After more than a century beneath the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Empress of Ireland was recently commemorated as Canada’s worst maritime disaster, which resulted in the deaths of 1,012 people when the transatlantic liner capsized and sank in less than 15 minutes after a collision off Sainte-Luce, Québec.

In World without Sun (1964), Jacques-Yves Cousteau states that “undersea exploration is not an end in itself, although it is spiritually rewarding merely to be an onlooker.” This may help explain why Cousteau’s ‘silent world’ is for many divers a place to connect with their inner-selves by reaching into the abyss of the soul.

At the time of her loss, the British heavy cruiser HMS Raleigh was the pride of Britain's North Atlantic Squadron. The Diving Almanac accompanied a team of divers as they explored the shipwreck on the 90th anniversary of her ill-fated cruise in 2012.

After a lengthy period of suffering and recovery, much good has come from the century-old cataclysm on this island of the French West Indies that today offers a diving and cultural experience unique in the Caribbean.