RMS Empress of China (1890)

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.Miller, William H. (1984). The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs, p. 52.

Empress of China and her two running mates, RMS Empress of India and RMS Empress of Japan, created a flexible foundation for the CPR trans-Pacific fleet which would ply this route for the next half century.

File:Barrow Works 1890.jpg

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.Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986). [https://books.google.com/books?id=OuUvlfcIGRQC&dq=canadian+pacific+empress&pg=PA148 Transpacific Steam: The Story of Steam Navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941, p. 145.] The ship was designed to provide accommodation for 770 passengers (120 first class, 50 second class and 600 steerage).

Empress of China left Liverpool on 15 July 1891 on her maiden voyage via Suez to Hong Kong and Vancouver. 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."Trevent, Edward. (1911) [https://books.google.com/books?id=6xxIAAAAIAAJ&dq=SS+Empress+of+China&pg=RA1-PA13 The A B C of Wireless Telegraphy: A Plain Treatise on Hertzian Wave Signalling, p. 13.]

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 showed signs of smallpox, and the vessel was held in Yokohama port until the incubation period for the disease had passed.Dept. of Agriculture, Canada. (1907). [https://books.google.com/books?id=JFZJAAAAMAAJ&dq=SS+Empress+of+China&pg=PA12 Report of the Minister of Agriculture for Canada, p. 12.] 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.Parliament, Canada. (1892) [https://books.google.com/books?id=JSBOAAAAMAAJ&dq=SS+Empress+of+China&pg=RA7-PA223 Sessional Papers, p. 223.]

Amongst the celebrities sailing on Empress of China was Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. On 25 August 1893, the Archduke boarded the ocean liner at Yokohama for a voyage across the Pacific to Vancouver.[http://austrian-mint.at/images/content/pdfs/Download/Ausstellung/Katalog_Land_in_Sicht_D.pdf Katalog Land in Sicht! ("Land Ahoy: Austria on the Seven Seas"), p. 8.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528210950/http://austrian-mint.at/images/content/pdfs/Download/Ausstellung/Katalog_Land_in_Sicht_D.pdf |date=28 May 2008 }} Exhibition of the Austrian Mint, 17 August 2005 – 3 February 2006. Münze Österreich (Austrian Mint). William Lyon Mackenzie King, 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.{{cite web |last1=King |first1=William Lyon Mackenzie |title=Diary Entry, Nov 22, 1901 (Transcribed) |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/prime-ministers/william-lyon-mackenzie-king/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=3646 |website=Library and Archives Canada |publisher=n/a |accessdate=25 August 2020}}

File:RMS Empress of China 1904.jpg

On 27 July 1911 Empress of China encountered rough seas and thick fog 65 miles south of Tokyo Bay. She struck a submerged rock off the Nojimazaki Lighthouse while trying to round the southern tip of the Bōsō Peninsula 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 {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Aso||2}} and {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Soya||2}} were dispatched to assist in removing mail, baggage, and passengers. The ship was abandoned with no loss of life.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/07/28/106784696.pdf "Another Liner on Rocks near Tokyo; Canadian Pacific Steamer Empress of China Strands—She Is Badly Damaged,"] New York Times. 28 July 1911. 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: [https://www.angelfire.com/pe2/pjs1/eos22.html 20 ships, descriptions]
• 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, Germany, as the SS Tirpitz for Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG). The ship was purchased in 1921 by CP and renamed the Empress of China.[https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0615FA385F177B93C3A9178ED85F468585F9 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. The ship was ultimately scrapped in 1952.

• CP Ships
• List of ocean liners
• List of ships in British Columbia
• Samuel Robinson, chief officer (1899)

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• Dept. of Agriculture, Canada. (1907). [https://books.google.com/books?id=JFZJAAAAMAAJ&q=SS+Empress+of+China 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. {{OCLC|59208481}}
• Parliament, Canada. (1892) [https://books.google.com/books?id=JSBOAAAAMAAJ&dq=SS+Empress+of+China&pg=RA7-PA223 Sessional Papers.] Ottawa: S.E. Dawson (King's Printer).
• Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986) [https://books.google.com/books?id=OuUvlfcIGRQC&q=canadian+pacific+empress 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) [https://books.google.com/books?id=6xxIAAAAIAAJ&q=SS+Empress+of+China The A B C of Wireless Telegraphy: A Plain Treatise on Hertzian Wave Signalling.] Lynne, Massachusetts: Bubier Publishing.

{{Commons category|Empress of China (ship, 1891)}}

• The Ships List: [http://www.theshipslist.com/index.html Passenger ships web site]
• Simplon Postcards: [http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/ Canadian Pacific postcard images]

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{{1911 shipwrecks}}

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Category:1890 ships

Category:Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness

Category:Ships of CP Ships

Category:Steamships of Canada

Category:Ocean liners of Canada

Category:Victorian-era merchant ships of Canada

Category:Shipwrecks of Japan

Category:Maritime incidents in 1911

Category:July 1911