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Q Essay: Remembering "Canada's Titanic" -- the Empress of Ireland

One-hundred years ago this week, the Empress of Ireland sank in the St. Lawrence River, claiming more than 1000 lives.
The Empress of Ireland at its launch in an undated photo. (Guy D'Astous/CP)

Jian dedicates today's opening essay to the worst maritime disaster in Canadian history --  the sinking of the Empress of Ireland. It happened 100 years ago this week in the St. Lawrence River, not far from Rimouski, Que.

Although the shipwreck claimed more than 1000 lives, it is known as the forgotten tragedy, never resonating through the decades, like the 1912 sinking of the Titanic.

Jian remembers the disaster dubbed "Canada's Titanic."