Thanks for the information. A couple of more points about your very interesting research article. I was quite surprised to read of the connection that Captain Kendall had with the capture of murderer Harvey Hawley Crippen. Crippen, I had heard of before, but I never knew that Kendall was involved in his apprehension. By bringing this up, I take it you see a nature's vengence type of linkage between Kendall's apprehension of Crippen, and Kendall's subsequent involvement in the collision and sinking. Very interesting.
Regarding Kendall's actions before the disaster, some source had indicated to me that Kendall actually was at fault. Your article seems to be fair, perhaps sympathetic, to Kendall's actions prior to the collision. I imagine that there's a diversity of views on who was at fault, the Storstad or the Empress.
Finally, in addition to Empress and Lusitania, another ship disaster during that period was the steamer Eastland, on July 24, 1915 -- 844 people were killed in a matter of minutes just 20 feet from shore. Eastland, of course, wasn't an ocean liner --but a Great Lakes passenger steamer. But my point is, it was a disaster like Lusitania and Empress that happened quickly, and resulted in great loss of life.
In addition to reasons you stated in your article, the Titanic disaster gets more attention because of its duration. Actually, Titanic is quite an unusual disaster in terms of its specific time frame. There were two hours after the collision to prepare, lower lifeboats, etc. In Lusitania, Eastland, and Empress, the disaster happens in a matter of minutes. With Andrea Doria, it was drawn out over 15 hours. As Walter Lord was probably the first to realize, those two hours were exactly right for a story--and he memorialized them in "A Night To Remember."
Once again, Gavin, your Empress article was very thought provoking, and enjoyable. I look forward to seeing more of your research.