RMS Empress of Japan (1891)
Empress of Japan
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Empress of Japan |
| Owner: |
 Canadian Pacific Steamship Company
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| Port of registry: | Canada |
| Builder: | Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Launched: | 13 December 1890 by Lady Alice Stanley |
| Out of service: | 1922 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1926 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage: | 5,905 tons |
| Length: | 456 ft (139 m) |
| Beam: | 51 ft (16 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 16 knots |
| Capacity: |
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RMS Empress of Japan, also known as the "Queen of the Pacific", was an ocean liner built in 1890–1891 by Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow-in-Furness, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP). This ship – the first of two CP vessels to be named Empress of Japan – regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until 1922.
Over the course of her career, the Empress traversed 4 million kilometres (2.5 million miles). She made 315 Pacific crossings.
In 1891, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the British government reached agreement on a contract for subsidized mail service between Britain and Hong Kong via Canada; and the route began to be serviced by three specially designed ocean liners. Each of these three vessels was given an Imperial name.
The RMS Empress of Japan and her two running mates – the RMS Empress of China and the RMS Empress of India – created a flexible foundation for the CPR trans-Pacific fleet which would ply this route for the next half century.
The Empress of Japan was built by Naval Construction & Armaments Co. (now absorbed into Vickers Armstrongs) at Barrow-in-Furness, England. The 5,905-ton vessel had a length of 455.6 feet (138.9 m), and her beam was 51.2 feet (15.6 m). The white-painted, clipper-bowed ship had two buff-colored 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).
She was launched on 13 December 1890 by Lady Alice Stanley, daughter-in-law of Lord Stanley, who was then the Governor-General of Canada. The ship left Liverpool on 11 April 1891 on her maiden voyage via Suez to Hong Kong and Vancouver, arriving in British Columbia on 2 June. 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 the Empress of Japan was "MPJ." It also transported passengers and cargo, notably Japanese tea.
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