A gimbaled compass recovered from the wreck of the Empress of Ireland. The artifact was recovered by the prolific diver, Bart Malone, at the site of the wreck in the St. Lawrence River.



Dimensions: 8" in diameter



The Empress of Ireland was an ocean liner commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Steamships company who set on her maiden voyage on June 6,1906, from Liverpool to Quebec. Her career was cut short due to a fatal incident in 1914. The sinking of the Empress of Ireland was a tragedy that paralleled that of the Titanic, particularly to Canadians. The tragedy occured in the fog-shrouded St. Lawrence River on May 29, 1914 when the ship collided with the Norwegian collier Storstad. The wound inflicted on the starboard side of the Empress proved fatal and rapidly filled the boat with water resulting in one of Canada's worst marine disasters, in which the ship plunged beneath the surface in fourteen minutes.



Provenance: This item comes from the Estate of esteemed diver Bart Malone (1946 - 2020). Bart Malone dove for 58 years and diving shipwrecks for 45 years. He was a senior curator and board member at the Museum of New Jersey Maritime History. He dove shipwrecks along the East Coast of the United States, in addition to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Orkney Islands, Scilly Isles, and the Great Lakes. He has dived on WWI and WWII shipwrecks, commercial and private vessels. His dives include the USS Monitor, Empress of Ireland, over 180 dives along on the Andria Doria, and German U Boats amongst many others. Bart Malone made over 2,700 dives.



Condition: "Empress of Ireland" was written in marker on the outside of the compass. The absence of a condition report does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition. Please message us through the online bidding platform or call Guernsey's at 212-794-2280 to request a more thorough condition report.