RMS Empress of Canada (1922)
Empress of Canada
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| History | |
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| Name: | 1922-1943: RMS Empress of Canada |
| Owner: | 1922-1943:  Canadian Pacific Steamships
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| Operator: |
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| Port of registry: | 1922-1939: Canada |
| Ordered: | 1920 |
| Builder: | Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Govan, Scotland |
| Cost: | approximately $6,800,000 |
| Yard number: | 528 |
| Launched: | 18 August 1920 |
| Completed: | May 1922 |
| Maiden voyage: | 5 May 1922 |
| Fate: | 13 March 1943 -- sunk off coast of Africa |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage: | 21,517 tons |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 77.7 feet (23.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | Six steam turbines |
| Speed: | 18 knots |
| Capacity: |
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| Notes: | CPR's first ship to undertake a round-the-world cruise in December 1924 |
RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner built in 1920 for the Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP) by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland. This ship—the first of two CP vessels to be named Empress of Canada—regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until 1939.
In 1920, Canadian Pacific Steamships ordered a new ship to be built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company at Govan near Glasgow in Scotland. This Empress was a 21,517 ton, 653-foot ocean liner. The ship was launched 18 August 1920 with a notable speech by the general manager of the Canadian Pacific Ocean Services, Ltd., Sir Thomas Fisher, noted the approximately $6,800,000 price compared to a pre-war cost of about $2,200,000 and cost of operation that had risen at least 350 per cent had forced first class fares from $76 to $202 (based on a $4 to the pound sterling) and predicted dire consequences for shipping and the British Empire. A world tour, planned for the spring of 1921, was cancelled due to labor disturbances making on-schedule completion doubtful.
She undertook her maiden voyage on 5 May 1922. Based at the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the first Empress of Canada was intended to provide service to Japan, Hong Kong, and China. She was at the time the largest vessel ever engaged in transpacific service. Her sister ships included Empress of France and Empress of Britain.
On 24 September 1923, Empress of Canada arrived at Tokyo harbor—just three days after the devastating Great Kantō earthquake struck the city. She found that the Canadian ocean liner RMS Empress of Australia had been converted to a command post from which the British consul was directing relief work, and the Empress of Canada transported refugees – 587 Europeans, 31 Japanese, and 362 Chinese – to Kobe, Japan.
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