View source for RMS Empress of Asia

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}{{Short description|Canadian ocean liner}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = Empress of Asia postcard.jpg
| Ship caption = ''Empress of Asia''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|government}}
| Ship name = ''Empress of Asia''
| Ship owner = [[File:Canadian Pacific house flag.svg|border|20px]] [[Canadian Pacific Steamships]]
| Ship operator = 
| Ship registry = Canada
| Ship route = 
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = [[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering]], [[Govan]], Scotland
| Ship original cost = 
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| Ship launched = 23 November 1912<ref name=MENA>{{cite journal |year=1913 |title=Launches and Trial Trips |journal=International Marine Engineering |volume=35 |issue=January |pages=244 |publisher=Marine Engineering, Inc., New York—London |url=https://archive.org/stream/marineengineer35londuoft#page/244/mode/1up |access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref>
| Ship completed = June 1913
| Ship christened = 
| Ship acquired = 
| Ship maiden voyage = 
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| Ship out of service = 
| Ship identification = 
| Ship fate = Sunk by Japanese aircraft off Sultan Shoal on 5 February 1942.
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Header caption = 
| Ship type = [[Ocean liner]]
| Ship tonnage = {{GRT|16,909}}, {{NRT|8,883}}
| Ship displacement = 
| Ship length = 570.2 ft
| Ship beam = 68.2 ft
| Ship height = 
| Ship draught = 
| Ship draft = 42 ft
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| Ship power = 
| Ship propulsion = Quadruple propellers, 4 x steam turbines by Builder, 3, 750 [[nhp]]
| Ship speed = {{convert|19|kn}}
| Ship capacity = 200 first class, 100 second class and 800 third class passengers<ref name=MENA/>
| Ship crew = 
| Ship notes = Special cargo arrangements for silk, an important Canadian Pacific commodity.<ref name=MENA/>
}}
|}

'''RMS ''Empress of Asia''''' was an [[ocean liner]] built in 1912–1913 by [[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering]] at [[Govan]] on the [[River Clyde|Clyde]] in Scotland for [[Canadian Pacific Steamships]].

As well as being a passenger liner in peacetime, ''Empress of Asia'' served as an armed merchant cruiser and a [[troopship]] in wartime.   She was sunk during World War II by Japanese aircraft while transiting from [[Bombay]] to Singapore.

==Service history==
''Empress of Asia'' was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering at Govan near [[Glasgow]] in Scotland<ref>Johnston, Ian. "Govan Shipyard" in [http://www.shipsmonthly.com/ships/home.htm  ''Ships Monthly.''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611163521/http://www.shipsmonthly.com/ships/home.htm |date=11 June 2008 }} June 1985.</ref> Decorative plaster and wrought iron work in the dining room was carried out by [[H.H. Martyn & Co.]]<ref>{{cite book |author=John Whitaker|year=1985|title=The Best|page=229}}</ref> She was launched on 23 November 1912, and christened by Mrs. Bosworth, wife of the Vice-President of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]]. She completed her maiden voyage in 1913.

In May 1914, Captain [[Samuel Robinson (sea captain)|Samuel Robinson]] pushed the RMS ''Empress of Asia'' and her crew in setting a new world's record for both a single day's steaming (473 nautical miles) and for crossing the Pacific (nine days, two hours, and fifteen minutes).<ref>Hammer, Joshua. (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=6O8VyhDbUPgC&q=yokohama+burning&pg=PA60 ''Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II,'' p. 60.]</ref>

===World War I===
[[File:72nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders CEF disembarking from "Empress of Asia" at Vancouver 1919.jpg|thumb|right|72nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, C.E.F. disembarking from the ''Empress of Asia'' at the C.P.R. pier, Vancouver. in 1919]]
During the [[First World War]], ''Empress of Asia'' was converted into an auxiliary cruiser at Hong Kong. She was armed with eight [[QF 4.7 inch Mk V naval gun|4.7-inch (12&nbsp;cm) gun]]s and [[Royal Navy]] officers assumed command. Among her peacetime crew only those in the [[Royal Naval Reserve]] were retained.

She was deployed in Asia, in the Middle East and in the Atlantic with Chinese, British Indian and Portuguese Indian (Goan) crew.

In late 1914, ''Empress of Asia'' was among the cruisers tasked with hunting the German [[light cruiser]] [[SMS Emden (1906)|SMS ''Emden'']] in the Indian Ocean east of Ceylon.<ref>Frame, Tom. (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=YY6CN8wAk4AC&dq=emden+empress+of+australia&pg=PA110 ''No Pleasure Cruise: The Story of the Royal Australian Navy,'' p. 110.]</ref> The ''Empress of Asia'' transported wounded German prisoners from the sunken ''Emden'' to Colombo.<ref>Australian War Memorial (AWM): [http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/cst.acct_master?surl=1680181408ZZAVMJDMOGFK37084&stype=3&simplesearch=&v_umo=&v_product_id=&screen_name=&screen_parms=&screen_type=RIGHT&bvers=5&bplatform=Netscape&bos=Win32  caption for archive photo (ID No. C02534), SS ''Empress of Asia'' in Columbo harbour]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

On 9 September 1918, ''Empress of Asia'' set sail from Hoboken, NJ bound for Liverpool carrying troops from the 86th Infantry Division's 331st Machine Gun Battalion, 311th Engineer Regiment and 311th Engineer Train.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.scharch.org/Ray_Baer/86th%20Division%20History%20OB.htm | title=Order of Battle - American Expeditionary Forces - World War I Eighty-Sixth "Black Hawk" Division (National Army) | publisher=scharch.org | access-date=20 September 2020 }}</ref> She arrived safely on 21 September 1918.

In 1919, ''Empress of Asia'' returned to Vancouver carrying the 72nd Battalion, [[Seaforth Highlanders]] of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (CEF); and the men disembarked from the ship at the CPR pier.<ref>City of Victoria Archives: [http://vancouver.ca/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll&BU=http%3A%2F%2Fvancouver.ca%2Fctyclerk%2Farchives%2Fwebpubhtml%2Fqbes%2Fws_all.htm&TN=Records&SN=AUTO6233&SE=1175&RN=0&MR=20&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=1&XP=&RF=Table&EF=&DF=Full+form&RL=1&EL=0&DL=1&NP=2&ID=&MF=&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=155565&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1  "72nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, C.E.F. disembarking from the "Empress of Asia" at the C.P.R. pier."] Matthews Collection, 1919.</ref>

===Inter-war period===
Amongst the celebrities who sailed in ''Empress of Asia'' was [[Bertrand Russell]].  The writer traveled from [[Yokohama]] to [[Vancouver]] in the late summer of 1921.<ref>Russell, Bertrand. (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qnaqY4gUyrAC&dq=SS+Empress+of+Asia&pg=PA542  ''Uncertain Paths to Freedom: Russia and China, 1919–22,'' p. 542.]</ref>

On 11 January 1926, ''Empress of Asia'' rammed the British coastal steamer {{SS|Tung Shing|1903|2}} in the [[Yangtze]] at [[Shanghai]], China. ''Tung Shing'' sank with the loss of between five and ten lives.<ref name=Times120126a>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Telegrams in Brief |date=12 January 1926 |page=13 |issue=44167 |column=G }}</ref>

''Empress of Asia'' and ''[[RMS Empress of Canada (1920)|Empress of Canada]]'' evacuated civilians from Shanghai in 1937 during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].

===World War II===
[[File:RMS Empress of Asia on fire after IJN air attack.jpg|thumb|The ''Empress of Asia'' on fire and gradually sinking after being attacked by Japanese dive-bomber aircraft en route from India to Singapore. To the extreme-right of the photograph, the [[Sultan Shoal Lighthouse]] can be seen.]] 
[[File:RMS Empress of Asia on fire after IJN air attack (2).jpg|thumb|The starboard-side view of the burning vessel, showing extensive damage from the Japanese aerial-attack on the ship.]]
''Empress of Asia'' was requisitioned by the [[British Admiralty]] in January 1941, and sailed for Liverpool via the [[Panama Canal]] to the [[River Clyde]] for refitting as a troopship. For armament she received a [[6-inch gun]], a [[QF 3 inch 20 cwt|3-inch gun]] HA, 6 [[20 mm Oerlikon]]s, 8 Hotchkiss, [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors guns]], 4 [[PAC rocket]]s and [[depth charge]]s.<ref>Empress of Asia: [http://www.empressofasia.com/delivery.htm  ''Empress of Asia,'' requisition] – accessed 6 May 2008</ref>

Her first task was to take soldiers of the [[Green Howards]] to [[Suez]] via the [[Cape of Good Hope]] to participate in the [[North Africa Campaign]]. From there she took Italian prisoners of war to [[Durban]].

In September 1941, ''Empress of Asia'' sailed with the first convoy from North America to England which was escorted by ships of the [[United States Navy]].<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot. (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=nwvs7TDDXyoC&dq=SS+Empress+of+Asia&pg=PA86 ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II'', p. 86.]</ref>

The final voyage of ''Empress of Asia'' began in November 1941, when she sailed from [[Liverpool]] carrying troops and supplies bound for Africa, [[Bombay]] and Singapore.

''Empress of Asia'' was one of five ships that were carrying troops and military [[materiel]] and supplies to reinforce Singapore in the face of the rapid [[Battle of Singapore|Japanese advance]] on the island following their successful conquest of British Malaya by the beginning of 1942. The convoy, designated BM.12, had come under an aerial attack in the [[Bangka Strait]] on 4 February 1942 and suffered only minor damage. On 5 February, as the convoy sailed into and entered the western approaches to Singapore, serious fierce attacks were pressed against it by the Japanese military south of the [[Sultan Shoal Lighthouse]].{{sfn|Gill|1957|pp=527–529}} Nine Japanese dive-bombers focused their airborne assault on the ''Empress of Asia''.<ref name="awmP00634.001">Australian War Memorial (AWM): [http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/cst.acct_master?surl=1680181408ZZAVMJDMOGFK37084&stype=3&simplesearch=&v_umo=&v_product_id=&screen_name=&screen_parms=&screen_type=RIGHT&bvers=5&bplatform=Netscape&bos=Win32  caption for archive photo (ID No. P00634.001), ''Empress of Asia'' sinks]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The second element of the convoy composed of the ''Empress of Asia'', [[:fr:Félix Roussel (paquebot)|''Félix Roussel'']] and the [[City of Canterbury (1922)|''City of Canterbury'']], escorted by {{HMAS|Yarra|U77|6}} and {{HMS|Danae|D44|6}}, and sighted vessels in the nearby waters with the ''Empress of Asia'' on fire, burning amidships, approaching [[Sultan Shoal]]. The ship anchored off the shoal with its onboard personnel gathered on the bow and the stern. The escort vessels, {{HMAS|Wollongong|J172|6}}, {{HMS|Danae|D44|6}} and {{HMIS|Sutlej|U95|6}}, stood by while HMAS Yarra's captain, [[Wilfred Hastings Harrington|Wilfred Harrington]], carefully manoeuvered the bow of his ship alongside the flaming and severely-damaged liner's stern and rescued away 1804 survivors. {{HMAS|Bendigo|J187}}, which had been in the vicinity, picked up 78 more, while the ''Wollongong'' saved the last two persons on the now-sinking ship, its master (captain) and chief-engineer.{{sfn|Gill|1957|pp=527–529}}  There were a total of 16 deaths on the ''Empress of Asia'' which resulted from when she was attacked and destroyed. The ship finally sank near the small island of Sultan Shoal (then located in the western harbour-approaches of Singapore, presently between the West Jurong and AlGas Anchorages beside Temasek Fairway) about {{convert|8|km|mi}} to the southwest of the western tip of the mainland of [[Singapore Island]]. Despite maritime-salvage efforts organized by [[Robert William Rankin|Robert W. Rankin]], all the military equipment and other crucial and vital supplies were lost and declared irrecoverable.<ref>Allied Merchant Navy of World War II: [http://members.tripod.com/~merchantships/cprships2.html Role of CPR ships]; ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB): [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140446b.htm  Wilfred Hastings Harrington, KBE]; ADB: [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160067b.htm  Robert William Rankin]</ref> Singapore would eventually fall to and come under the rule of Imperial Japan only ten days later (on 15 February 1942), which makes it difficult to speculate about what differences or changes to the outcome of the battle the ''Empress of Asia'' could have made if the ship had not been sunk. It was said that much of the vital military materiel and aid-supplies lost in the sinking of the ship would have been supplied and provided to the badly-equipped [[Dalforce|Singapore Chinese Anti-Japanese Volunteer Battalion]] as well as reinforcing and strengthening the rest of the poorly-equipped and ill-supplied British-commanded defending troops, aside from British troops, comprising Australian, Indian and Malayan soldiers.

The last convoy of evacuees leaving Singapore included SS ''Sing Kheng Seng'' of the Straits Shipping Company, carrying 45 crewmen from ''Empress of Asia'' along with an unknown number of others.<ref>[http://singaporeevacuation1942.blogspot.com/  Singapore evacuation 1942]: Civilian evacuation lists; 13 February 1942.</ref>

[[Leonard H. Johnston]] was chief mate of ''Empress of Asia'' when she went down.  He took charge of 40 other young survivors and led his crew-mates safely to [[Fremantle]], Australia.  The journey involved sailing on three inter-island steamers to [[Sumatra]], hiking over 100 miles across the island to catch a ferry to [[Java]], and then a voyage from [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] to Australia aboard a flat-bottomed river boat with Johnston serving as navigator.  He was honored with the [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] for his exploits.<ref>Bamberger, Werner. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F5081FF9355415738DDDA80894DC405B858AF1D3  "Empress of Canada's Skipper Ending 43-Year Career at Sea; Johnston Sails for England – Began as Deck Cadet With Canadian Pacific in '22,"] ''New York Times.'' 1 April 1965.</ref>

One of the ship's anchors was salvaged and subsequently put on display at the [[National Museum of Singapore]] in September 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Step back into history as the National Museum of Singapore Re-opens its Permanent Gallaries|url=http://nationalmuseum.sg/~/media/nms/documents/media%20release_official%20re-opening%20of%20permamnent%20galleries_20150914.pdf|website=Media release|publisher=National Museum of Singapore|access-date=11 December 2017|date=14 September 2015}}</ref>

In April 2010, the shipwreck of the RMS Empress of Asia was found and in the possession for a subject of claim.<ref>{{cite web|title=Notice of Wreck|url=https://www.mpa.gov.sg/web/portal/home/port-of-singapore/circulars-and-notices/detail/995cc7c4-9df6-4b75-8c99-431e1db8165e|access-date=21 April 2020|date=20 April 2020}}{{Dead link|date=October 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[CP Ships]]
* [[List of ocean liners]]
* [[List of ships in British Columbia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Frame, Tom. (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=YY6CN8wAk4AC&q=emden+empress+of+australia ''No Pleasure Cruise: The Story of the Royal Australian Navy.''] Sydney: [[Allen & Unwin]] {{ISBN|978-1-74114-233-4}} (paper)
*{{cite book |last=Gill |first=G. Hermon |title=Royal Australian Navy 1939–1942 |series=Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy |volume=1 |year=1957 |publisher=Australian War Memorial |location=Canberra |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67910 |access-date=9 August 2013 |archive-date=25 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525001721/http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67910 |url-status=dead }}
* Hammer, Joshua. (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=6O8VyhDbUPgC&q=Tokyo+1923  ''Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II.''] New York: [[Simon & Schuster]]. {{ISBN|978-0-7432-6465-5}} (cloth)
* [[Samuel Eliot Morison|Morison, Samuel Eliot]]. (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=nwvs7TDDXyoC&q=SS+Empress+of+Asia  ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II.''] Champaign, Illinois: [[University of Illinois Press]]. {{ISBN|0-252-06963-3}}
*{{cite book|last1=Osborne|first1=Richard|last2=Spong|first2=Harry|last3=Grover|first3=Tom|title=Armed Merchant Cruisers 1878–1945|year=2007|publisher=World Warship Society|location=Windsor, UK|isbn=978-0-9543310-8-5|name-list-style=amp}}
* [[Bertrand Russell|Russell, Bertrand]]. (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qnaqY4gUyrAC&q=SS+Empress+of+Asia  ''Uncertain Paths to Freedom: Russia and China, 1919–22.''] London: [[Routledge]]. {{ISBN|0-415-09411-9}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Empress of Asia (ship, 1912)}}
* {{official|http://www.empressofasia.com/index.htm }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204175556/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsE.html  Description, RMS ''Empress of Asia'' at theShipsList.com]
* [http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/asia2.html Merchantnavy officers.com]
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{{EofA}}
{{1926 shipwrecks}}
{{February 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empress of Asia}}
[[Category:1912 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Govan]]
[[Category:Ships of CP Ships]]
[[Category:Steamships of Canada]]
[[Category:Ocean liners of Canada]]
[[Category:World War I Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Strait of Malacca]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1926]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1942]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft]]
[[Category:Troopships of Canada]]
[[Category:Cruisers of Canada]]