Centre National des Naufrages

COURAGE TALES

NV Quebec – Her ultimate adventure
, by Pierre de La Ney du Vair,
contributions by John Wilson & Beverley Burch Stannard
 

Monday, August 14, 1950, the N.V. "Quebec", a liner owned by Canada Steamship Lines, left Quebec City with 480 passengers. Most of the passengers got onboard in Montreal, and 80% of them were Americans. The ship was to cruise up the Saguenay River and its scenic fjords. She had been built 22 years ago. Weighting 7,000 tons, she was built by Davie Industries, in Lauzon, facing Quebec City.

Near 5:00 PM, the "Quebec" was approaching lighthouse #7, sailing towards the Saguenay River. Passengers observed smoke coming out from the middle of the ship. As soon as we got word that the ship was on fire, we headed towards the poop to breath some fresh air. Some passengers gathered with us while others headed towards the deck's head up because the fire was located mid-head up of the ship.

We were about 20 kilometers away from the confluence of the Saguenay River & St. Lawrence River when Captain Cyril Hunter Burch, 60 years old, from St-Lambert, sounded the alarm. The first alarm was used to call certain crew members so they would rush to the fire site. Soon after, we heard a second alarm. This alarm was meant to call all crew members not used to conduct the vessel, such as cooks and waiters.

Rapidly, flames were burning at six different places on the upper deck, and soon after, the whole upper deck was on fire. While all available crew members were trying to extinguish the flames, passengers were asked to reach for the lower decks. Fire hoses and chemical extinguishers were useless in slowing down the flames, even a little. After an hour or an hour and a half, everything was on fire. Smoke rapidly gained the passageways. Our mother tried to get into the cabin to recover our things, but as soon as the door was opened, smoke stopped her from entering the cabin.

Reverend Laurent Lacoursière, assigned to the St-Fidèle parish in Limoilou, Quebec, was on board as a passenger. While the ship was heading towards Tadoussac full speed ahead, the Reverend directed prayers to which catholics and protestants reunited in momentum asking God to save them.

30 minutes later, we hauled alonside Tadoussac pier and passengers were able to get ashore using the bridge. Most of the luggage were lost. A woman broke a rib when she slipped on a rope while getting off the ship. The "Quebec" then burned vigorously during 4 hours after its arrival at the Tadoussac pier.

All that was left was a smoking hull.
That night, sixty people headed back to Quebec, most of them inside 13 cabs. The small number of people that were able to head back to Quebec that night is due to the difficult crossing between Tadoussac and Baie-Sainte-Catherine while the tide was very low, and by a tedious 220 kilometers trip on a ruff hilly back road after many hours of fatigue and nervous tensions. Since our car was one of those that could be recovered from the cargo hold, we were part of the group that left that same night. On the Tadoussac-Sainte-Catherine ferry, our mother got mad when she saw a crew member working with a cigarette to his lips.
Over 400 passengers were lodged at Hotel Tadoussac and Manoir Richelieu, as well as in many households who kindly accepted to lodge from one to ten persons. The manager at Hotel Tadoussac, Mr C.-H. Etches, indicated that his hotel, as well as the Manoir Richelieu, were property of Canadian Steamship Lines. While many passengers were accomodated in the rooms of the hotel, an orchestra played popular songs, and passengers, even though they were still nervous, were quite happy for being rescued.

Soon after landing passengers on the Tadoussac pier, it was noticed that Mr Norman Shapiro, from Town of Mount Royal, a Montreal suburb, his wife and youngest six years old son, were not responding to calls. Bernard, his oldest 8 years old son, was placed under the supervision of other passengers at Manoir Richelieu, property of Canada Steamship Lines, and located at La Malbaie, 60 kilometers westward Tadoussac. Bernard said that his mother pushed him through their cabin window.

Early that morning, most passengers headed back inside 4 buses and 40 cabs, or onboard the "Jacques Cartier", ferry, normaly assigned to shuttle service bewtween Tadoussac et Baie-Sainte Catherine. Quebec, Tuesday, early in the morning, Canada Steamship Lines Direction announced that every passenger and crew member had been rescued unharmed. Crew members were quite sure that no passengers had been left behind. Nevertheless, during the whole evening, employees of the Hôtel Tadoussac were walking around on the grass facing the pier shouting through a speaking tube, "Calling for Mrs. Shapiro", in French, "Appel pour Madame Shapiro."
I quote some paragraphs published in "Le Soleil", Tuesday, August 15:

Dr D. W. Busmann (sic, Bussmann, my uncle) from Clayton, Missouri, was onboard the ship with his wife and five children (error: with his sister and five of the six children of his sister, that is, my mother and myself), explained how the fire started. He was up on the deck to watch the entry of the ship and admire the scenic beauty of the Saguenay River mouth. Dr Bussmann,
"A woman walked up to me saying the ship was on fire. At first, I was doubtful, but soon, I saw smoke coming out from a corridor. I knew we could reach Tadoussac rapidly, but still, I was worried. "
"I told my wife and my children (error: my sister and her children) to close their eyes so smoke wouldn't dazzle them. "
The newspaper goes on,
"Passengers took place on the ship's head up and stern decks and all cabins were abandonned. Tourists were putting on life jackets while crew members started fighting the fire. . . "
"After berthing, all the fire fighting equipment onboard the ship was kept operational, and Tadoussac fire fighters came to assist crew members in trying to prevent the ship from being a total loss. "
"Flames were confined to upper decks for a little while. Then, flames spread inside the ship and into the engine room, where crew members kept working till the very last minute. "

Those who were present that day know that the 3 preceeding paragraphs taken from Le Soleil were unmannerly exaggerated. Most probably a "Canada Steamship Lines" Director assigned to media relations really did a good job and that the newspaper was on the look to publish a nice story on human bravery.
According to Ms Raoul Deschênes, corresponding member to the Événement-Journal in Tadoussac, where ten passengers from the "Quebec" were lodged last night, the fire first took place in cabin 121 near the linen locker while the ship was about 20 kilometers between St-Simeon & Tadoussac. According to them, the whole center of the ship was on fire.

Tuesday, August 15, 7:30 PM, the "Manoir", commanded by Captain G. W. Thivierge, left Quebec harbour with mission to tow the "Quebec" towards the Lauzon Shipyard. The "Manoir" was equipped with pumps as she would need to pump out of the "Quebec" thousands of gallons of water used by the call firefighters who took part in fighting the flames. The ship arrived in Tadoussac at 8:00 AM on Wednesday. The "Quebec" would die in Lauzon, exactly where she first saw light.

Wednesday, August 16, in the afternoon, a news release from Canada Steamship Lines announced:
"This morning, a complete search of the N.V. Quebec was conducted in Tadoussac, and a full-scale revision of the passenger and crew member lists indicate that everyone onboard the ship when the fire took place has been located. "
But a few hours later, detective Jean-Marie Bouchard of the Sûreté du Québec announced that a fourth body had been found. The investigation of the Coroner would be postponed again for 2 weeks. "At 7:00 PM, crew members of the "Quebec" arrived in Quebec onboard the "St-Laurent"

At noon on Tuesday, August 17, it was announced that the remaining 150 passengers still lodged in hotels and private households in Tadoussac were getting ready to be transported across the Saguenay and, from there, would ride by cars towards La Malbaie or Quebec. At the same moment, in Montreal, it was announced that 300 Canadian or American passengers of the "Quebec" had just left to go home. Most of these travellers would be unwilling to talk about their Monday night and following days adventures. James Stewart, from Boston, declared: "We feel like a group of refugees".

Meanwhile, Canada Steamship Lines announced that the "Quebec" was to be restored. She never was. And Minister of Transport, Honorable Lionel Chevrier, announced, on behalf of the Federal Government, that Honorable Justice Fernand Choquette, of the Superior Court of Quebec, would preside the formal investigation on the cause of the loss and would act as commissioner. Esq. Gérard Lacroix, from Quebec, would be the departmental solicitor.

Friday, August 18, 12:15 AM, in front of a small group of bystanders, the calcined and burned beyond all recognition hull of the N.V. Quebec was being slowly towed on the River by tugs "Manoir" and "Château. "At 8:30 AM, she was in front of Cap-au-Saumon, and arrived at Lauzon in the afternoon. Tons of water discharged by firefighters were still present in the cargo hold of the boat. Fog had delayed the departure planned for the night before.

To date, the total number of victims would end up to seven. Five loss of live were registered by the Sûreté, Mr & Ms Pickens being the last two identified victims. The Sûreté established that two other passengers had not shown up, Miss Gertrude Staub & Miss Eva Staub. That is, contrary to what Canada Steamship Lines had announced, not all the passagers had been accounted for. Searches for the two missing ladies would continue in Lauzon. Mr Frank Findlay, Manager for Canada Steamship Lines in Quebec, revealed that many passengers of the "Quebec" had not registered themselves with the ship Commissioner charged of logging the names of the survivors. The passenger list only listed the name of passengers with cabins. The flames burned the list of the other passengers.
Can we trust the statements?

At the Lauzon dry dock, the Sûreté decided to take over control of the S.S. Quebec. A police cordon was put in place and nobody could get onboard the ship before a close search would be performed by detectives. The objective was to determine if bodies were still present in the debris. Also, they had to find, if possible, and secure all the luggage that were not destroyed by the flames. It would appear that highly valued jewels have been lost during the event and it has been requested that the Sûreté search for those.

Sunday, August 20, LCol Lambert, deputy director for the Sûreté, which had taken charge of the ship under supervision of Captain J-Alphonse Matte, announced that an incomplete body had been found. The discovery included calcined spine, hips and part of skull, along with skin from the pelvis region. It is believed that the body is that of one the Misses Staub, from Tarrytown, New York. The remains were discovered near the cabins occupied by those two ladies, that is, about one hundred feet from the ship's head up right side.
Didn't Canada Steamship Lines announce that every cabin had been evacuated?
________________________________________
"The Investigation"

Quebec, Monday, September 18, 1950, Honorable Justice Fernand Choquette presided the opening of the investigation.
I must now inevitably say a word about the "decks" of the "Quebec":
Superstructure
DECK "E" - sea level and below
Galleys, engine room & crew accomodations
DECK "D" – Lower part!
Dining room, main entrance, bar, baggage & vehicles (50).
DECKS "B" & "C" – level
82 single cabins (two beds with sink).
84 rooms with washroom, 32 lounges with bathroom & deluxe suite.
DECK "A" – highest level
Observation room, ballroom, 50 cabins. Ten life-boats.
- - - - -
The first witness was a businessman from Montreal. Mr Moffat was assigned to cabin 118 on deck B, while his mother was in cabin 201 on deck "A". He was dozing when a wide movement in the corridor woke him up. Smelling smoke, he got dressed in a hurry. Running out of his cabin, he saw a dense smoke surrounding the ship and heard his mother's voice on the look for him. She had no idea on which door she should knock and was yelling. Moffat found his mother's cabin, looked elsewhere, without finding her. In the crazyness of his search, Moffat headed astern deck B, where he saw a man and a child. They were heading astern. Moffat suggested that they join the group of passengers at the ship's head up. The child seemed a bit lost. Returning from his search, Moffat found his mother at the ship's head up. Smoke was getting more and more dense on the ship.
When panic began to spread amongst a group of passengers, someone yelled with anxiety,
"Is this another Noronic? "

On September 16, 1949, less than one year before the fire on the "Quebec", liner "Noronic" was arriving in Toronto with 524 passengers and 171 crew members. Built in 1913, the "Noronic" was part of a group of 3 ships which had gotten old. War was over and tourism was in a growth phase. The number of ships was still insufficient.
At dawn, on September 17, a fire was detected inside a linen locker of the "Noronic" and the alarm was given by a passenger. The cause of the hostile fire was never determined, but the fire spreaded at an incredible speed and many passengers suffocated during their sleep. Death toll: One hundred and four passengers drowned while 14 have never been retraced. "Noronic" smoking remains were laying at the bottom of the port where she went down, filled by thousands of gallons of water sprayed by Toronto firefighters.

An investigation, presided by Justice Kellog, whose report was presented to the Ministry in Ottawa, was conducted in Toronto between September 28 and November 21, 1949.
The loss of the "Noronic" was mainly due to a lack of effective monitoring of fire detection, to a poor preparation against firefighting, and to a non existing passengers evacuation procedure during a fire along a pier.
The report finaly had eight recommandations applicable to liners. While back then, the investigation on the "Titanic" disaster had an important effect on maritime security legislation, the investigation on the "Noronic" should have represented a new phase for ship inspection regarding fire protection since harsh regulations were voted in place in 1950. Afterwards, some Canadian liners assigned to passengers had to be either modified or removed.
The "Quebec" never was.

Alarm sirens.
Cyril Hunter Burch (born in Liscard, England, in 1890), Captain of the "Quebec", affirmed in front of the Court that he had activated the fire alarm himself and that he heard the sirens.
He also said,
"I was about to have a cup of tea in my cabin when an officer knocked on my door and yelled: "There is smoke on deck B." I immediatly ran down to see what was happening; when I got down the stairs on deck A, I saw the smoke at the roof of the deck. "
Like passenger witnesses Moffat & Waldron, New Yorker Buchner affirmed he hadn't heard any alarm indicating to passengers that there was a fire onboard. His opinion was that if people would have heard sirens, nobody would have died onboard. In as much as testimonies kept coming in, every passenger was telling the same story: No audible alarm. Thomas Waldron,
"I didn't hear any alarm, not even when I went ashore. "
Pilot, Romeo Savard, saw the Captain sound the alarm signal twice by pressing on a button. The pilot didn't hear the alarm.

Passengers start running around.
Ms Charles Gratton said she saw flames in the linen locker of the ship. The linen locker was located right beside her cabin on deck B. Ms Beauchamp & Ms Gratton were together in the music hall where, around 5:00 PM, the concert was about to end. She left the music hall before the end of the concert and headed for the cabin of Ms Gratton, cabin 120, on deck B. They rapidlly both smelled smoke. After checking out if the smoke was either coming from the paper basket or from under the bed, they both rang for the service man. As the service man ran to help them, Mr Gratton saw him and, worried, headed to his own cabin. Seeing the fire, service man, Benoît Blanchette, asked Ms Beauchamp to go down to the Souvenir Shop on deck C in order to tell that the ship was on fire.

Hmmm! Strange way for a crew to call for fire.
During the investigation, Benoît Blanchette said that he was alone in the lobby on deck D and that he suddenly heard an extended call. Noticing the extreme nervousness of the person ringing the bell with repetition, he quickly ran towards cabin 120, that of Ms Gratton, and observed that there was a fire in the linen locker facing the cabin. He ran astern to get an extinguisher then came back to the linen locker.

Passengers starter running around without the assistance of crew members
Thursday, September 21, Buchner describes how, in trying to save their lives if danger becomes extreme, passengers had decided, in the absence of crew members astern deck A, to unstrap some life rafts, and get ready to throw them to sea when the time comes. A stream of emotions ran across the court room when passenger Buchner declared what he had said on deck B in front of crew members, when he saw that they were all wearing life jackets while, astern of the deck, woman, children and elderly still hadn't found any for themselves:
"In case we need to jump to the sea, male passengers and myself will take over your life jackets and we will pass them along to women and children that are onboard the ship. "

Passengers and crew members came very close to fighting. During the course of events, Buchner made himself spokesman for passengers standing astern the ship. Smoke was quite dense and we couldn't see how far from Tadoussac the ship was. The situation seemed worse due to the accrue speed of the ship so we could dock faster. At times, smoke was so dense that passengers were under the impression that their life was in danger and that they had to move towards the ship's head up. Buchner says he headed towards the ship's head up and he's not sure everyone followed him since fire was concentrated in the middle of the ship. Buchner helped a sailor manipulate a fire hose, but no life jackets:
"After a few minutes, we realized that we didn't have any life jackets, that smoke was getting more and more dense, and that most probably we would have to jump overboard. So I tried to lead passengers around me, astern of deck B, towards the ship's head up. "
He said he smelled smoke for the first time between 4:35 PM and 4:45 PM while he was in the music hall on deck A, exactly where my mother was, along with my four brothers & sisters, and myself. After running down on the lower deck (B), he warned as many passengers as possible by knocking on cabin doors. At the same time, since he wasn't in a cabin, he tried to find a life jacket for himself.
On Wednesday, October 3, 1950, Mr Guy Paquet testified the following,
o Did you have a life jacket? asked the Crown prosecutor for the Ministry of transport.
o I asked the service man to go and get one for me. He answered that life jackets are mainly stocked in the cabins.
o Did you see people around you wearing one?
o An elderly man was using a decorating element hanged inside the ship to use as a life jacket.

Fire hoses.
Passenger Waldron testified that fire hoses were quite thin, a lot more thinner than those available in the United States. He asked himself how, in the Name of God, a fire could be extinguished with such hoses.
Speakers talk . . . about the beauty of the site!
During the investigation, Ms Beauchamp declared she saw smoke coming out from a firehose locker; this locker was located near the cabin of the Gratton family, tourists from Ville St. Laurent. She also testified having heard, behind the door of an abutting cabin, a crackling noise very such as when wood is burning. As she headed for deck C storeroom and then towards the ship's head up, Ms Gratton saw someone open the door of the room from where she had heard the crackling noise. As soon as the door was opened, she saw flames going from the floor up to the top door frame.

That's when Ms Gratton, a she was heading astern, heard a narrative travelog on the speakers. Ms Gratton said the travelog was indicating points of attraction at the Saguenay River mouth, and this lasted as long as there were passengers onboard. Three other passengers declared the same thing. This brought up some questions about the microphones and also on the capacity of the Captain to cummunicate with passengers.

During the investigation, electrical engineer Aldcroft declared that the microphones were connected to the speakers by 3 wires and that, even if 2 of those wires were defect, the third one could, by itself, keep communications active between microphones and speakers.
Hmmm!

The Court moves onto the "Tadoussac".
End of September, Honorable Fernand Choquette and every participant to the investigation go onboard a "Quebec" look-alike ship, the "Tadoussac", which had stopped in Quebec. The fire protection system was explained.

"Everyone then went ashore. "
During Captain Cyril Hunter Burch cross-examination, being recalled he had declared some crew members had told him that all passengers had gone ashore, Justice Choquette asked him if he would be able to indicate which were those crew members. The Captain answered that, besides the purser, he couln'd remember any of the other crew members.
Hmmm!

He then declared that circulation was impossible on decks A & B when he was told that all passengers had gone ashore, since cabins had been filled with dense smoke long before and any type of verification was impossible. Incidentally, verifications never did take place.

Fire & lifeboat drills.

During the examination of Benoit Blanchette & John Antonescu, another service man, Justice Choquette asked what was being shown during those drills.
No precise answer was given to these questions. During drills, they were both assigned to the same rescue station on deck C, and waited for officers to come by and ask them if they knew how to use chemical extinguishers. When asked to elaborate on what their responsibilities were and on where they had to lead the passengers, they both answered that this question was left to the initiative of each of the crew members.
John Antonescu also declared that he hadn't received any directions as to whether he had to inspect or not the cabins in case of a fire.
Hmmm!

Nobody saw the Staub sisters.

Mis Dorothy Graves & Miss Mary-Isabel Collins, both of Kingston, Ontario, testified. They were in cabin 212, larboard on deck A, abutting cabin of the Staub sisters, who both died during this event. Miss Collins declared it was impossible, from inside the cabins located on the same side near her cabin, to hear the noises made by passengers running in the corridor. She also said that she saw a young boy, probably under age 10, running by,
"This boy yelled - Fire! – at least twice and with a loud voice. "
The Staub sisters didn't answer, nobody knocked on their door, and nobody opened their door with a master key. Since then, they haven't been seen.

Since then, the Shapiro have never been seen.

Mr Guy Paquet, underwriter from Quebec City, testified how, on deck A, he met with his neighbours, the Shapiro and their two children, out of which only one child survived. Happenstance he had rented abutting chairs to those of the Shapiro. He testified that the Shapiro wanted to have dinner at the Hotel Tadoussac and that they had gone to their cabin around 4:20 PM, most probably in order to get ready to go ashore later on.
Mystery. How can it be that they didn't notice what was going on in the corridor?

During investigation, Miss Ann Grady gave some precision on young Bernard Shapiro, unique survivor of the family. She declared having noticed him outside on deck C about ten minutes after hearing a crew member advise passengers they should find some life jackets. From that moment on, Miss Grady didn't leave young Shapiro alone until she handed him over to some Shapiro relatives in Montreal,

"Even while sitting at a table in the Hotel, where he would stand up and walk to strangers thinking they were his father or mother, I would follow him. . . "
"When the child came close to us on deck C, we asked him where was his mother. He answered that he didn't have a clue and that she had pushed him out through a window. "
She also said that the child had some fresh blood on him, and after checking if he was injured, she was sure that it wasn't his own blood. Later on, young Bernard would have said that the cabin in which he was when fire caught was "full of smoke and that they were suffocating. "

Since then, Dr McCullum and his wife have never been seen.
During investigation, it was established that Dr McCullum had suffered a heart attack and that his wife stayed there to care for him. That is why both of them died.

Were crew members the first ones ashore???
Benoît Blanchette declared he saw a group of passengers about mid-ship on deck C – once himself had gone ashore on the pier.
Hmmm!
He said that passengers would come down using 4 or 5 ladders installed between the ship and the pier.


Results of the investigation

"The cause of the loss of the "Quebec" is a fire and, according to a proof that wasn't contradicted, the fire was deliberately set on by one or more unidentified individuals, and the fire suppression was compromised by the retirement, also deliberately, of the aironics fire alarm system. "
"There were many individual lacks and omissions on the part of crew members to reach their assigned station; at most, insufficient firefighting qualification & training of the crew represents a true evidence. . . "


50 years later
Pierre de La Ney du Vair, passenger



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