I read Kevin McMurray's book "Dark Descent" this past summer and have been doing my own research (basic stuff) on the boat and the stories surrounding that time in history with focus on the dives.
In Kevin's book pg. 152 he writes: "Grace Hanagan, who had married and become Grace Martyn, died two weeks before the 1998 memorial service. The last survivor of the Empress was gone, marking the end of an extrordinary era."
Well Kevin forgot about little Lizzie .... Lizzie Delamont is alive and well ... she is now 96. I have been receiving accounts of the tragedy through her great niece. It seems one of my wife's close friends is a Delamont by blood, and of course her married name gave no indication. If anyone remembers the story .... she was plucked from the water by her father while he was actively helping others find survivors using the Storstad's lifeboat. He didn't even realize it was his daughter until she was in the boat. Leonard Delamont (her brother) gave his life vest to his mother because he was a confident swimmer. He lost his life.
I'll be diving the Empress this summer, but it wasn't until I started talking about it that all this amazing information came about. If I'm fortunate enough to meet Lizzie before the dive, I'll truely have one hell of a wreck dive!
In Kevin's book pg. 152 he writes: "Grace Hanagan, who had married and become Grace Martyn, died two weeks before the 1998 memorial service. The last survivor of the Empress was gone, marking the end of an extrordinary era."
Well Kevin forgot about little Lizzie .... Lizzie Delamont is alive and well ... she is now 96. I have been receiving accounts of the tragedy through her great niece. It seems one of my wife's close friends is a Delamont by blood, and of course her married name gave no indication. If anyone remembers the story .... she was plucked from the water by her father while he was actively helping others find survivors using the Storstad's lifeboat. He didn't even realize it was his daughter until she was in the boat. Leonard Delamont (her brother) gave his life vest to his mother because he was a confident swimmer. He lost his life.
I'll be diving the Empress this summer, but it wasn't until I started talking about it that all this amazing information came about. If I'm fortunate enough to meet Lizzie before the dive, I'll truely have one hell of a wreck dive!