RMS Empress of Japan (1929)

Canadian Pacific's Empress of Scotland epitomized luxury liners of the golden era of passenger shipping, the 1930s to 1950s. After a decade of trans-Pacific voyages as Empress of Japan, she was renamed and served with distinction in World War II as a troop carrier. This was followed by transatlantic and cruising service.

White Empresses

In the 1920s and 1930s, the quickest way to travel comfortably from Europe to the Far East was via Canada, by sea and rail. The Canadian Pacific Steamship Company offered a "one-stop shopping" facility, linked by the Canadian Pacific Railway, with coordinated timetables throughout. In order to gain a competitive advantage, in 1930-31, CPS introduced two fast new luxury liners on the Pacific and Atlantic services. These were aimed at reducing the journey time from the UK to Japan by two days, and providing passengers with the best quality ships available.

Launched in 1930, and introduced the following year, the new liner for the Atlantic was the 42,350-ton Empress of Britain. This ship, nicknamed "Mayfair at Sea", was perhaps the most luxurious large passenger ship that ever sailed, especially on her annual world cruises, when capacity was especially reduced by 35 percent. Empress of Britain had a relatively short life, being lost to U-boat torpedoes in 1940.

The new ship introduced on the Pacific service in 1930 was the 26,032-ton Empress of Japan, later to become Empress of Scotland. Though not sister ships, the two new White Empresses were "cousins", sharing a similar three-funnel profile and livery. They also had in common the distinction of being the fastest, most luxurious liners on their respective routes. Canadian Pacific did envisage sister ships for both of these vessels, but these never materialized due to the Great Depression. In contrast to Empress of Britain's short, albeit glamorous life, Empress of Japan went on to have a long, distinguished, and eventful career.

War service

Empress of Japan was in Shanghai when war was declared in September 1939. Due to suspicions about Japanese intentions, she was instructed not to return to Yokohama, but instead sailed back to Victoria, British Columbia, via Honolulu. Here she was prepared for service as a troopship, by being painted in wartime grey, and having guns fitted. She was requisitioned on November 25, and began nine years of personnel carrying duties by conveying Australian and New Zealand troops to the Middle East.

In October 1940, the Empress was part of a so-called "multi-million dollar convoy", sailing from Australia to South Africa, and comprising seven troop-carrying luxury liners: Cunard's Queen Mary, Aquitania, and Mauritania; Canadian Pacific's Empresses of Britain, Japan, and Canada; and Royal Mail Lines' Andes.

On November 9, 1940 off Western Ireland, Empress of Japan suffered a German air attack. The location was close to where Empress of Britain had been fatally hit just two weeks earlier, but this Empress was much more fortunate. Two bombs hit the ship but were deflected off the stern rail and the lifeboats into the sea, causing only some non-critical damage to machinery. During the air raid, Captain J.W. Thomas and Ho Kan, the Chinese quartermaster, heroically manned the wheelhouse, steering the ship to take evasive action. In the face of enemy machine gun fire, Ho Kan at the wheel calmly carried out his commander's instructions from a lying position. Both men were later decorated, Captain Thomas with the CBE, and Ho Kan the BEM.

The Empress made several voyages to Singapore in 1941-42, shortly before the city was captured. Here, her luck held out again when with 1200 women and children evacuees on board she survived another bombing raid.

In October 1942, ten months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Empress of Japan was renamed Empress of Scotland. The change had been delayed due to wartime regulations prohibiting renaming of ships. It is believed that Winston Churchill was personally involved in authorizing this exception, recognizing the nonsense of an allied ship carrying the name of an enemy state.

During 1943 and 1944, Empress of Scotland operated a shuttle of twelve transatlantic round trips, bringing troops across from New York and other North American ports in preparation for the invasion of Europe. Despite intensive U-boat activity in the North Atlantic, she came out unscathed.

The Empress was finally discharged from trooping duties in May 1948. During nine years of war duty she carried over 250,000 people and 30,000 tons of cargo. She had covered over 600,000 miles — believed to be the most of any merchant ship in World War II — and had traveled to all affected parts of the world — Australasia, the Far East, South Africa, and North America. The ship had sailed around the world three times, and two men served on her throughout her war service: Captain Thomas, and the chief baker Tom Patten.

Transatlantic service

Empress of Scotland was one of only five Canadian Pacific passenger ships to survive the war. The company discontinued the Pacific service, and she was transferred to the Atlantic, joining Empress of Canada and Empress of France. She returned to Liverpool in May 1948, and in October was sent to her original builder, Fairfields at Glasgow, for an extensive refit. This included enclosing the Promenade Deck with glass in order to protect against the North Atlantic weather.

She was painted once again in CPS white livery, now with a green band, and the company's red and white chequered house flag insignia was added to each buff funnel. The Palm Court was renamed the Cocktail Room, an "Empress Room" was introduced, and the Empress of Scotland emerged once again as a luxury liner.

On May 9, 1950, Empress of Scotland sailed on her first postwar commercial voyage from Liverpool to Quebec. She set a new speed record for the route and was now the holder of the unofficial "Blue Riband" for both the Pacific and Atlantic Canadian routes.

As Canadian Pacific's flagship, she was the largest and fastest vessel on the UK to Canada service, effectively filling the gap left by the loss of the Empress of Britain. Empress of Scotland arrived in New York in December 1950 to start her first-ever cruise, which was also Canadian Pacific's first postwar cruise. In recognition of her distinguished wartime service, she was feted by the Americans, and escorted to her berth by a US destroyer — the first time the US Navy had afforded such a privilege to a merchant vessel.

Royal voyage

From November 12-17, 1951, Empress of Scotland had the privilege of carrying Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh from Newfoundland to Liverpool, at the end of a Canadian tour. The voyage, which received significant media attention, had originally been planned to be abroad Empress of France, but due to a late change in the timing of the tour, the return journey was switched to Empress of Scotland.

For the present Queen's first ocean voyage on a passenger ship (the Royal Yacht Britannia did not yet exist), a private, three-room royal suite was set up. This was situated on the starboard side of A deck, and was specially decorated and furnished for the occasion. Despite exceptionally rough seas throughout the five-day voyage, the Princess apparently enjoyed the experience, utilising some on-board amenities including the cinema, and spending time on deck each day. The royal couple did, however, graciously decline an invitation to dine at the Captain's table in the first class dining room.

At the end of the voyage, their Royal Highnesses expressed appreciation to the Master, Captain C.E. Duggan, and presented him with monogrammed cufflinks and a signed photograph. The Princess received two dolls as gifts for the young Prince Charles and Princess Anne, which were presented to her on behalf of the ship's crew by George Newcomer, senior bellboy. Two years later, while still Master of Empress of Scotland, Captain Duggan was to have the honor of attending Queen Elizabeth's coronation service and procession, in his capacity of Royal Naval Reserve Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty.

St. Lawrence Seaway

The following year Canadian Pacific decided to make Montreal the Canadian summer terminal port for Empress of Scotland (winter sailings used Saint John, New Brunswick). Six months in the planning, this required dredging of Montreal harbour to accommodate her draught, and shortening of her masts by 45 feet, in order to pass under the Quebec Bridge.

The journey from Quebec involved negotiating a 140-mile hazardous, snakelike stretch of the St. Lawrence River. Watched by thousands from the shoreline, the Empress made the 10-hour trip on May 13, 1952. Passengers, including the Tottenham Hotspur football team, cheered as the bosun, George Britton, signaled from high in the foremast that she had successfully cleared Quebec Bridge. At around 8:00 PM she arrived safely at her destination, by far the largest ship so far to have reached the port of Montreal. She thus achieved a feat which many were doubtful was feasible — even George Britton had been dubious. The event was celebrated by a civic reception, at which the mayor of Montreal invited Captain Duggan to sign the city's "Golden" book for visiting dignitaries.

A less-welcome navigational feat was achieved in March 1954, when the Empress was among ships that had to berth at New York without the aid of tugs, due to a longshoremen's strike. This was something for which the ship was not designed to do, unlike today's highly maneuverable liners.

September 1954 saw the maiden voyage of the Cunard liner Saxonia (later Carmania). This was the first of four new 22,000-ton sister ships built specifically for the UK to Canada service. Saxonia made a fast time for the trip, which prompted reported exchanges between officials of Cunard and Canadian Pacific as to which was the faster, Saxonia or Empress of Scotland. In reality there was probably little in it, but the Empress was of course twenty-four years older.

Hanseatic

Since the end of the war, Canadian Pacific had envisaged replacing its aging passenger fleet. No doubt prompted by the emergence of Cunard's new ships, this finally began in 1956 with the introduction of the 25,000-ton Empress of Britain. This ship replaced SS Empress of Australia, which herself had been a stop-gap replacement following the destruction by fire of Empress of Canada in 1953. The following year a near identical sister ship, Empress of England, was introduced ostensibly to replace Empress of France. It was thought that Empress of Scotland would be replaced by a new larger ship around 1960 (which turned out to be Empress of Canada, 1961). However, somewhat surprisingly, Empress of Scotland was put up for sale in September 1957, and Empress of France was the ship retained until 1960. Empress of Scotland was a top-end ship with an emphasis on first-class facilities. By this time the needs of passenger shipping were more oriented towards large numbers of tourist class passengers. During seven years of Atlantic service, Empress of Scotland had made 90 round trips to Canada. She also made 26 Caribbean cruises out of New York, plus three cruises from Southampton.

After a short period laid up, Empress of Scotland was granted a new lease of life when purchased by the Hamburg-Atlantic Line in January 1958 for transatlantic service. A major rebuild was carried out at Hamburg, during which she was converted to a 30,000-ton liner more suited to the late 1950s market. Passenger capacity was almost doubled to 1350, of which 1165 would be Tourist Class. The three funnels were replaced by two modern ones, and together with other substantial redesigns, her appearance changed significantly. On July 2, 1958, she sailed for the first time as Hanseatic from Cuxhaven to New York, via Le Havre, Southampton and Cobh. For the next eight years this would be her regular route, together with winter Caribbean cruises out of New York.

The ship's good fortune finally deserted her when, at the age of 37, on September 6, 1966 in New York Harbor, when she was destroyed by a fire that started in the engine room. There were no casualties, but the ship was damaged beyond economic repair. Having been towed back to Germany by two tugs (appropriately named Atlantic and Pacific), she was sold for scrap and sent for breaking up at Hamburg in December 1968.

External links

• Empress of Scotland — An Illustrated History