1904 to 1923
1904 In this year Princess Beatrice and Princess Victoria operated on the Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver service. In opposition to CPR were the ships Chippiwa and Iroquois of the American Puget Sound Navigation Co.. Ships Montrose, Montreal, Mount Temple and Montfort were placed on the London service and Antwerp was added to the schedule.
1906 Two new Atlantic liners entered service for Canadian Pacific. They were the Empress of Britain and Empress of Ireland. Record times were soon established both eastward and westwards between Liverpool and Quebec and Canadian Pacific were awarded half the mail contract. The opposition Allan Line were awarded the remaining mail contract which was carried on their two ships Victoria and Virginian. The joint contract required an association between the two Companies which later led to an amalgamation of the Companies long desired by the Canadian Government.
Built: 1906 at Fairfields Shipbuilders and Engineering Co., Glasgow.
Tonnage/ 14, 189g, 8, 024n.
Engines : Twin Screw, 2x 4 Quadruple Expansion 3, 168 NHP.
Passengers : 310 First Class, 350 Second Class, 800 Third Class, 250 Crew.
Launched on the 11th November 1905 by Mrs. Arthur Piers.
Monteagle was transferred to the Pacific to replace the Athenian and Tartar which had been sold for scrap in 1907. Princess Ena and Princess Royal commenced on the Alaska service. Assiniboia and Keewatin took over from Athabasca and Alberta on the Great Lakes service.
In 1908 Princess Charlotte joined the Seattle-Victoria-Vancouver service. The North Atlantic Conference was formed also this year.
1909 Sir Montague Allan of Allan Lines was the victim of Canadian Pacific chicanery when CP bought Allan Line through an intermediary called Royal Trust Co. of Montreal. The Trust was fronted by one H. Maitland Kersey who was in fact a Canadian Pacific appointee, sneaky or what.
In 1910 the Company gained some notoriety when Dr. Crippen and Ethal Le Neve were arrested on their 1897-built ship Montrose. After the ship had contacted Scotland Yard with their suspicions, the first time that the wireless was used in assisting the Police, Crippen and Le Neve were arrested by two detectives whilst still within British Jurisdiction.
On July 26/27 1911 the Empress of China was wrecked on the Mera Reef in Tokyo Bay 35 miles from Yokohama. No lives were lost and all the mail saved. The Japanese company Toko Kisen commences on the Transpacific service with three new ships, Canadian, Pacific respond by ordering two new ships.
In 1912 CPR acquired six ships when it leased for 999 years The Dominion Atlantic Railroad Company, as it did not wish to operate the Canada/USA service all but the Prince Rupert were sold.
The Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia were delivered in 1913, both three funnellers, and entered service on the Pacific in competition against the Toyo Kisen Company, far outstripping the Japanese in service and speed. The Tyrolia and Ruthenia briefly operated Trieste/Canada service but sadly the route was terminated when war broke out in 1914.
Built : 1913 by Vulkan Werke A.G. Stettin.
Tonnage: 21, 498g, 11, 749n.
Engines: Twin Screw, 2 Steam Turbines with Foettinger Hydraulic Gearings, 16, 000 SHP, 17 Knots.
Laid Down 1912, Launched 20th December 1913.
Passengers: 370 First Class, 190 Second Class, 415 Third Class, 500 Crew.
She was originally launched as the Admiral Von Tirpitz for the Hamburg- America Line, she had two sisters, the Resolute and the Reliance. In February 1914 her name was changed to the Tirpitz and in August of the same year work on her ceased with the outbreak of the First World War. She had been originally designed as the most luxurious liner that Germany ever built however the Kaiser had higher aspirations for her and had her fitted out as his own Royal Yacht in which he proposed to accept the British Fleet's surrender whilst aboard her.
She was handed over to the British as part of Germany's war reparations and the work was completed in Hamburg. After completion she sailed from Hamburg bound for Hull along with Kaiserin Auguste Victoria to commence trooping duties under the management of P & O. After being laid up at Immingham for months she was eventually acquired by Canadian Pacific and renamed Empress of China on the 25th July 1921, in August she returned to Vulcan Werke for an engine refit and then on to John Brown & Co., Clydebank for fitting out to CP's specifications.
On the 2nd of June 1922 she was renamed the Empress of Australia and fourteen days later sailed from the Clyde bound for the Pacific via Panama to take up the Vancouver- Yokahama service sporting her new black hull. Due to her slow speed, high fuel consumption and a trip to the US Navy yard at Bremerton with serious engine problems Empress of Australia was beginning to be unpopular with her owners.
On the 1st of September whilst leaving Yokohama with 2000 passengers onboard an earthquake struck which destroyed the embarkation pier, the resulting Tsunami tidal wave buffeted the ship, in an attempt to clear she went astern, unfortunately disabling herself in the process when both her propellers fouled another ship's anchor chains. Twice she struck the Japanese freighter Lyons Maru as she drifted, to add to her problems burning surface oil was slowly spreading across the harbour. Captain Robinson immediately sent out an SOS and fortunately was answered by the Dutch coastal tanker Iris which had been anchored outside the harbour. Despite the fact that she was carrying an inflammable cargo the Iris went alongside the Empress and made fast, turned the great ship's bow to seaward this manoeuvre enabled the Empress to steam clear of the breakwater. After safely anchoring the ship's lifeboats managed to rescue over three thousand people some of whom had been thrown into the harbour when the pier collapsed. The liner stayed put acting as a floating hospital for the Japanese Authorities for a week until some semblance of normality had returned. Apparently £2, 152 was distributed amongst the crew as a reward from a London Underwriter, begs the question how much did the tanker men get, if anything?
Due to her poor performance with regards speed and high fuel consumption the Company decided to have her re-engined and to this end she arrived at the yard of Govan Fairfield on the 9th September 1926. Her boilers were also renewed and to protect the accommodation the boilers actually went in through the ship's side, after many months and expenditure of half a million pounds she attained a speed of 20.34 Knots at trails burning 50 tons less in oil a day in the process. She emerged from refit with a white hull once more and her passenger numbers changed to 400 First Class, 150 Second Class, 630 Third Class.
On the 25th June 1927 she carried the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII), Prince George (George VI) and the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Quebec to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Her passenger numbers changed yet again in 1933 to 387 First Class, 394 Tourist and 358 Third Class.
By personal request she sailed from Portsmouth bound for Quebec on the 6th May 1939 carrying King George VI and Queen Elizabeth for their State Visit. She continued on the Atlantic service until the outbreak of war when she was requisitioned as a troopship and continued in this role for the next thirteen years. Sadly she never returned to her former glory years and her last trip was from Liverpool to Inverkeithing for breaking by Thos. W.Ward on the 7th May 1952.
Tragedy struck Canadian Pacific when the Empress of Ireland was struck amidships by the Norwegian collier Storstad in thick fog whilst outward bound from Quebec on the 1630hrs sailing 29th May. She was holed above and below the waterline, the engine room flooded; no steam, and impossible to close the watertight doors. Captain Kendall asked the Storstad to maintain full power thus allowing time to assemble passengers and crew for evacuation but unfortunately the Storstad drifted away powerless to help, within 15 minutes of the collision at 0155 30th May the Empress of Ireland keeled over and sank in forty five feet of water. Few of the passengers and crew reached the deck and in all 1,024 lost their lives, 184 crew and 840 passengers. It is interesting to note that the Titanic lost 807 passengers. The 463 passengers and crew that were saved from freezing waters were picked up by two Canadian Government ships the Lady Evelyn and Eureka. At the Court of Inquiry the Norwegian ship was blamed for the collision by Lord Mersey. Lord Mersey also presided over the Inquiry of the Titanic disaster. The Norwegian Government disagreed. Either way the owners were unable to meet their liabilities, the ship was sold for $175 000, far short of the claims made by Canadian Pacific.
Aug 1914 At the outbreak of war most of Canadian Pacific’s fleet were requisitioned by the British Government including their two new ships Princess Irene and Princess Margaret which were converted into minelayers. They were joined by six others from Atlantic Service.
MONTCALM
MOUNT ROYAL
TYROLIA
RUTHENIA
MONTROSE
In October Canadian Pacific Ocean Service Ltd. was formed to manage the Atlantic fleet.
January 1916 saw Allan Line totally absorbed by Canadian Pacific ships taken over were as follows:
CALGARIAN
CORINTHIAN II
CORSICAN
GRAMPIAN
©mpl
IONIAN
MONGOLIAN
POMERANIAN
©mpl
PRETORIAN
SARDINIAN
SCANDINAVIAN II
SCOTIAN
©mpl
SICILIAN
TUNISIAN
VICTORIAN
BAVARIAN
©mpl
PARISIAN
©mpl
Canadian Pacific take over two liners which had been ordered before the war by the Hamburg America Line, CP called them Melita and Minnedosa, both cabin class vessels. This year the Company lost nine ships.
1918
MONTREAL was rammed by White Stars Cedric off Morecambe bay, sank two days short of Liverpool. Two died.
CALGARIAN was torpedoed.
POMERANIAN was torpedoed.
MEDORA was torpedoed.
MILWAUKEE was torpedoed.
MISSANABIE was torpedoed.
MONTFORT was torpedoed.
CORINTHIAN was wrecked in the Bay of Fundy between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
PRINCESS SOPHIA: On 25th October this ship left Skagway, Alaska, bound for Vancouver on what was to be the last sailing of the season, four hours later the ship ran into a severe snow storm, losing her way she ran aground on the Vanderbilt Reef. For forty hours the ship remained on the reef in no apparent danger with ships from Juneau standing by, but an offshore gale coupled with a rising tide lifted the Princess Sophia off the reef, driven against rocks the ship broke up in heavy seas with a loss of all onboard, some 343 passengers and crew.
Four cargo ships were purchased from Harris and Dixon to offset war losses. They were Dundridge, Holbrook, Batsford and Mottisfont. Lake Mantitoba is scuttled after a fire guts the ship, she is sold by the underwriters to Bishop Navigation Co. of Montreal.
©mpl
Built: 1918 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Glasgow.
Tonnage: 13, 967g, 8, 526n.
Engines: Triple Screw, 2 x Triple Expansion with L.P. Turbine to Centre Shaft. 11, 000 SHP. 16 Knots.
Passengers: 490 Cabin, 1, 300 Tourist.
Launched 21st April 1917, completed January 1918.
Both Melita and her sister ship Minnedosa were laid down for Hamburg America Line in 1914 and it wasn't until 1918 that they were completed for Canadian Pacific. She entered service on the 25th of January for Royal Mail but for the Ministry of Shipping, on the 26th July she was attacked mid-Atlantic by U-140 which was on the surface but escaped by returning fire. Until the end of the 1920s she was used on repatriation duties and trooping before being extensively refurbished. She returned for duties with Canadian Pacific in the May of 1921 on their Antwerp- Southampton- Quebec- Montreal route. In 1926 she arrived at the yard of Palmers Co, Jarrow for modernisation and her passenger accommodation changed to 206 Cabin, 545 Tourist, 588 Third Class.
In June of 1935 she was sold for scrap and towed to Genoa by Smits Tug Zwarte Zee but she was taken over by the Italian Government renamed Liguria and used as a troopship for the Abyssinian Campaign. In July of 1940 she was damaged by British torpedo bombers whilst off Tobruk and the following January she was finally set on fire and sank at Tobruk. In 1950 she was raised and towed to Savona for scrapping.
1920 Empress of France breaks the record for Liverpool - Quebec crossing averaging 18.8 knots in a time of 5 days, 20 hours and 6 minutes. Canadian Pacific converts all its Pacific fleet back to coal, and its mail contract is renewed at a higher premium. Three German liners join the Canadian Pacific fleet, part of WW1 reparations.
1921
EMPRESS OF INDIA ex PRINZ FRIEDRICH WILHELM, built at Bremen 1907
EMPRESS OF CHINA ex ADMIRAL VON TIRPITZ, built at Stettin 1913
EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND ex KAISERIN AUGUSTE VICTORIA, built at Stettin 1905
When the ship was launched the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was the largest ship in the world at 24 581 gross.
The operating name for both Pacific and the North Atlantic became Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd.
The passage record for Liverpool to Quebec was broken again, this time by the Empress of Britain. She reduced it to 5 days, 9 hours and 30 minutes.
In 1922 the Chairman George M Bosworth dies. The Empress ships transfer operations from Liverpool to Southampton. On the Joint Canadian Pacific Anchor Line service Clyde to Canada the Metagama joins the Tunisian, Corsican and Sicilian. The new Montcalm III, Montrose and Montclare replace the older and slower ex-Allan Line ships on the Atlantic service. The new Empress of Canada replaces the ageing Empress of Japan in the Pacific.
British troops acting as peacekeepers between the Turks and the Greeks travelled on the Empress of India and Corsican. The Empress of Scotland and Empress of France commence Mediterranean cruising.
Built: 1922 at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Govan.
Tonnage: 21, 517g, 12, 811n
Engines: Twin Screw 2 x 3 Double reduction Geared turbines by Curtis-Brown, 23, 000 SHP. 18 Knots
Passengers: 488 First Class, 106 Second Class, 288 Third Class, 926 Steerage for Asiatics only and 530 Crew.
Launched on the 17th August 1920 by Mrs. G.M.Bosworth, wife of the Chairman.
Her completion was delayed by Industrial Action, I'm sure I've written this before, anyway her maiden voyage was to Hong Kong via Falmouth - Suez canal on the 5th May 1922. On the 1st September 1923 she assists at the earthquake and subsequent Tsunami tidal waves at Yokohama along with another Pacific Service Ship, Empress of Australia. In 1924 she completes her first round the World voyage and in 1927 is in collision with the Japanese vessel Kinsho Maru at Shanghai. 1928 she sails back to the yard of Fairfields, Govan for refit and is re-engined giving her a service speed of 21 knots. In 1932 she proves she has a penchant for Japanese ships and is in collision with yet another, the Yetai Maru whilst on passage Kobe - Shanghai. On 29th November having just completed her 200th crossing of the Pacific she is requisitioned for war duties and becomes a Troopship, she takes part at the Spitzburgen Raid in August of 1941.
On the 1st March 1943 she sailed from Durban with 1, 800 passengers, amongst their number 200 Poles released by Russia after Germany invaded her, over 200 Royal Navy Personnel and some 400 Italian Prisoners of war. Because of the circumstances the Italians were locked up only during the evening, in the forward hold. The speed of the Empress allowed her to sail out of convey and she duly sailed South for the Antarctic, swung round the Island of Tristan Da Cunha before turning on a Northbound heading. On the 12th March she was ordered to stop and pick up another 300 Italian Prisoners of War at Takoradi, Ghana. Having sailed immediately after loading she again proceeded Northbound but at 2345 hours 13th March some one thousand miles off the coast of Africa she was torpedoed, ironically by the Italian submarine Leonardo Da Vinci.
Some thirteen hours later whilst the ship was still being abandoned the submarine struck again and within twenty-five minutes the Empress sank taking 392 people with her. Those lost were 44 crew, 8 gunners and half of the Italian Prisoners of war, after being spotted by a Catalina aircraft the survivors were picked up by HMS Boreas, a Destroyer and HMS Petunia, a Sloop. The survivors were landed at Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.
A Personal Account of the Sinking of Empress of Canada 13th March 1943.
My memories of the sinking of the "Empress of Canada"
When I returned home to Liverpool after being torpedoed on the "Duchess of Atholl", I was granted 3 weeks of shore leave, and then also told to report to another C.P.R. ship the "Empress of Canada", in Scotland. This was March 1943.
We embarked three thousand troops, and sailed to join a convoy of Royal Navy destroyers and a cruiser with spotter planes. Once we had left port we were informed we were headed to the Middle East.
We sailed around South Africa where the convoy split in two, one half going to Cape Town, and the other to Durban. I was in the convoy to Durban. Once there we refueled with oil, water and provisions, then continued up the east coast through the Suez Canal onto Port Said and Alexandria, where the troops disembarked.
We returned to Durban and Cape Town for more provisions to see us through our journey home. We stayed for 3 days and were allowed shore leave - the first for about six weeks. Before we sailed our numbers were swelled with the embarkation of 499 Italian Prisoners Of War, Greek and Polish refugees, and some medical casualties. With the crew, there was a total of 1,346 personnel aboard for our return trip home. Lots of Troopships intermittently sailed alone for the U.K., without a naval escort. This was nothing out of the ordinary.
Everything was going well until just after midnight, on the morning of the 14th March, there was a terrific explosion that shook the ship violently from stem to stern. The engines and the generators stopped, leaving the ship in total darkness. There was a lot of confusion and shouting to each other. I just grabbed my life jacket and bolted through the door, making my way to the main hallway where there was an emergency exit. It was a steel spiral staircase leading up to the deck.
The ship was taking a heavy list to the port side, and this made it very difficult getting up to the top deck on the ladder. When I got to the boat deck the ship was listing even more heavily, still to the port side, which meant that only half the lifeboats could be launched. I managed to get into a boat before it was lowered away. As soon as we hit the water we pulled clear of the ship, knowing that as she was sinking we could be sucked down with her.
The night was filled with all the cries and calls for help. We pulled as many people as we could out of the water and filled the boat up as much as we dare. We also had to keep bailing water out of the boat constantly. We were extremely lucky that the weather was calm, or else we would have sunk because the boats were very overcrowded. With so many different languages being spoken, the confusion continued into near-chaos. I'm sure there was many a prayer said that night for the weather to stay calm. It really was a dreadful night.
When daylight broke the next morning, there was quite a lot of wreckage about - life rafts, lifebelts; anything that would float had people clinging on for dear life. Every lifeboat was dangerously low in the water. It was very hot during the day, but very cold at night. Almost everyone was dressed in their nightclothes. I was clad only in a pair of shorts and a life jacket. My foot was bleeding; I had stood on broken glass. We saw a lot of sharks in the water and had to fend them off with our oars when they came too close.
On the third day, we were preparing for another night when just before dusk we saw the passenger ship "Corinthia", the R.N. Destroyer "Boreas" and 2 corvettes. I'm sure our cheers and cries could be heard for miles. We were all exhausted and many of us may not have had the strength to face another night. God had heard and answered our prayers. The survivors of our boat were picked up by the destroyer, "Boreas", which by a strange quirk of fate had been the same destroyer that had picked me up from the wreckage of the "Duchess of Atholl", on my prior trip. So my Guardian Angel must have been watching over me again.
We were taken to Takoradi to await transport home to the U.K. We learned later that the number of people on board was 1,346 and the number of people who died was 392, 44 of which were crewmembers. I'm sure the brave officers and Deckhands that launched the lifeboats must have been among those 44 crewmembers. I had slept in a 4-berth cabin with three other mates, and I am sorry to say that I never saw 2 of them ever again after that dreadful night.
I later learned that it was an Italian submarine "Leonardo Da Vinci" that had sunk our ship. The Royal Navy later sank her. It was said that the Harbor Master of Cape Town had been giving information on the movements of Ships and Convoys to the enemy. That's why we lost so many ships and brave lives in the South Atlantic.
Footnote: Recently I watched the movie "Titanic", and it brought back memories of the night of the horrible attack on the "Canada". There was only one difference that really stuck in my mind - the "Titanic" sank in icy waters, and the "Canada" sank in shark-infested water - but, thank God, so many of us survived.
CHARLES CUSACK
Go to 1923 to 1934