RMS Empress of Australia (1919): Difference between revisions
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m moved RMS Empress of Australia (1922) to RMS Empress of Australia (1919): disambig. date wrong -- should be 19193, date of vessel'smaiden voyage rather than date named changed after purchase by Canadian Pacific Steamships |
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Revision as of 20:59, 8 May 2008
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| RMS Empress of Australia | |
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File:EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA.jpg | |
| Career | .svg){kind=small}
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|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Owner: | Canadian Pacific Railway Company |
| Ordered: | 1910 |
| Builder: | Stettiner Vulcan AG |
| Launched: | December 20, 1913 |
| Maiden voyage: | 1922 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 21,861 gross tons |
| Length: | 187.45 m (615 ft) |
| Beam: | 12.8 m (42 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 6 DE and 6 SE boilers Two sets of steam turbines, turning twin screws |
| Speed: | 19 knots (35 km/h) |
| Complement: | 400 First Class, 150 Tourist Class, 635 Third Class 520 officers & crew |
RMS Empress of Australia was an ocean liner built in 1912 by Vulcan AG shipyard in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) for the Hamburg America Line. The ship was refitted for Canadian Pacific Steamships and in 1922, she was renamed the Empress of Australia.
In trans-Pacific service, the ship garnered fame for her part in rescue efforts at Tokyo following the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923.
In trans-Atlantic service, she earned distinction in 1927 by bringing the Prince of Wales from England to the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Canada. She was honored to serve as Royal Yacht during the Royal tour of Canada in 1939.
Royal Mail Ship
This Empress enjoyed the "RMS", meaning "Royal Mail Ship." This is the ship prefix still in use today by seagoing vessels which carry mail under contract by Royal Mail. Technically, a ship would use the prefix only while contracted to carry mail, and would revert at other times to a standard type designation such as "SS", meaning "Steam Ship" or "Steamer Ship."
In 1891, 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 Empress liners. The RMS Empress of Japan and her two sister-ship ocean liners -- the RMS Empress of India and the RMS Empress of China -- created a flexible foundation for the CPR trans-Pacific fleet which would ply this route for the next half century,[1] and and the RMS Empress of Australia continued in the line of ships which maintained this tradition.
History
The ship was originally built for the Hamburg America Line by Vulcan AG shipyard, Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland), in 1912, as yard number 333.
Tirpitz 1919
The partially completed hull was launched on December 20, 1913. During this period, the builder's intentions had been to name the completed ship the SS Admiral von Tirpitz. Later, the prospective name of the ship was shortened to the SS Tirpitz, but final outfitting was held up during World War I.
In 1916, Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered her to be completed as his royal yacht, in which he intended to receive the allied navel fleets when they surrendered. Her first trip, however, was to sail from Hamburg to Hull on December 1, 1919. She was then used as a troop ship under P & O Line management.
Empress of China in 1921
In 1921 she was sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, who then renamed her the RMS Empress of China III (or alternately known as Empress of China II), and began modifications, including conversion to oil firing instead of coal.
In 1921, Canadian Pacific added two German-built vessels to the "Empress fleet;" and initially, both were confusingly re-named Empress of China. A quick explanation will help distinguish these two quite different ships:
Empress of China
- The empress from Barrow: The 5,905-ton Empress of China was launched from Barrow, England in 1891 as the first of Canadian Pacific's Chinese empress ocean liners. She was wrecked on a reef at Tokyo Bay in 1911, and subsequently scrapped in 1912.[2]
Empress of China II
- The empress from Gestemunde: The 17,500-ton Empress of China (subsequently re-named the Empress of India in 1921) had been launched in 1907 from Gestemunde, Germany as the SS Prince Freidrich Wilhelm for the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line. The ship was purchased in 1921 by Canadian Pacific from the War Reparations Commission and then immediately, the ship was re-named Empress of China for a short time. Later in that same year, the ship was re-named yet again as the Empress of India. Subsequent names for this vessel were: the SS Montlaurier (1922); and the SS Montnairn (1925). The ship was scrapped 1929.[2]
Empress of China III
- The empress from Stettin: The 21,860-ton Empress of China (subsequently renamed the Empress of Australia in 1922) had been launched in 1913 from Stettin, Germany, as the SS Tirpitz for Hamburg-America Line. The ship was purchased in 1921 by Canadian Pacific from War Reparations Commission and remarkably, this ship was immediately renamed the Empress of China. Then next year, in 1922, this re-named Empress of Australia sailed from Clydebank after re-fitting. The ship was ultimately scrapped in 1952.[2]
Empress of Australia in 1922
She was refitted by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, and renamed again to RMS Empress of Australia in August of 1921. By 1922 she sailed from Greenock to the Pacific via Panama. After 20 voyages across the Pacific, Canadian Pacific were forced to deal with her poor performance and chose to re-engine and re-boiler the ship. She sailed to Govan Fairfield at Glasgow, arriving September 9, 1926. The vastly complex work was made more difficult by her divided uptakes, offering no central space to remove machinery. Old boilers were sliced up and removed in pieces, the whole job lasting many months and cost over half a million pounds.
When completed she was virtually a new ship, now driven by Parsons turbines with six double-ended boilers. On trials the ship made 20.34 knots (37.67 km/h) and required 50 tons a day less oil. Three classes of passenger accommodations were incorporated in the final layout; in total, 1,500 passengers could be carried in luxurious interior appointments, the ship having been fitted out to a very high specification. The dinning room was in the French Regency style. There was a spacious Lounge designed in the Empire style, which included a dance floor. The writing room was fitted in the style of Louis XVI, with tinted walls and mahogany furniture, as was the smoke room which had oak panelled walls. There was also a swimming pool and fully equipped gymnasium.
From near disaster to great distinction
On Saturday, September 1, 1923, at 11:55 am, the Empress of Australia was making ready to depart from the docks at Yokohama, Japan. Several hundred people were on the docks, catching streamers and confetti from the passengers lining the rails, and waving their farewells. Tugs were about to ease the ship away from the dock when, without warning the 23,000 ton liner was flung violently from side to side. The earth trembled under several violent shocks and sections of the dock collapsed under the feet of the panic stricken crowds. The land and remaining dock structure began to roll in wave like motions as high as six to eight feet. In minutes the worst shocks were over, but after-shocks, some quite heavy, continued for some time, while winds rose to 70 mph (110 km/h). From the city a heavy rumbling sound could be heard as hundreds of buildings collapsed into rubble. This was the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, devastating Tokyo and Yokohama and the entire Kantō region of central Honshū. This was one of the worst earthquake disasters in recorded history.
The Empress of Australia was in a very dangerous position. Crowded with passengers, she was still alongside the remains of the dock, with a freighter moored close behind so she could not clear without the aid of tugs. Meantime, the Lyons Maru, moored to the east, had lost her cable and drifted across the harbor, colliding with the Australia at her stern. She then hit amidships, shattering a lighter loaded with lumber that had drifted alongside. This small vessel acted as a buffer between the two large ships and prevented serious damage. Tugs had disappeared in the confusion and fires were started on the docks and were spreading rapidly. Available crew and passengers were put to work hosing down the ship to put out sparks and embers that were falling on the decks. Ropes and ladders were lowered over the side so that people trapped on the dock could climb aboard. Captain Robinson then tried to push the freighter moored astern with his ship, to allow enough room to maneuver away from the flaming docks. The Australia was able to carefully move the freighter, the Steel Navigator, enough to pull away.
When she went forward, her port propeller fouled in the anchor cable of the freighter. Fortunately the liner was now about 60 feet (18 m) away from the flames, and the winds had shifted, blowing the fires away from the ship. By 3pm the fires had died down and the wind dropped off to a light breeze; the ship was immobile but safe for the moment. In the distance vast fires could be seen in the city. The ship's lifeboats were lowered and manned by members of the crew and passenger volunteers, who formed rescue parties to help those ashore, working through the night.
The next morning, the ship was again in danger from a large mass of burning oil that was moving across the harbor. The Empress of Australia could not steer because of the damaged propeller, but was able to avoid the oil fire long enough to get assistance from the tanker Iris. Her captain agreed to tow the bow of the Australia around, and she was then able to move out to sea and a safer anchorage. When taking a count on Sunday, there were over 2000 refugees on board. On Monday, the RMS Empress of Canada arrived on her regular schedule and was able to provide the Australia with more stores, and to take most of the refugees on to Kobe, on the island of Honshū, where the Japanese government had set up a relief center. On September 4th, the Imperial Japanese Navy's second Fusō-class battleship Yamashiro arrived at the harbor. The Empress of Australia had been unable to proceed due to the fact that she had a fouled propeller. Arrangements were made for a diver from the Yamashiro' to inspect the damage and effect repairs. The cable was unwound and the machinery was tested. It was found to have suffered no damage.
The ship was now free to leave, but at the request of the British Consul, she remained as long as needed for continued relief work. Each morning, for the next several days, the Empress of Australia re-entered the harbor and sent her boats ashore manned by a combination of crew, local residents, and passenger volunteers. Refugees were brought aboard, transferred from the ship to other vessels, or taken to Kobe. To aid the victims, the ships officers and most of the passengers donated everything they could spare. She finally departed Yokohama Harbour on September 12, 1923, returning to her routine duties, but her services were not forgotten. Captain Robinson received numerous awards in recognition of his actions, including investment with the CBE, and award of the Lloyds Silver Medal. A group of passengers and refugees who were aboard during the disaster commissioned a bronze tablet and presented it to the ship in recognition of the relief efforts. When the Empress of Australia was scrapped in 1952, the bronze tablet was rescued and presented to Captain Robinson, then aged 82, in a special ceremony in Vancouver.
Atlantic crossing and royal patronage
On September 12, 1923, after the earthquake adventure, the Empress of Australia returned to her routine duties. In August, three years later, the Empress of Australia departed from Hong Kong, after her twenty first and final Pacific voyage. It was decided to place her on Atlantic service and she sailed from Southampton for Quebec City on her first voyage on June 25, 1927, with the Prince of Wales aboard, bound for Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Canada. She was now in service with the Empress of Scotland (originally the SS Empress of Japan II) and the Empress of France.
In 1928 she began to cruise in the off season and to sail on round the world voyages. After the Empress of France was withdrawn from the service, the Empress of Australia and the Empress of Scotland carried on a two ship service with white hulls with dark blue ribbon and green boot topping.
In 1938 she went to Harland & Wolff at Southampton for an overhaul, returning for the 1939 season. After three Atlantic crossings she was chosen to act as Royal Yacht for King George VI and the Queen Elizabeth for their Royal tour of Canada in 1939, sailing from Portsmouth May 6, 1939 and arriving in Quebec on May 17, 1939, two days late due to dense fog on the Atlantic.
She continued on the Quebec run until the outbreak of World War II, whereupon she became part of the war effort.
Wartime service
She was sent to Southampton, where she was to be converted into a troopship; painted in grey, fitted with a three-inch (76 mm) gun and with a carrying capacity of 5,000. It was in this role that she would remain for the next 13 years. The Empress of Australia left on her first wartime voyage to Ceylon and Bombay on September 28, 1939. Following this task, the ship then went across the Atlantic to Halifax, from where she joined a large convoy carrying Canadian soldiers to the battlefields of Europe.
During the entire war, the Empress of Australia enjoyed very good luck, and was only seriously damaged once, when she was holed by the Orient Line's 14,982 ton Ormonde during the North Africa campaign in January 1943. Her final wartime voyage was from Hong Kong with ex-prisoners of war and internees.
After World War II the Empress of Australia worked world wide as a troop ship in every theatere of war, including carrying military personnel to Pusan during the Korean War. In 1946 while anchoring off Liverpool her anchor tangled with that of a cargo liner Debrett; the two ships collided and seven tugs were needed to separate them. In December of that year she was re-fitted for peace-time trooping, offering more comfortable accommodations for the troops, however she was never repainted and remained in the wartime grey color scheme. She continued to carry troops up to another overhaul in Liverpool in 1951. The following year after her 70th trooping voyage she was sold. Bought for scrap, she sailed from the Mersey to Inverkeithing, May 8, 1952.
Technical
Power plant and propulsion system
- Engines: Two sets of steam turbines; 20,000 shaft horsepower (15 MW); by Fairfield Co., Glasgow.
- Boilers: 6 DE and 6 SE boilers, 220 lbf/in² (1.52 MPa) steam pressure; 600 degrees Fahrenheit of super heated steam. Oil fuel, forced draught to furnaces.
Notes
- ^ Ship List: Description of Empress of Australia
- ^ a b c White Empress fleet: 20 ships, descriptions Cite error: The named reference "wef1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
References
- Hammer, Joshua. (2006). Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster. 10-ISBN 0-743-26465-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-743-26465-5 (cloth)
- Robinson, Samuel. (1924). Official report of Capt. S. Robinson, R.N.R.,: Commander of the Canadian Pacific S.S. "Empress of Australia", on the Japanese earthquake, the fire and subsequent relief operations.
- 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. New York: Cornwall Books. 10-ISBN 0-845-34792-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-845-34792-8 (cloth)
See also
- Samuel Robinson -- captain of Empress of Australia, September 1, 1923