Hi everyone,
Sorry I couldn't get back to you earlier, but I've been really busy over the last few days (it's a long story)and I've just managed to steal a few spare minutes to tell you about the Empress exhibit.
It was really great! There were all sorts of artifacts from the wreck, from trunks, plates, bottles of beer, cups and dishes to planks of wood, a vegetable cooker and a lifejacket. There was a dress that one of the passengers on an earlier voyage had worn, a passenger list, a recreation of the E.o.I's bow sticking out of the wall, and a reconstructed ship's wheel that you could turn. We saw a medal that was awarded by some of the survivors to a man named (I think) George Smart, who saved not only himself but lots of other people in the water. There were pictures of many of the children who lost their lives, but also a newspaper photograph of Florence Jessie Barbour and her account of being rescued from the shipwreck. I learned many interesting facts, like that the third class passengers had to wash their own dishes, and that the man who wrote 'The Jungle Book' was on the Empress during one of its earlier voyages. Sorry if I'm boring you and you already know all this stuff, but I'm not exactly an expert on the Empress and found this all very interesting.
I took a bunch of pictures but unfortunately something went wrong with the digital camera and all the pictures turned out really gray and blurry, save for the pictures my sister took of her Kung-Fu Panda action figures.
I'm thinking of maybe going again and taking better pictures. If anyone lives in the area they should definitely go, it's worth it!
