RMS Empress of India (1890)
 Empress of India departing Vancouver.
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| History | |
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| Name |
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| Owner |
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| Port of registry |
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| Builder | Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down | 1890 |
| Launched | 30 August 1890 by Lady Louisa Egerton |
| Maiden voyage | 8 February 1891 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1923 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 5,905 tons |
| Length | 455.7 ft |
| Beam | 51.2 ft |
| Propulsion | Twin propellers |
| Speed | 16 knots |
| Capacity | As originally configured: 120 first class, 50 second class and 600 steerage |
RMS Empress of India was an
Empress of India regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until she was sold to the
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.[6]
Empress of India and her two running mates—
History
Empress of India was built by Naval Construction & Armaments Co. (now absorbed into
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-colored funnels with a band of black paint at the top, three lightweight schooner-type masts, and an average speed of 16-knots. Empress of India and her running mate Empresses were the first vessels in the Pacific to have twin propellers with reciprocating engines.[8] The ship was designed to provide accommodation for 770 passengers (120 first class, 50 second class and 600 steerage).[6]
Empress of India left
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 Kobe showed signs of smallpox, and the vessel was held in Yokohama port until the incubation period for the disease had passed.[10] 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.[11]
On 17 August 1903, Empress of India collided with and sank the Chinese cruiser Huang Tai.[5]
The vessel was reported sold on 19 December 1914, to
CP Empresses of India
In 1921, Canadian Pacific added two German-built vessels to Empress fleet; and initially, both were confusingly renamed Empress of China. Within months, one of these ships will be renamed
- The first SS Empress of India was a 5,905-ton vessel, launched in 1890 from Barrow, England. The Empress would be sold in 1914, renamed SS Loyalty in 1915, and scrapped in Bombay in 1919.[5]
- A CP sister-ship, the first SS Empress of China, was also a Barrow-built, 5,905-ton vessel; but was launched a few months later, in 1891. The ship was later wrecked on a reef at Tokyo Bay in 1911, and subsequently scrapped in 1912.[13]
- A CP sister-ship, the first
- The second SS Empress of India was a 16,992-ton vessel launched in 1907 from Geestemunde, Germany as the SS Prince Freidrich Wilhelm. The ship was purchased in 1921 by Canadian Pacific and then immediately, the ship was renamed Empress of China for only a short time.
- This second SS Empress of China and of India would be renamed several more times—as SS Montlaurier in 1922; and as SS Montnairn in 1925. The ship was scrapped 1929.[13]
This vessel from Barrow is the first of two CP ships named Empress of India.
See also
- CP Ships
- List of ocean liners
- List of ships in British Columbia
Notes
- ^ The disambiguation date used in this article's title is not the year in which the hull is launched, but rather the year of the vessel's sea trial or maiden voyage.
- ^ Simplon Postcards: Empress of India, 4 images
- SS Empress of India (1908) was built for Norddeutscher Lloyd Line(NDL), purchased by CP in 1921, then re-named.
- ^ 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, p. 144.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ship List: Description of Empress of India Archived 4 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Miller, William H. (1984). The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs, p. 52.
- ISBN 0-7153-7968-2.
- ^ Tate, p. 145.
- ^ Trevent, Edward. (1911) The A B C of Wireless Telegraphy: A Plain Treatise on Hertzian Wave Signalling, p. 13.
- ^ Dept. of Agriculture, Canada. (1907). Report of the Minister of Agriculture for Canada, p. 12.
- ^ Parliament, Canada. (1892) Sessional Papers, p. 223.
- ^ "Empress of India Sold; Scindia of Gwalior Buys Liner to Serve as Hospital Ship," New York Times. 20 December 1914.
- ^ a b White Empress fleet: 20 ships, descriptions
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: OCLC 59208481
- Musk, George. (1981). Canadian Pacific: The Story of the Famous Shipping Line. Newton Abbot, Devon: ISBN 0-7153-7968-2
- 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. ISBN 978-0-8453-4792-8(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: Passenger ships web site
- Simplon Postcards: Canadian Pacific postcard images
- A detailed report on the ship and the experiences of an agent from a rival company (1902)
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1903 | |
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| Other incidents |
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