and that's exactly the point when I found it and I asked her to stop doing that," said Saint-Pierre.
"[Asking] 'would you be interested in selling the whole thing?' And that's what she did."
Saint-Pierre didn't know what to expect with the photo album. He says the seller spent some time describing the scenes, and said there were some graphic images of dead bodies.
"She didn't know what exactly it was, what significance it had. What was not helping was the fact that the album is absolutely empty as far as information," said Saint-Pierre.
Although he was eager to receive the shipment, there was a hitch.
Album nearly lost in shipment
For six weeks the package was lost in transit.
"I knew it was a big discovery and just seeing that the parcel was lost for maybe forever. At the time I didn't know it would be eventually found again," said Saint-Pierre.
"You cannot imagine the amount of phone calls and emails and sleepless nights I spent during those six weeks and it was finally found just about a year ago. Just before Christmas last year in a warehouse in Oklahoma."
Although he was eager to open the parcel upon its arrival, Saint-Pierre says he held back.
Instead, he set up a Zoom call with Hudon — wanting to open the album together since his friend had played such an important role in finding the album.
'Once in a lifetime' discovery
Once the photos were in Saint-Pierre's possession, the real work began.
Handling the album with care and cotton white gloves, Saint-Pierre unveiled the history of the original owner of the album, Ralph Stratton Blydenburgh, a New Yorker and a director of the Yankee Salvage Association.
Saint-Pierre says the company was often hired on the east coast of the U.S. and Canada to do salvage operations on sunken ships, recovering bodies and material.
In 1914, for the salvage operation in the St. Lawrence River, Blydenburgh was one of several photographers. The album contains more than 520 photos. About 56 of them pertain to the Empress of Ireland — a treasure trove for a historian.
"I mean, if you find two or three photos of hard hat divers in 1910, you're a lucky guy. So finding 525 photos at once in the same album, all related to diving and salvage operations is really a once in a lifetime," said Saint-Pierre. "It's probably the only time in my life that I'll be making such a discovery."
Once he identified Blydenburgh thanks to the help of a postcard, Saint-Pierre says he was able to track down extended family— calling Blydenburgh's grandson Jeffrey Blydenburgh in Florida.
"David got on the line and we had just a great conversation because he was telling me this whole story that I didn't know anything about," recalled Blydenburgh
Album stayed in Blydenburgh family for about 100 years
The family didn't know too much about Blydenburgh's career as a salvager, says his grandson, who had never seen the album because it had been given away by relatives who were cleaning out a house after an uncle's death and were unaware of its historical significance.
Discovering a new part of his family history was exciting, he said, especially when they travelled to Rimouski to meet Saint-Pierre and see the Site historique maritime de Pointe-au-Père in Rimouski, Que. to mark the 108th anniversary of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland.
"Just knowing that a member of your family, your grandfather, has been here in this place all those years before and what he was doing while he was there, certainly there is a sense of pride, because this was a huge tragedy," said Blydenburgh.
"If only I had asked more questions when I was a kid, I would have known more about my grandfather."
Despite the album nearly getting lost twice, "it works out," said Blydenburgh.
"It's right where it needs to be."
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With files from Émilie Warren and Radio-Canada's Karine Mateu