RMS ''Empress of China'' was an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...

built in 1890-1891 by Naval Construction & Armament Co., Barrow, England for

Canadian Pacific Steamships CP Ships was a large Canadian shipping company established in the 19th century. From the late 1880s until after World War II, the company was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships. Many immigrants travelled on CP ships fr ...

(CP). This ship—the first of three CP vessels to be named ''Empress of China''—regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until she struck an underwater reef and sank in Tokyo harbour in 1911.Ship List
Description of ''Empress of China''

Royal Mail Ship

In 1891,

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

(CPR) and the British government signed a contract for subsidized mail service between

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

via Canada. The route was first served by three specially designed ocean liners. Each vessel was given an imperial name.Miller, William H. (1984). ''The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs,'' p. 52. ''Empress of China'' and her running mates, RMS ''Empress of India'' and RMS ''Empress of Japan'', created a flexible foundation for the CPR trans-Pacific fleet that would ply this route for the next half-century.

History

''Empress of China'' was built by Naval Construction & Armament Co. (now absorbed into Vickers Armstrongs) at Barrow, England. The keel was laid in 1890; and she was launched on 25 March 1891. The 5,905-ton vessel had a length of 455.6 feet, and her beam was 51.2 feet. The graceful white-painted, clipper-bowed ship had two buff-coloured funnels with a band of black paint at the top, three lightweight schooner-type masts, and an average speed of 16-knots. This ''Empress'' and her two sister-ship ''Empresses'' were the first vessels in the Pacific to have twin propellers with reciprocating engines. The ship was designed to provide accommodation for 770 passengers (120 first class, 50 second class and 600 steerage). ''Empress of China'' left

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 15 July 1891 on her maiden voyage via

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

to Hong Kong and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Thereafter, she regularly sailed the route between Canada and the east coast of Asia. In the early days of wireless telegraphy, the call sign established for ''Empress of China'' was "MPG." Much of what would have been construed as ordinary, even unremarkable during this period was an inextricable part of the ship's history. In the conventional course of trans-Pacific traffic, the ship was sometimes held in quarantine, as when it was discovered that a passenger from Hong Kong to

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

showed signs of smallpox, and the vessel was held in Yokohama port until the incubation period for the disease had passed. The cargo holds of the ''Empress'' would have been routinely examined in the normal course of harbor-master's business in Hong Kong, Yokohama or Vancouver. Amongst the celebrities sailing on ''Empress of China'' was

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassination in Sarajevo was the ...

. On 25 August 1893, the Archduke boarded the ocean liner at Yokohama for a voyage across the Pacific to Vancouver.

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

, who eventually became the longest serving Prime Minister in Canadian History, "saw over" the ship on Friday, 22 November 1901 as part of his visit to Vancouver as deputy minister of the newly formed Department of Labour. RMS Empress of China 1904

On 27 July 1911 ''Empress of China'' encountered rough seas and thick fog 65 miles south of

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

. She struck a submerged rock off the

Nojimazaki Lighthouse is a lighthouse located at the southern tip of the Bōsō Peninsula, in the city of Minamibōsō, Chiba, Minamibōsō, Chiba Prefecture Japan. History The Nojimazaki Lighthouse was one of eight lighthouses to be built in Meiji period Japan unde ...

while trying to round the southern tip of the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

inbound for Yokohama. Submerged rocks extend about a mile from the coast in an area of the bay which is known for its dangerous currents. This accident occurred very close to where another ship foundered on the rocks in 1907. The Japanese cruisers and were dispatched to assist in removing mail, baggage, and passengers. The ship was abandoned with no loss of life. A year later, the ''Empress'' was re-floated; and in October 1912, she was towed into Yokohama where she was dismantled and scrapped. CP ''Empresses of China''
In 1921, Canadian Pacific added two German-built vessels to the ''Empress'' fleet; and initially, both were confusingly renamed ''Empress of China.'' * The first ''Empress of China'' was a 5,905-ton vessel launched in 1891 from Barrow, England. She was wrecked on a reef at Tokyo Bay in 1911, and subsequently scrapped in 1912.White Empress fleet
20 ships, descriptions
/ref> * The second SS ''Empress of China'' was a 16,992-ton vessel launched in 1907 from Gestemunde, Germany as the SS ''Prince Freidrich Wilhelm'' for the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line (NDL). The ship was purchased in 1921 by Canadian Pacific and then immediately, the ship was renamed ''Empress of China'' for a short time. Later in that same year, the ship was renamed yet again as the ''Empress of India.'' Subsequent names for this vessel were: the SS ''Montlaurier'' (1922); and SS ''Montnairn'' (1925). The ship was scrapped 1929. * The third SS ''Empress of China'' was a 21,860-ton vessel launched in 1913 from

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

, Germany, as the SS ''Tirpitz'' for

Hamburg-America Line The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent Germ ...

(HAPAG). The ship was purchased in 1921 by CP and renamed the ''Empress of China''. 40-year-old Ship Makes Last Trip; ''Empress of Australia'', Luxury Liner and Troop Carrier, on Way to Scrap Heap,"
''New York Times.'' 1 May 1952. Then next year, in 1922, the ship was renamed ''Empress of Australia'' after re-fitting at

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

. The ship was ultimately scrapped in 1952.

Notes

References

* Dept. of Agriculture, Canada. (1907)
''Report of the Minister of Agriculture for Canada.''
Ottawa: S.E. Dawson (King's Printer). * Miller, William H. (1984). ''The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs.'' New York:

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, book ...

. * Parliament, Canada. (1892
''Sessional Papers.''
Ottawa: S.E. Dawson (King's Printer). * Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986
''Transpacific Steam: The Story of Steam Navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941.''
Cranbury, New Jersey : Cornwall Books/Associated University Presses. (cloth) * Trevent, Edward. (1911
''The A B C of Wireless Telegraphy: A Plain Treatise on Hertzian Wave Signalling.''
Lynne, Massachusetts: Bubier Publishing.

External links

* The Ships List

* Simplon Postcards
Canadian Pacific postcard images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Empress Of China (1891) 1890 ships Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Ships of CP Ships Steamships of Canada Ocean liners of Canada Victorian-era merchant ships of Canada Shipwrecks of Japan Maritime incidents in 1911 July 1911

Royal Mail Ship

History

See also

Notes

References

External links