ALLAN LINE APEX: R.M.S. ALSATIAN & CALGARIAN

 

Among North Atlantic liners of what be called the '600 ft.'-class I think there has not been built this century a more magnificent pair than the Allan Line's Alsatian and Calgarian... As far as appearance, construction, speed and fitness for the designed work go, these two ships will more than bear comparison with any liners of similar size built in the last 60 years. 

J.H. Isherwood, Sea Breezes, April 1957

The Empress of France, for many years, the fastest  liner on the North Atlantic service to Canada, had the distinction of being one of the most talked about ships on the whole Western Ocean, her outstanding war-record as the Alsatian, her fast voyages and the many celebrities she carried during a long and honorable career contributed to her fame.

The Gazette (Montreal), 20 October  1934.

Golden Age. The four years before the outbreak of the Great War was a halcyon era for The Ocean Liner as the sinew of global transportation and the symbol of an age of progress and elegance. It was, too, the heyday of the "All Red Route" from Britain to Asia half a world away with Canada forming the "hub" of interconnecting services wedding trans-ocean liner and transcontinental railway to form the transportation wonder of the age. Plying it was an impressive new fleet of ships-- Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, Niagara, Alsatian and Calgarian-- so far in advance of their predecessors as to herald the dawn of a new era.  

Alsatian and Calgarian were the last liners of  venerable Allan Line which had been at the forefront of maintaining a regular trans-Atlantic route to the St. Lawrence River.  Exemplifying the well-proportioned  profiles and the elegant interiors of The Edwardian Liner, Alsatian and Calgarian were the largest, fastest and finest on the Canadian route for a few glittering months before the outbreak of war. Calgarian had but three months in commercial service and barely four years of life, but her sister as Empress of France was able to realise her ambitions after the war as the fastest liner on the St. Lawrence run as well as be a pioneering global cruise ship.

The Epitome of The Edwardian Liner: R.M.S. Alsatian on trials. Credit: dalmadan.com

"The spirit of empire might be kindled by flag waving, but it can only be maintained by the more solid and lasting bonds of mutual knowledge and sympathy in trade interests. The Allan Line has done a noble service and this is the most effective way of building empire. The history of the line is the history of the great Dominion of Canada." Sir William Beardmore. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

ALLAN ACQUISITION

Under construction in 1852, the Canadian and Indian, of 1,700 tons gross register, 270 feet in length; in 1913 the Alsatian and Calgarian, of 18,000 tons and 600  feet in length. Such in brief  has  been  the development of the Allan line, during a period of 60  years. This company has always played for the Canadian  trade and has  kept well  ahead of the times by adding large and more magnificent liners at frequent intervals.

The Victoria Daily Times, 18 January 1913

The Allan Line's partnership with the C.P.R. to secure the coveted mail contract, from one point of view, was bought at a high price, for  it spelled the end of the veteran line's separate entity. On the other hand, with the increasingly keen competition among shipping companies, particularly on the Atlantic, mergers and amalgamations were becoming the order of the day. Conditions in fact were becoming such that only the strong could survive. 

The Canadian Fast Mail on the North Atlantic, 1851-1915, Edward F. Bush 

If Alsatian and Calgarian are all but forgotten today, "Allans" are perhaps even more so. They introduced twin funnels, twin screws, the steel hull, bilge keels, "second cabin", triple screws, the steam turbine, private cabins for steerage and the cruiser stern to the Atlantic liner. Allan Line were once  the busiest and most profitable British line on the  Atlantic.  They were among the very first lines to sustain a successful service to Quebec and Montreal, joining the mighty St. Lawrence River to the Ocean Highway.  No other line figured more in the development of trans-Atlantic steamship service to Canada or played as important a role in  pre-First World War immigration to the country.   Yet, sadly and remarkably, Allan Line (1854-1917) is at best under appreciated and at worst overlooked in the imbalanced and inadequate bibliography of steam navigation across the Western Ocean. 

Whilst Samuel Cunard established the first regular steamship service from Britain to Canada in 1840, it was to Halifax, 397 miles from the then capital of Quebec  and 490 miles from its biggest city, Montreal.  Cunard soon turned their attentions to the more lucrative New York route. Hopes for a dedicated direct mail service to Canada's epicenter were instead realised by the long established Allan family which first ran the brig Jean  between Britain and Canada in 1819.  For Canada, a dedicated "fast mail" service direct to Britain assumed an importance that transcended communication to broader and emerging aspirations of nationhood, one not dependent on its dominant neighbour to the south through which most of  its mails were transmitted.  For Allan Line, the give and take of mail contracts would shape the company's fortunes.  

In 1853, Hugh Allan built his first steamer, the aptly named Canadian, operated by his Montreal Ocean Steam Ship Company which, of course, was always known as… The Allan Line.  By 1856, Allans were holding a mail contract for fortnightly Liverpool and Quebec sailings.

It's worth remembering just how treacherous navigation was into the St. Lawrence, some 300 miles deep into the country to Montreal, through a river beset by navigational and weather hazards, open only from April to November and until the late  1860s, inadequately charted and marked.  All of which made Allan's growing success all the more remarkable. When Hugh Allan died in 1882, his company boasted a fleet of 22 liners. Nine years it swelled to 37 ships totalling 120,000 tons and operating no fewer than eight distinct services.

Credit: timetableimages.com

By the 1880s, the desire for an accelerated mail service to compete with the New York route  assumed imperial implications, too, with Canadian aspirations of an "All Red Route" linking the Mother Country with Asia, not via Suez, but by the quicker new Canadian Pacific trans-continental railway connecting with fast mailships on the Atlantic and Pacific that would place the Dominion at the nexus of imperial commerce. Yet, the company that was in best position to achieve it was the CPR which completed the trans-Continental railway in 1885 and began their own trans-Pacific steamship service from Vancouver to Japan, China and Hong Kong in 1889 under mail contract.  In 1903 CPR bought  Elder Dempster's Beaver Line between British ports and Canada to establish trans-Atlantic service.

The Atlantic mail service was improved in January 1904 when a new contract was signed… not with the ever expanding CPR but the Allan Line Steamship Co. (as it was officially named as of 19 June 1897) for a weekly four-ship service.  This was predicated on the construction of the 10,000-grt Victorian and  Virginian which got their 17 knots from triple-screw turbines, both "firsts" on the Atlantic and entered service in 1905.  With their advent,  the line's traffic went up 30 per cent. Thus emboldened, Allan Line signed a six-year mail contract on 19 January 1906 which paid £3,000 for 18-knot crossings, but also  obligated the company to place into service by 1 August 1907 two 18-knot  ships to enable a weekly service with Virginian and Victorian.  

In 1906 CPR introduced to  their North Atlantic service the conventionally powered but, faster, larger and more luxurious 14,000-grt Empress of Ireland and Empress of Ireland.  With the depression of 1907 and a ruinous rate war on the Atlantic, Allan Line found themselves in no  position to build their promised two new ships so agreed, instead, to share the mail contract with CPR.  Canadian dreams for an All Red Route, the cost of which would be shared with the imperial government, were tempered when in March 1908 the British Parliament agreed to no more than £20,000 per annum to subsidise the  China Mail from Vancouver so Canada had to come up with the rest.  

Almost immediately there began rumours as to Canadian Pacific and Allan formalizing the shared contract by a corporate merger.  Secret negotiations towards this end only began in summer 1909, but came to a swift, preordained conclusion on 6 July when the Montreal lawyer representing CPR wrote Sir Hugh Montague Allen: "My clients are now ready to carry out the transaction that you have had under discussion with them during the past two or three months, namely, to acquire all of the Capital Stock of the Allan Line Steamship Company, Limited, and to take over as a going concern, free from debt, excepting the ordinary operating liabilities." This was agreed to on 8 September, but initially only three-quarters of the shares or a controlling interest for £1,609,000 plus £100,000 for "good will." The transaction was made not with Canadian Pacific Railway, but rather the Royal Trust  Co. of Montreal, acting on behalf of the Company.  Major H. Maitland Kersey of CPR joined the Allan Board Directors.  

For whatever reasons, none of this announced to the public and when the inevitable rumours began to circulate in the press, they were often wildly off base including a purchase of price of $12 mn., and the purchaser was Grand Trunk Railway or that the  Allan ships would be transferred to Canadian registry and the head office moved from Glasgow to Montreal.  All of which made it easier for CPR and Allan to dismiss the rumours, no matter their relation to actual facts,  as "a pure piece of romance." The remainder of Allan Line stock passed to CPR on 8 July 1910 but still there no public announcement.  It would not be until 1 October 1915 that the fusion was officially revealed. 

Meanwhile, plans by a covertly unified company to build what proved to be two pairs of remarkably similar ships for both the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic routes began in earnest... CPR's Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia and Allan's Alsatian and Calgarian... which would usher in a new era for Canadian liners and the All Red Route. For Allan Line,they proved a last hurrah and would realise all of the aspirations of the Allans to elevate the Canadian North Atlantic Royal Mail route to the fast lane of the Ocean Highway.

James S. Mann poster for the "turbine quadruple screws. 18,000 tons (two building)" Allan steamers. Credit:  University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

ALLAN AMBITION

All Canadians will rejoice to learn that the pioneer steamship company of their country, the Allan Line has decided to build two vessels of a guaranteed speed of 21 knots and of a size equal to the best ships in the New York trade. This is what had been wanted to illustrate the advantages of the Canadian short route across the Atlantic.  There is little doubt that the result will be a tremendous increase in the business of passenger transportation between Europe and Canada. The time is surely not far distance when the Canadian route will be supreme. We shall have an 'all-red route' in process of a very short time without paying an exorbitant price for it.

Victoria Daily Times, 13 May 1910

So  it was editorialised a day after it was reported from London and confirmed by George Hanna, Allan Line General Manager in Montreal, that the line had invited tenders for two turbine liners, described by the Gazette  as being "to the Canadian route route what the Mauretania and Lusitania are to  the New York service. The two ships are to be of 20,000 tons or more capacity, and probably 22 knots. They will be 700 feet long and have a capacity for 2,300 passengers. Roughly speaking the cost of these two new boats will be 600,000 sterling, or $3,000,000 apiece."  The expectation was  that they would cut 24 hours off the passage, doing Liverpool to Quebec in 5-5½ days so that "passengers can go from Liverpool to Chicago within a week."  Owing to their projected size, it was surmised the vessels would turnaround at Quebec and not serve Montreal.  Mr. Hanna stated that the order had been under consideration for some time past and Hugh A. Allan had been in England for some time to finalise plans.

"The whole scheme," said Mr. Hanna, "is to build two steamers of the Mauretania and Lusitania type for the Canadian route…. It is provided that they must be as fine as British workmanship can produce, which will mean that their fittings will be at least equal to those of the crack New York liners." He added that it would "take at least 18 months to build ships and it will be probably be two years yet before they are in commission to do for the Canadian route what the crack Cunarders are now doing for the New York service."

This astonishing inaccurate rendering (which has given the ships an extra promenade deck, imparting a vague resemblance to NASM's Rotterdam) was still widely used. 

The Gazette added that "It was stated by the Allans that the building of the new fast liners would depend a good deal upon the mail subsidies, the idea being that the Canadian Government would make a readjustment of these subsidies so as to make it worth while for the Canadian line to put on these fast vessels, to carry the mails as well as passengers and freight."  The present mail contract expired in 1912 and was held to be inadequate as much of Canada's trans-Atlantic post was still routed via New York.  "I hope that the day will near at hand when no more  letters or  papers leaving the Montreal post  office will bear the inscription ' via New York' written on the envelope" said Hon. Rondolphe Lemieux, the Canadian Postmaster-General on 10 June 1910. Then, it was believed that a new contract would be with one single company and not shared as present by Allan and Canadian Pacific.

On 30 May 1910 the Gazette reported additional details when it was prematurely announced the new ships been contracted: "The new steamers ordered for the Allan line, according to advices from London, will have a speed of 22 knots, and according to the specifications called for they will be about 700 feet long, with a tonnage of 22,000. On their six hundred trial mile run they will be forced to maintain a speed of 23 knots under ordinary conditions. Their passenger accommodation will comprise  300 first, 500 second and 1,500 third."

An intriguing "what if" design for a 675 ft.-long quadruple-screw liner prepared on 26 May 1910 by John Brown for Canadian Pacific.  This coincided with the acquisition of Allan Line and announced plans for two 700 ft, 22,000-grt ships. Credit: City of Vancouver Archives.

A telegram received in London from Glasgow yesterday stated that the Allan Line Company announce they have under preparation designs for three turbine liners for the mail service between Great Britain and Canada. The vessels will be larger and faster than any yet on that route. They will be 700 feet long, and will have a speed of 22 knots. The new vessels are understood to be the outcome of the fact that the mail working service with the Canadian Pacific Company is not be renewed. The Canadian Pacific, it is also stated, will enter the market for two fast steamers

Seen by a representative of the Press Association, Mr. George Gibbon of the West End office of the Allan Line Steamship Company, said the real position of the company was that hitherto there had been an arrangement with the Canadian Pacific Railway with regard to the utilisation of the two of the Canadian Pacific Railway boats for the carrying of mails in connection with the Government contract held by the Allan Line Company. The new Allan Line vessels have been found necessary to accommodate the growing demands made upon the company's resources. They are being constructed not only to meet the improved general traffic on the line, but more especially the passenger traffic, which has improved 50 per cent at the West End office since the beginning of the year. 

The company is at the same time taking the opportunity of preparing to deal with the requirements of their mail service, and accordingly when the new boats are put on the North Atlantic route it will not be necessary for the Allan Company to enlist the further assistance of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in regards to mail transport. By means of the new vessels the Allan Company expect to make the voyage from Liverpool to Quebec inside five days, which will practically mean that passsengers can reach New York, Boston and other eastern ports inside six days."

The Scotsman, 3 September 1910

Business, meanwhile, remained good for Allans and on 10 December 1910 it was reported they had carried 25,143 more passengers that St. Lawrence season than in the previous year.  Another premature report came out on the 28th: "It is stated that the Allan Line have entered into an arrangement with a lagre shipbuilding company for the construction of two new monster steamers of the fastest type." (Calgary Herald)

For the first three quarters of 1911 there was nary a mention of newbuilding plans for Allans or their acquisition by Canadian Pacific.  That the latter was already de facto in place was reinforced when on 5 July 1911 Canadian Pacific ordered two superb 16,800-grt, 18-knot liners (Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia) for their Vancouver-Far East Express Service and plans finally settled on a pair of remarkably similar but larger turbine steamers for Allans. This, too, ended rumours that Virginian and Victorian might be transferred to CPR's Pacific run whilst maintaining the public image of independent management of the two lines and reinforcing the well-established primacy of Allan on the St. Lawrence route.   

By the time the new ships were ordered, a more accurate depiction appeared. Credit: International Marine Engineering.

On 27 September 1911 it was reported that  tenders had been asked for two new ships, considerably smaller than those originally envisaged. "The Allan Line directors are planning the inauguration of a fast service from this port  [Montreal] to Liverpool and hope to have it in operation early in 1913. Tenders have been invited for the construction of two new liners in which speed is to be chief consideration. The  ships will be somewhat larger than the big turbine vessels, the Victorian and the Virginian, which are 50 feet in length. They will have a minimum speed of 18 knots per hour and will have large first and second class passenger accommodation. "So far as present arrangements go they will have twin screw reciprocating engines, but this is a matter in which the pans are still open to alteration, as is also the question whether they will have turbines or  not." (The Ottawa Citizen).

Arrivng in London from Montreal on 10 October 1911, Hugh A. Allen stated that "it was left to the tenderers for the two new Allan liners to specify which form of machinery they would prefer to install to attain the required speed. Whether it would be all turbine, all reciprocating engines or a combination of these two  principles as in the Laurentic was not so important as the question of speed." (Edmonton Journal, 24 October 1911).

In an end of an era on 30 October 1911, Allan Line  announced the contracting of what would prove their last new ships "for the Montreal-Liverpool route" which would be 570 feet long, have a tonnage of 15,000 and a speed of 18 knots. Costing a total of $5 mn. or £1 mn., one would be built by William Beardmore, Glasgow, and the other by Fairfield, then building Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia. It was reported that 12 other shipyards had submitted tenders. 

Clarifying their propulsion and size, the Gazette on 10 November 1911 reported the Allan offices had received a letter from Glasgow advising agents "to refer to the new ships as turbine quadruple screw streamers of seventeen thousand tons register. The significance of these meager factors is that there will be plying on the St. Lawrence River before the end of next season ships in the class of the Mauretania, Lusitania and Olympic as far as motive power is concerned, through the Allan liners will necessarily be much smaller in actual size… That the vessels would be turbiners was generally expected, but that they would have quadruple screws and exceed by nearly  three thousand tons burden the largest vessels at present coming to  this port, was far beyond the wildest dreams of the most optimistic supporters of the capacity of the port of Montreal."  

The most accurate of the renderings of Alsatian and Calgarian gave a good idea of their lovely, perfectly balanced lines.  Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. 

The Times Colonist of 29 December 1911 fleshed out the specifications:  "570 ft., 72 ft. beam and the stern will be of the cruiser form, which will enable the steering gear to be more safely  located under the water-line, and makes a notable feature in their appearance. This, with measures for the protection of machinery and extensive subdivision to ensure flotation when the hull  is injured, will enable the vessels to be utilized as merchant cruisers in time of war.  A  total of  19,000 shp would give speed of 18.5 to 20 knots.  Arrangements are to be made that oil as well as coal may be used as fuel, should the former be found economically suitable. The directors of the Allan Line have decided to fit the new steamers with anti-rolling tanks, which will bring them right in the vanguard of vessels in which travellers are given a considerable immunity from sea sickness."

At the same time the Ottawa Journal reported: "Mr. [Hugh] Allan authorizes the statement that one of the new mail boats to be ready in the spring of 1913 will be named the Acadian, which seems a happy choice in view of the part Arcadia played in the history of the Maritime Provinces; the other may be known as the Alsatian."

On 3 January 1912 the Ottawa Citizen stressed the new ships' accommodation: "No effort has been spared to make  traveling by the vessels in the highest degree comfortable. Many of the single staterooms will have their own exclusive bathrooms and in other cases baths will be divided between two staterooms with doors from each.There will be also be suites of rooms and a large number of single berth cabins. The rooms will be exceptionally large and will be heated by electricity, steam and thermo tank  system. A perfect system of bulkheads is also provided, and there is accommodation for some 250 First, 525 Second and 1,000 Third Class passengers."

By the first of the year, the keel plate of no. 509 had been laid on slipway of Beardmore's, Glasgow shipyard followed on 1 February 1912 by that of no. 487 at Fairfields Govan yards were two other of the remarkable new era of Canadian liners-- Canadian Pacific's Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia-- were also under construction. The Bedfordshire Mercury of 9 February 1912 described the keel laying of the second Allan liner: There are 20 of these plates in all, each measuring 27 feet in length and weighing 8½ tons. The keel is so constructed will form a very strong backbone upon which will be reared the huge structure of the largest vessel yet built for the Canadian trade, and one which will make an epoch in merchant shipbuilding construction."

With the Canadian mail contract set to expire on 1 May 1912 amid all these developments, it was prudently decided on 28 March to extend it by a year, under its present terms and still shared by Allan Line and Canadian Pacific, until 1 May 1913 when it was anticipated the new Allan ships would be in service.  This was formally announced on 16 April when it was stated that any new contract would be shared with Allan, CPR and Canadian Northern. 

The decision to name the second ship Calgarian was well-received in that city's press. Credit: Calgary Herald, 6 August 1912.

In making Calgarian the name of the one of the big modern steamers that ply between the old world and the new, Calgarians will all agree that the company has selected from a host of good name the one that is the best and most euphonious to their ears.

Calgary Herald, 19 July 1912

The names of the new ships was set on 29 June 1912: Alsatian and Calgarian, "It will be said that the names of the steamers, as is appropriate in the case of vessels destined to form a new link between Europe and America, have been happily drawn from the old world and the new." (Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 29 June 1912).  In calling the second ship Calgarian (after consideration of Acadian, Albynian and Parisian), it was explained that "The name is intended as a compliment to the whole of Western Canada, Calgary having been selected as the 'god-mother' of the new ship, chiefly because the name of the city is most easily adaptable to the nomenclature of the line."

There remained indecision whether the new ships would proceed up river to Montreal or turn around at Quebec. When announced, they were stated to be for the  "Liverpool to Montreal" route and be the largest ships to dock  at Canada's largest city and commercial capital.  Allan, of course, had blazed the trans-Atlantic route into the heart of the St. Lawrence and it was hoped, certainly by Montrealers, that their newest  ships would home port in their city. Disappointment greeted the news on 12 July 1912 that "The company realize that the risk of running these vessels past Quebec to Montreal will be too great, inasmuch as they will be 600 feet in length and have a draught of 29 or 30 feet, and have come to the conclusion to make port of Quebec their terminus." (Gazette). It was added that "it is no secret Allan prefer a 35 ft. deep channel over existing 30 ft and want wider channels. The channel in Lake St. Peter is no more than 300  ft. wide, if that, and as the new liners will have a beam of 72 ft, the margin between them in the event of meeting and having to pass one another, and the margin between either ship and the bank of  the channel would be meagre to say the least." 

On 17 July 1912 the Gazette reported that Andrew Allan had come to Quebec "to look over company property there with view for improvements for new ships" whilst adding "These steamers will be ready to hand over to the company next spring, and make their first trip from Liverpool in the month of May next. By September, it was forecast that Alasatian would be "ready by May and the  Calgarian by August next."

A depiction of Alsatian  by J. Ross Melville proving that funnels can never be quite big enough especially when there are only two of them. Credit: Illustrated London News, 12 September 1912. 

Amid a general management shuffle at Allan Line with the retirement of Sir Montague Allan and retirement from shipping interests by Bryce Allan (who had managed the line's Boston office) and consolidation of ongoing directorship of the line by Hugh and Andrew Allen as Chairman and Director respectively, the Gazette reported on 17 September 1912: "The Liverpool correspondent of the Telegraph writes that there is little doubt entertained in shipping circles that the reported fusion of the Allan and C.P.R. steamship lines will shortly be fully justified. It  is  understood also that the Canadian mail contract is a now safe for  the joint concern which in its combined form will enjoy closest relations with the Dominion Government." On 23 October it was revealed that the Royal Trust Co. of Montreal (whose first president was the co-founder of Canadian Pacific) held 57,637 shares of Allan's total 60,639 shares whilst Sir Montague Allan owned 500 shares. This effectively ended three years of speculation and rumour, but it would be another five years until Canadian Pacific effectively absorbed Allan Line and the two firms continued to assume at least the appearance of independence. 

Alsatian on the ways just before launching.  Credit: Engineering.

An important development in the traffic between this country and Canada was marked by the launch on Saturday of the Alsatian, a new vessel constructed for the Allan Line by William Beardmore & Co. at their yard in Dalmuir. No more auspicious day could have been chosen for the inauguration of the career of the vessel, recent storms having given way to delightful spring weather, which enhanced greatly the pleasure and added to the success of the function. There was brilliant sunshine, in which the surroundings were seen at their best. Even the industrial purposefulness of the yard itself took on a genial aspect, according well with the feeling that accompanies a great undertaking successfully completed, while to the south was seen, across the river, green fields rising gradually to the line of the hills that closed the view.

There was provided at the slip a spacious platform which was tastefully decorated, the flags of this country and of the United States, being displayed. Here were gathered the guests, who included the Duke and Duchess of Montrose, the Marquis of Graham, M.V.O.; Lord Malise Graham, M.V.O., Mr. and Mrs. Hugh A. Allan, Colonel Smith Park, M.V.O., V.D.; Mrs. William Beardmore, Vice-Admiral J.E. Bearecroft,  C.B., M.V.O., Mr. W.R. Allan, Commander the Hon. Herbert Meade, R.N., Mr. M.K. Rodan, Dr. John Inglis and Sheriff Thomas Fyfe. In addition to the invited guests, there was a large attendance of the public, great interest having been taken locally in the building of the vessel. The launch was completely successful, the vessel taking the water quickly. As she left the ways, she was named by Mrs. Allan, wife of Mr. Hugh A. Allan, Liverpool, chairman of the Allan Line.

The Scotsman, 24 March 1913

The 24th of March 1913 was the unique occasion of the launching of not one, but two new liners, for the Canadian run-- Allan Line's Alsatian at Dalmuir and Cunard's Andania at Greenock, the latter being the first newly built ship and first of three for Cunard's new St. Lawrence service.  

Apart from coincidence of the floating two such vessels so near each other on one tide, the launches were of special interest showing the remarkable development that is taking place in the Canadian service, and the keen competition among the leading companies for lion's share in the traffic between the home country and the Dominion.

Aberdeen Press & Journal, 24 March 1913

Alsatian is launched. Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record

What was described by  the Dundee Courier as "in several respects the finest vessel on the North Atlantic, and will be splendidly furnished and equipped" was  "gracefully named… just as she commenced to move down the ways" just after 11:15 a.m. that morning in fine weather.  At the luncheon following the launch, the Marquis of Graham presented Mrs. Allen with a piece of old Irish silver as a souvenir of the launch and spoke of the story of the Allan Line whilst in reply Hugh Allen recalled the long association the line had with Beardmore, starting when it was Messrs. R. Napier & Sons. 

Credit: Calgary Herald, 10 April 1913.

Coincidental with Alsatian's launch was "an official announcement" that she and her sister would be placed on the Liverpool, Quebec and Montreal run, the Gazette noting that "Great satisfaction will be experienced in local shipping circles and among all who have the interests of the port at heart that the new steamers will come Montreal this season." Such hopes were dampened when the same paper reported on 3 April that "since the launch, further consideration has been given to the size of the Alsatian and her sister ship Calgarian, which will be launched shortly, and the weight of the machinery  which has to be be put into them, in comparison with the depth and width of the ship channel above Quebec. The result has been an official announcement was made yesterday to the effect that the Atlantic liners would stop at Quebec for the present, at any rate. The meaning of the addendum may be that the new ships will come here after the ship channel has been widened and deepened."

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew A. Allan sailed for Liverpool on 4 April 1913 in Empress of Britain  to be present at the launch of Calgarian at Fairfield's, Govan, on the 13th which Mrs. Allan would christen and also inspect the recently launched Alsatian at Dalmuir before returning in Victorian on 25th.

Press cuttings of the new Canada-Britain mail contract of 1913 had a patriotic flavour reflecting that, finally, all of the Dominion's mails would now be dispatched directly rather via New York.

In Ottawa, the new mail contract was announced on 8 April 1913 by the Hon. L.P. Pelietier,  Postmaster General.  This would provide a tri-weekly service in summer via Quebec/Rimouski and a bi-weekly one in winter via Halifax or St. John.  The nominated vessels were Allan Line's Alsatian, Calgarian, Victorian and Virginian, Canadian Pacific's Empress of Britain and Empress of Ireland, Canadian Northern's Royal Edward and Royal George and White Star-Dominion's Laurentic and Megantic with Teutonic acting as a relief vessel. The annual subsidy went from $600,000 to $1 mn., but negated dispatching any Canadian mails via New York, saving the $180,000 expended for that in the past. Summer sailings would be on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays.

A beautiful launching photo of Calgarian showing the clean hull lines of these vessels and the Red Ensign at the stern showing just how windy it was as she went down the ways. Credit: Shipbuilder & Shipping Record.

A splendid bookend to the launch of Alsatian and the new mail contract was provided by Calgarian being sent down the ways at Govan on 19 April 1913 as described in The Scotsman: "At the launch on Saturday there was a large gathering of the general public, both within the yard and alongside the banks of river. Unfortunately, the weather conditions were not favourable when the hour fixed for the ceremony approached, blustery winds, carrying sleet and hail with them, displaced the genial sunshine which had prevailed earlier. Prompt to time the big was released from the ways, and as she begin to move, Mrs. Andrew A. Allan, wife of  one of the directors of the owner's  firm named her. The Calgarian entered the water gracefully, but the presence of a strong wind caused some concern to the officials until they had the ship safely towed to the builder's basin, which was done in a comparatively short time." 

Calgarian afloat and tugs anxiously getting her in hand in very windy conditions.  Credit: Shipbuilding & Shipping Record. 

Also present for the launch were  Mr.  & Mrs. Hugh A. Allan, Chairman of the Allan Line, and Andrew Allan. The builders were represented by Chairman Alexander Gracie who presided at the post launching luncheon, and in proposing “'Success to the Calgarian and the Allan Line,'” referred to the early days of the trade between this country and Canada. It was fitting that this pioneer work should be done by a Scotsman, with an enterprise characteristic of the race. Mr. Allan undertook the venture, and for 100 years his name and that of his descendants had been associated with the Canadian trade. The Allan Line had grown from a few sailing ships to a fleet of 26 vessels of a tonnage of over 200,000 tons. To that fleet the Calgarian was the latest addition, and he hoped she would not be the last which his firm would build for the Allan Line."

The construction of Alsatian and Calgarian proved protracted and, as least in respect to Alsatian, profitless for their builders.  The shipping slump from the 1907 American Depression had long vanished and replaced by resurgent and indeed record immigration from Europe and the British isles to North America, prompting a true Golden Age of new liners, both of the record breaking "floating palace" sort and a new generation of "600 ft." intermediates. Then, too, the introduction of H.M.S. Dreadnaught in 1907 engendered an unprecedented naval race not only between Great Britain and Imperial Germany, but among most other naval powers.  All of which conspired to flood  British shipyards, then the heart of the global shipbuilding industry, with orders and new demands on labour and skills to  manufacture the more sophisticated turbine powered ships, all at a time of increasing labour unrest, rising costs and productivity issues.  

Alsatian was the pride of everyone at Beardmore except the accountants. 

Beardmores were  hard hit during this period  with neither the sufficient skilled labour for the new era of turbine ships nor the balance between naval and merchant orders. Indeed, Alsatian and three liners for Adelaide Steamship Co.-- Warilda, Wandilla and Willochra-- were their first merchant ships in sometime.  Skilled labour shortages to build high quality liners meant higher wages which had the effect of workers reducing  hours (by as much as 28% in 1913) with devastating effect on productivity, exacerbated by strikes in shipbuilding trades as well as more general coal strikes.. In the end, Alsatian cost £543,569 to build vs. £480,714 for Fairfield to construct Calgarian and Beardmore still lost £302,714 on her and the three Adelaide Steamship Co. vessels.  The  new Allan liners took far longer to complete than anticipated both by their owners and the Canadian Government when formulating the new mail contract which was, in large measure, predicated on their advent into service. 

"When completed....."  and in the meantime, there was no end to the artist renderings of the new ships including this which was published in the book The Floating Palaces in 1913. 

It was originally envisioned that Alsatian might enter service in August 1913, but even upon her launching, this seemed extremely doubtful and on the  15th the Gazette reported that "the liners would not be seen on the St. Lawrence this season, as their completion has taken longer than was originally expected." This was followed on 13 September by the speculation that  "The new Allan liners Alsatian and Calgarian will likely visit this port on their first voyage to the St. Lawrence next spring. The depth of the water in the ship channel will then be at the maximum, so it should be quite safe for the vessels, large through they are, to come up. The management of the Allan line consider bringing the ships to Montreal at the commencement of the season will be one of the best advertisements possible and one likely to yield good results during the remainder of the St. Lawrence navigation season. The news has not yet been officially given out, but is an open secret in the port."

Advertisement announcing Alasatian's maiden sailing from Canada on 3 January 1914 and from St. John. Credit: Calgary Herald, 6 October 1913.

On 20 September 1913 Allan Line reset the ships' entry into service,  to St. John, N.B.  but additionally calling at Halifax.  Alsatian leaving Liverpool on 22 November and St. John on 6 December whilst Calgarian was to leave Liverpool on 31 January 1914 and St. John on 14 February. Then,  on 2 October it was instead announced that Halifax would be the winter terminus for Alsatian (five voyages)and Calgarian (three trips) as well as Empress of  Ireland and Empress of Britain.  The drop of St. John was met with no little consternation from New Brunswick government and business leaders who sent a delegation to Ottawa on the 8th to lobby for its reinstatement. Canadian Pacific replied by stating that their new Missanabie and Metagama due out the next year would call at St. John. Meanwhile, Halifax it was and on the 12th Andrew Allen arrived there to inspect the piers to be used, the north side of Pier 2 and both sides of Pier 3.

And a week later, revised to show Halifax as the departure port. Credit: Gazette, 14 October 1913

Meanwhile, another rash of strikes caused further delays. The Province of 27 October 1913 lamented that "Great disappointment has been occasioned by the delay in putting the new Allan liners Alsatian and Calgarian into service, and strikes, first among one then among another section of workmen, are responsible. It is still hoped that one of these liners will make a maiden Christmas trip, in any case they certainly will be available for the spring rush to Canada, when a record in speed, size and equipment will be made for Canadian transatlantic route." Allan Line made it  official on 4 November announcing that "in consequence of the builders requiring more time for her completion than formerly thought would be the case," Alsatian's 20 December sailing from Liverpool and that from Halifax on 3 January will be cancelled and taken instead by Scandinavian.  Instead, Alsatian was programmed to now depart from Liverpool on 17 January and from Halifax on 31 January and, in effect, take Calgarian's previously announced maiden voyage.  It was not until 3 December that Calgarian's entry into service was announced: 28 February 1914.  

Alsatian leaves Dalmuir, bound for trials. Credit: Paul Strathdee, Ocean Liner Society Facebook group. 

After eight months fitting out, Alsatian finally left Beardmore's Dalmuir's fitting out basin on 5 December 1913 for Govan where she was drydocked and painted in preparation for her trials. 

Worth the wait: the newly completed Alsatian passing Gourock showing her exemplary lines.  Credit: www.dalmadan.com

Alsatian was put through her paces beginning 16 December 1913 with progressive speed trials over the Skelmorlie measured mile in rough weather conditions with force 4 winds and comprised two runs in opposite directions at 12, 14, 16, 18 and knots. She returned to dock to be cargoed to her load draught of 28 ft. 6 in. for her service trial from Corsewell Point to Longships Light (or in geographic terms from the Clyde to Land's End) and back.  The outbound run recorded an average of 19.96 knots and return, against strong head winds and seas, Alsatian clocked 19.05 knots overall, giving a mean speed of 19.5 knots at 20,620 shp and 278 rpms.  On the 19th she ran her full power tests,  averaging 19.91 knots at 21,375 shp and reaching 20.48 knots.  

It's possible that other ships looked as magnificent as Alsatian did running their trials. But on her own, she suffices quite nicely.  Here, she is "full out" on the Skelmorlie measured mile and making 20.5 knots. Credit: http://forums.airbase.ru/

Engineering (26 December 1913) lauded Alsatian's trials performance: "The results are highly satisfactory, and the steering, astern, stopping, and starting tests were equally favourable, so that the vessel will prove an eminently worthy addition to a most progressive steamship line." 

Showing off her novel cruiser stern, Alsatian on trials. Credit: Daily Mirror 18 December 1913

1914

Alsatian completed trials on 19 December 1913 and arrived at Canada Dock, Liverpool on 20th to prepare for her maiden voyage. On 6 January 1914 Hugh Allen sent a  wire to the Montreal office advising them that the line had taken delivery of the vessel.

Amid cheers the new Alsatian, the largest steamer which ever sailed to Canadia, left Liverpool on Saturday afternoon carrying a large complement of passengers. Getting alongside the landing stage and the send-off were accomplished without a hitch. 

The Gazette, 19 January 1914

The R.M.S. Alsatian sailed on her maiden voyage three p.m. Saturday and roused great interest. There was a splendid send off before an enthusiastic crowd and the steamer was much admired. On Friday there was a grand lunch at which 500 agents and government officials were present, Mr. Hugh Allen presiding. All agents expressed themselves most enthusiastically regarding arrangements for comfort of passengers in all classes, the opinion expressed that they surpass anything afloat. 

Cable to all Allan Line offices

The departure from Liverpool for Halifax of the Allan Line's new 18,000 ton steamship Alsatian marks a most important event in the development of Canada's transportation facilities with Europe.

This magnificent vessel, which is destined to share with her sister ship the Calgarian, the premier position in the Merchant Marine of the Dominion, embodies in  her construction not only the latest and most modern devices conducive to safety, luxury and good speed, but also includes many original features as customary each time the 'Pioneer Line' places a new steamer in commission.

Ottawa Citizen, 20 January 1914

Unable to provide a photograph of Alsatian sailing on her maiden voyage, another gratuitous photo (of which there is an abundance) of her trials will have to suffice. 

At 3.55 pm 17 January 1914 the largest passenger vessel yet to sail for Canada, departed Liverpool Landing Stage. Aboard R.M.S. Alsatian (Capt. E. Outram who was a native  of Sydney, Nova Scotia) were 53 First, 111 Second and 174 Third Class passengers, including Hon. George E. Forster, the Canadian Minister of Trade and Major Kersey, Manager of Canadian Pacific Steamships, but it was a typically light winter season list. The weather, too, was typical, the Gazette reporting that "from the time she left Liverpool until approaching Halifax, weather conditions were very unfavourable, giant combers sweeping over her nearly all the time."   On the 21st a wireless advised she was 660 miles east of Cape Race with anticipated arrival at Halifax early on the 23rd.  

An epoch-making event in the Canadian trans-Atlantic passenger service was the arrival from Liverpool at 4.20 o'clock Saturday morning of the magnificent Allan liner Alsatian on her maiden trip.

The Gazette, 26 January 1914

It was not until 4:20 a.m. on 24 January 1914 that Alsatian  arrived off Halifax and berthed at 8.00 am. Her daily runs were 364, 447, 418, 262, 325, 380 and 205 miles or 2,501 miles.  The Gazette reported that  "Rough as it was, few of the passengers minded it as the leviathan carried the seas perfectly and proved herself to be one of the finest sea boats.  Not only was Commander Outram  loud in praise of the way in which the new ship  behaved in the rough seas, but the passengers expressed great satisfaction." Andrew Allan was among those on the pier to welcome the new liner. 

It was just at daybreak that the mammoth ship passed in to the shelter of Halifax Harbor from the turbulent ocean, across which she had been battling for six days. Her lights had not been extinguished, and in the semi-dawn, her brilliantly illuminated superstructure, with the quivering row of lights along her hull, made an impressive picture against the dark background of water and hills. Anyone who saw her at the early hour could not but be impressed with the fact that the great ship passing slowly for the first time to her berth in a Dominion port, symbolized the marvelous growth of Canada, and marked another epoch in the transportation history of this country.

Gazette, 26 January 1914

Had not it been for that specially heavy weather, gales, fog and snow, was met with her on her trip to Canada, the Alsatian would have easily shattered the record for the trans-Atlantic  voyage.  Captain Outram, formerly commander of the Virginian, and her crew and passengers were loud in their praises of the way she behaved and the captain and officials of the line declare that it only needs moderately fair  weather until their vessel does shatter the record....Lying at the docks the Alsatian makes a pretty picture, and well maintains the reputation of the Allan Line for beauty and grace of design in their vessels.

Montreal Daily Mail, 31 January 1914

Credit: National Post, 24 January 1914

No expense or care has been spared to make this 18,000 ton steamer and her sister the Calgarian, which will shortly commence her service to Canada, worthy of the place in the passenger and freight service that the largest vessel plying between British and Canadian ports should occupy. Marine experts agree that, whether they regard the intricacies of her novel type of machinery the design of her hull, the fittings and the beautiful interior decorations, the safety devices, or any other particular feature of the ship, the Alsatian can, figuratively as well as practically speaking, show her heels to any of the fine steamships operating in the Canadian service. While on her preliminary trials and during her first trans-Atlantic voyage, the Alsatian was the centre of  attraction for the  whole shipping world.

Montreal Daily Mail, 31 January 1914

After being thronged by some 10,000 visitors,  Alsatian's  maiden eastbound voyage commenced from Halifax on 31 January 1914 with 113 First, 96 Second and 422 Third Class aboard. "She is the best and steadiest ship in a sea-way I have been in," said Capt. Outram upon arrival at Liverpool on 7 February.  The Liverpool Post added that "a feature of the passenger list was the number of saloon passengers who had travelled from India and China via Canada."

She is the best and steadiest ship I have ever been in. We have had very trying and heavy weather on both the outward and homeward passages, and she behaved splendidly. I can imagine nothing better afloat. You cannot say anything too good of the ship. Thus, Captain Outran, the commander of the new Alan Liner Alsatian, the largest ship sailing to Canada, which arrived at the Liverpool Landing Stage early on Saturday morning, on the completion of her that round trip. 

On account of the heavy weather and fog experienced, no record runs were attempted, nor, indeed, would record-breaking have been sought under any circumstance, as ships on their first voyage are judiciously herd back somewhat. The Alsatian was slowed down a good deal, owing to the above reasons, and her passage was naturally prolonged well over the time she would have normally taken in in making the run across. 

Leicester Daily Post 9 February 1914

Completion of Calgarian continued to lag and on 5 February  1914 her maiden voyage was again postponed. To have sailed from Liverpool on the 28th, she would now depart on 24 April and from Halifax on 7 May and replaced in the meantime by Hesperian. 

Alsatian continued to be tested by winter North Atlantic weather and her second voyage, beginning from Liverpool on 14 February 1914, was met by "terrific weather," encountering a series of hurricanes all the way across and forcing her to reduce speed for many hours.  She finally reached Halifax on the 22nd, landing 50 First, 163 Second and 340 Third Class passengers.  These included "50 Bulgarian gypsies who are proceeding to points in Manitoba to take up farming" and the crew of the schooner Carrie M. Wambach, abandoned at sea on 13 January who had been rescued by another Allan liner and taken to Glasgow.  Liverpool-bound, Alsatian left on the 28th with 82 First, 83 Second and 309 Third Class. 

 

Remarkable, even for the day, photo spread in the Daily Record of Calgarian's  trials showing (top left) Major Maitland Kelsey of CPR/Allan Line, Capt. Gambell and Chief Officer Jones and bottom left executives of Fairfields and to the immediate left of the engine telegraph, A.M. Gordon, the naval architect who designed Alsatian and Calgarian. 

With a large party representing the owners and builders, and also invited guests, including Sir John Bales, Mr. Gracie, chairman of the Fairfield Company; Messrs. W.A. Sampson, director, and A. Cleghorn, engineering manager, A.M. Gordon, her designer, G.A. Grawley, her interior architect, and several directors of the Allan Line, Calgarian left Greenock early on 16 March 1914 for the first of her trials. These began with seven double run progressive speed trials on the Skelmorlie measured mile and then manouvering miles in the Firth of Clyde. On the last  double run, she recorded a mean speed of 20.634  knots. During manoeuvring trials she turned a completed circle to port in 3 minutes 45 seconds.

The flawless lines of Calgarian shown to advantage as she sails from Greenock to begin her trials. 

PALATIAL NEW LINER FOR CANADA. SUCCESSFUL TRIALS, (By Our Own Reporter.) GLASGOW, Monday The Allan liner Calgarian, the newest floating town to put on the Transatlantic service, has to-day had one of her official baptisms, and has come through it triumphantly. She has undergone her speed and turning trials on measured mile near Skelmorlie, a good way below Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde, and has proved herself highly satisfactory vessel. For hour after hour she has steamed up and down the broad Firth at different rates, passing with almost monotonous regularity the posts which mark the two ends of the mile, and making nothing of the choppy waters through which she has forced her way. The conditions have been rather severe, for it is wintry weather here. Heavy snow fell last night, and thanks to this the trial trip has been more picturesque than might have been expected, for the mountains that keep guard on both sides of the Firth save worn mantle of pure white which it has been delightful to gaze upon. The day has been bright and sunny, with strong breeze blowing, but the latter, although it would have been sufficient to make a small vessel distinctly uncomfortable, has had no effect whatever on the steadiness of this monster. To-morrow she will able to show how she can behave on the open sea. for in tho morning she starts on a continuous run of miles to the neighbourhood of Land’s End and back. 

Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 17 March 1914

Calgarian as she left for trials. Credit: International Marine Engineering

Finishing her 600-knot nonstop sea-speed trials on the evening of 18 March 1914, Calgarian was steamed flat out from Corsewall Point to the Longship Light and back in moderate gale conditions and still averaged 19.6 knots on the roundtrip and on the return passage, 20.53 knots, with a maximum speed of 21.6 knots. Upon return, she anchored  off the Tail of the Bank, Greenock.  "The vessel proved herself to be a most comfortable sea boat under severe weather conditions, with a marked absence of vibration." (Daily Record).

Credit: The Vancouver Sun, 13 April 1914.

Calgarian arrived at Liverpool on 28 March 1914 where she was delivered to her owners and Allan Line commissioned what would prove their last new liner.  

Credit: The Gazette, 21 March 1914.

Meanwhile, her sister began to show her speed and having left Halifax the evening of 28 March 1914, Alsatian arrived at Liverpool at 7:00 p.m. on 3 April, taking 5 days 19 hours for the passage despite having to take the southern route which added 300 miles to the crossing.

Credit: The Gazette, 16 March 1914

It was finally resolved that the new ships would indeed turn around at Quebec and not proceed up river to Montreal as reported by the Gazette on 16 April 1914: "It was definitely stated today by Mr. Andrew Allan that, owing to the shallow water between here and Quebec, the two new Allan liners, Calgarian and Alsatian, would use Quebec as their terminal port instead of Montreal, which is the  home port for the rest of the Allan fleet. The two boats will use berth No. 2 on the embankment at Quebec. The first of the new liners to arrive up the river this season will be the Calgarian, which is due at Quebec on May 8, while the Alsatian will arrive 22 May." The statement added: "There is just one reason for this course and that is the lack of water between Quebec and Montreal in the ship channel. These two ships are 600 feet long, 72 feet beam, with 45 feet depth of hold, and when fully loaded they draw 30 feet of water. In many places between here and Quebec the channel is only thirty feet deep, and it would be quite unsafe to bring such vessels to Montreal. We could have much preferred to bring the Calgarian and Alsatian to Montreal, but we do not consider that it would be safe to do so in the present condition of the channel."

"Arrangements are bring made by the Allan line to take passengers to and from these vessels by steamship specials from Montreal, just as the Canadian Pacific now does with its Atlantic Empresses, so that there will be a minimum loss of time for passengers." This comprised two trains from Montreal to Halifax.  Two trains, the first one leaving 8:30 p.m. and arriving directly alongside the following morning with passengers boarding the ship on arrival  for breakfast. The second train left Montreal at 10:00 a.m. day of sailing. First and Second Class passengers got a First Class train ticket included in their fare whilst Third Class went Second Class.

For the new ships' American customers, Canadian Pacific and Michigan Central Railways introduced new faster through overnight service from Chicago and Detroit to Montreal, connecting to the special steamer express the next day direct to the Quebec pier. The outbound train was dubbed "The Canadian" and the return one "The American". "Hence passengers from Chicago and its vicinity can have their breakfast at home on Wednesday morning and on Thursday afternoon sail down the St. Lawrence from Quebec on the new steamships, the Calgarian and the Alsatian, or the staunch Canadian Pacific steamers, the Empress of Britain and the Empress of Ireland which make the trans-Atlantic trip in less than four days from land to land."

Credit: The Province, 4 April 1914

On her final crossing from Halifax that season, Alsatian sailed on 25 April 1914 with 135 First, 86 Second and 454 Third Class passengers and "after a good passage, the weather conditions in the Atlantic being fairly pleasant" (Liverpool Daily Post) docked at Liverpool the evening of  1 May.

Exceptional interest was manifested on Liverpool landing stage, yesterday, in the Sailing the new Allan Royal Mail steamer Calgarian, with Captain Gambell in command. The vessel, which was built the Fairfield Shipbuilding Co., is likely to great favourite with Canadian and American passengers. The new ship is similar in appearance to her sister ship Alsatian, which made her maiden voyage in January last. When in the river she attracted general attention, owing to her semi-warship appearance, the cruiser stern and Admiralty capped funnels giving her this look.

Sheffield Independent, 9  May 1914

Mr. Hugh Allan, chairman of the Allan line, there with prominent officials of the line, attended the sailing of the Calgarian, which was watched by an immense crowd, who gave the ship hearty send-off on her initial voyage.

Londonderry Sentinel, 9 May 1914

Commanded by Capt. Gambrill, R.M.S. Calgarian cast off from Liverpool's Landing Stage at 7:00 p.m. 8 May 1914 with 160 First, 297 Second and 538 Third Class passengers. Among those aboard were Mr. G.B. Hunter, Chairman of Swan, Hunter, Sir J.H. Biles, naval architect, Sir James Outram, Mr. F.W. Cowie, chief engineer of the Montreal Harbour Commission.

There was a large gathering at the breakwater this afternoon to witness the latest addition to the Allan Line, the magnificent steamer Calgarian, conclude her maiden voyage to the St. Lawrence. Amongst those on the wharf were Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Allan, of Montreal, Mr. W.J. Henderson, local representative of the Allan Line, Mr. A. Piers, Commander Walsh, marine superintendent of the C.P.R.; Mr. W.G. Annabie and other steamship and railway men.

It was almost five o'clock when the steamer rounded the point at Indian Cove, opposite the Island of Orleans, slowed up and glided majestically up the harbor to her mooring berth. As she approach she was the cynosure for the eyes of many spectators who thronged the wharves, the Dufferin Terrace, the Grand Battery, and other points of vantage and who were no means niggard in their appreciation of her handsome lines and impressive appearance. But it was in the interior of the ship that the chief advance was noticeable. Height and spaciousness of all the public rooms, while the furnishings and decorations have been executed with the best of taste, the color effects being specially good."

The passengers  spoke very highly of the sea-going qualities of the new boat, it being said the cruiser stern is largely responsible for its great steadiness.

The Gazette, 15 May 1914

Captain T.J. Gambell spoke in the most favorable terms concerning the vessel and the entire voyage in general. 'We had moderate weather on the whole. Encountered a field of ice in 46 38 N. 48.12 W. Steered 60 miles round it, south-east, south and west, and cleared the ice in latitude 15.40, longitude 48.38. The ice field was heavy, many bergs and the weather was very thick with snow and sleet. We encountered about ten miles of loose ice in the Gulf. Throughout the entire voyage the vessel behaved splendidly, making an average run of about nineteen and a half knots per hour. We suffered in all fourteen and a half hours' detention and the actual time of the voyage, from port to  port, deducting detentions was six days and ten hours.' 

The Daily Telegraph,  16 May 1914

Advertisement for Calgarian's maiden sailing from Quebec touting her Second Class accommodation. Credit: Edmonton Journal, 25 April 1914.

In a successful test for the efficient steamer special train service from Montreal to Quebec, 900 passengers passed through Montreal Windsor Station 20 May 1914 and the following morning bound for Calgarian's maiden voyage. Second and Third Class left the previous in a 14-car train and First Class in two trains on sailing day at 10:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m..  In all, there were 146 First, 189 Second and 602 Third Class aboard for the maiden sailing from Quebec. She arrived at Liverpool on the 29th.

By the end of May 1914, Allan had acheived their apex with the two finest passenger ships on the Canadian route, the fullest and, sadly, as it proved, the final expression of the boldness, innovation and enterprise that always had characterised the firm.  

Painting of the new Alsatian and Calgarian by A.H. Hider. Credit: Mariners' Museum

ALLAN ACHIEVEMENT

In point of size and splendour they  will be the largest and finest in the Canadian trade. In design and construction the vessels represent the acme of naval architecture, the unique experience and resources of the Allan Line having been drawn upon to the fullest extent in the production of the highest class ships for mail and passenger service and the conveyance of freight.

Shipbuilding & Shipping Record, 23 June 1913

When completed she was a really magnificent specimen of what British yards at their best could do. She seemed to have a rugged personality all her own, with strength, fitness and ability to cope with the worst of weather in every line of her, from her lofty well flared bows to her shapely cruiser stern...But with all her massive dignity the Alsatian was still  graceful and perfectly proportioned, and, in her original  colours, one of the smartest and most  imposing looking ships on any ocean. 

J.H. Isherwood, Sea Breezes, April 1957

Although designed by individual naval architects for different services of what were still presented as distinct companies, Canadian Pacific's Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia of 1913 and Allan Line's Alsatian and Calgarian of 1914 shared very similar hull designs, introducing the cruiser stern to big express liners, and had the same basic machinery installation. Collectively the quartet elevated the "The All Red Route"  to the world's premier ocean highways.  On Canadian North Atlantic run, the Allan sisters had no equals and represented the ultimate expression of a remarkable progression of ever larger and faster and more luxurious vessels that began with Dominion Line's aptly named Canada of 1896.  Eighteen years later, the Canadian route liners owed nothing to their competitors trading to American ports, whether on the Atlantic  or Pacific, when it came to comfort, modernity or speed.  

Alsatian on trials proving that a quartering stern view makes perfectly proportioned liners even more pleasing. Credit: author's collection.

Beyond their size, specifications, speed and statistics, Alsatian and Calgarian were simply splendid looking vessels possessed of proportion, power and presence that distinguishes them even at a time when passenger liner aesthetics were supreme. 

A.M. Gordon, the Glasgow Naval Architect (shown above on the left with the snap brim cap on the bridge of Calgarian on her trials) produced a widely used Speed, Deadweight and Freeboard Scale calculator.

Alsatian and Calgarian  were the last ships designed by Alexander Milne Gordon (c. 1870-1921), the respected Glasgow naval architect who was for many years the consulting  naval architect for Allan Line.  He designed Ionian, Ontarian, Pretorian and most significantly, the first turbine steamers on the North Atlantic, the pace-setting Victorian and Virginian of 1905 which were also the first triple-screw liners.  All of these pleasingly balanced high freeboard hulls imparting strength and seaworthiness with the balance and grace of perfection proportions, elements which were raised to perfection with Alsatian and Calgarian. 

If remembered for nothing else, Alsatian and Calgarian are famous for being the first Atlantic liners with the "cruiser" stern. It was a feature pioneered by British-built Canadian route vessels, first introduced on a merchant ship by Prince George and Prince Rupert (Swan Hunter, 1910) on the British Columbian coast, then Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia on the Pacific in 1913 and finally on the Atlantic by the Allan sisters. 

Alsatian on the ways showing her innovative cruiser stern, at once practical, modern and distinctive, it was the ships' most heralded feature which they introduced to the North Atlantic. Credit: The Shipbuilder. 

The myriad advantages of the cruise stern was nicely summed at the time by the Railway and Marine News: 

The 'cruiser' or 'Admiralty' stern is quite an innovation for the merchant service, but there seems every prospect of its adoption pretty generally for the mail boat class of liner. Four liners will be equipped with it during the present year, viz., the Empress of Russia, Empress of Asia and the two large quadruple-screw Allan liners Alsatian and Calgarian. The new shape of stern confers several advantages. In the first place it is possible to get a greater displacement on a given length over-all, with corresponding increase in deadweight, or, if the displacement be not increased, the lines may be fined down, so that the ship is more easily driven, with corresponding reduction in engine power. In the second place, the fuller water lines aft which are permissible with this type of stern insure greater stability, especially at the deeper draughts. In the third place, it is probable that this form of stern tends to reduce the vibration due to propellers. This reduction in vibration is further insured by the placing of the steering gear low down in the ship, immediately over the rudder-head, so that the weights in the after part are more directly water-borne than where the steering gear is placed on the poop deck or immediately under it, with an overhanging counter. The balanced rudder fitted with this type of stern considerably improves the maneuvering powers of the vessel, and being entirely immersed and protected by the long overhang aft, it is less liable to damage from ice, floating wreckage, or other obstructions, especially when the vessel is going astern. To some, however, the appearance of the ship aft may not appear so attractive as with the older form of stern with a counter of graceful lines, but this is largely due to the training of the eye. 

Railway and Marine News, Vol 11 1913

Another view of Alsatian showing her novel cruiser stern and the small diameter screws that characterised the early direct drive high rev. turbines. Credit: Engineering. 

Their claim to be "the Mauretania and Lusitania  of the Canada Run" was emulated in being, like the Cunarders, "sister ships" that were not only built in different yards, but with many differences, both substantive and minor to distinguish them. 

They were not identical in dimensions, Alsatian of 18,485 gross tonnage with an  overall length of 600 ft. and a beam of 72.2 ft  whilst Calgarian measured 17,521 gross tonnage, 590 ft. length and 70.2 ft. beam.  Here, it's worth comparing their dimensions with Empress of Russia and Empress of  Asia: 592 ft. and 68.2 ft. and  Calgarian, also Fairfield-built, was two feet-narrowier than her sister.  She and the CPR twins proved "wetter" ships in head seas due to their perhaps too fine lines giving Alsatian a reputation of being a slightly better seaboat. 

The superstructures were built up differently with that in Alsatian constructed according to the theory of Mr. Foster King with the longitudinal strength of the body of  the vessel carried up the Boat Deck and the superstructure itself part of the "ship's girder" whilst Calgarian the superstructure was broken up by expansion joints.  The balanced rudders were also mounted different in each ship.  The Calgarian's rudder was not supported outside the hull, while the Alsatian's rudder hung on a single pintle in the stern post. 

There has recently been delivered at Fairfield, from the Sheffield works of Messrs. Cammell, Laird & Co., the rudder for the Calgarian. This is believed to be the largest rudder ever made in two pieces, and their transport from Sheffield to the Fairfield yard was a matter of very special arrangement and considerable difficulty. As delivered the top portion weighed 27 tons and the bottom portion 15 tons. The total height of the rudder, as assembled, from heel to top of stock,is 26 ft. 6 in., the extreme width 21 ft., and the total weight 42 tons. The two portions are joined by a spigot and faucet joint carefully planed and connected by sixty 24-in. diameter turned and fitted steel bolts. The body of each portion of the rudder has been cored out, leaving a wall of a minimum thickness of 2 ins. The stock was cast solid and afterwards  bored out to ensure perfect soundness and to lessen the weight without impairing the strength. The Fairfield yard, it may be added, has also recently been supplied by Messrs.Cammell, Laird & Co. with two similar rudders, but slightly less in width and weight, for the two new steamers completing for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

The Marine Engineer & Naval Architect, February 1913

R.M.S. Alsatian on trials. Credit: The Shipbuilder

R.M.S. Calgarian on trials. Credit: The Shipbuilder

There were many visual differences in the treatment of the superstructure elements and funnel shapes  between Alsatian and Calgarian:

 

     R.M.S. Alsatian                                                                      R.M.S. Calgarian

 Bridge front

• Alsatian  paired large portholes
  
• Calgarian evenly spaced portholes
  

Forward superstructure glass-enclosed promenade

• Alsatian evenly spaced windows
  
• Calgarian paired windows

Upper covered promenade deck curtain plating

• Alsatian arched tops 
  
• Calgarian straight tops

Lower covered promenade deck

• Alsatian  plated-in aft as far as the second pair of boats
  
• Calgarian  open from the forward bulkhead 

Ventilators 

• Alsatian large flat-topped ventilators
  
• Calgarian large cowled ventilators
  

Funnels

• Alsatian  elliptical-shaped
  
• Calgarian oval-shaped  

Before beginning her first St. Lawrence season, Alsatian's  livery was modified so that the black paint was carried one deck higher and her boats were painted mahogany.  She is shown in Canada Dock just repainted. Credit: Merseyside Maritime Museum. 

Calgarian, as repainted in time for her maiden voyage showing the black carried one deck higher and her boats repainted mahogany.  Credit: Merseyside Maritime Museum. 

These were exceptionally strong ships, designed to be hard driven in the exacting conditions of the North Atlantic run, and in particular, to safely navigate in the loose field ice and growlers so often encountered off the Grand Banks during the early spring and late autumn in the St. Lawrence River.  It is oft stated that this was in consequence of the loss of Titanic, but the design of the ships had already been set by then and A.M. Gordon's other Allan designs all factored in the requirements of the route. In Alsatian and Calgarian, the scantlings were spaced 3 ft. apart but 2 ft.  in the fore and after peaks whilst the shell plating forward for 80 ft. from the stem aft was doubled above and below the waterline and the framing further reinforced. 

Each had eight decks, three overall: Boat, (A), Upper Promenade (B), Lower Promenade (C), Shelter (D), Upper (E), Main (F), Lower (G) and Orlop (H). Five holds, three forward for general cargo the forward most  of which capped with a massive steel lid, and two aft for refrigerated cargo (70,000 cu. ft. total).

As with Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia and well in excess of existing Board of Trade requirements, the Allan Sisters were the first four compartment ships on the North Atlantic, able to remain afloat with any four adjoining compartments flooded.  The 11 watertight bulkheads all extended up as far as E Deck whilst several extended up to D Deck. All the watertight doors could be activated hydraulically from the bridge on the new Stone-Lloyd system and these were among the very first liners so fitted.  

Alsatian and Calgarian were the first new British trans-Atlantic liners built after the Titanic disaster and the first designed and completed with lifeboat equipment for all aboard. There were no fewer than 18 regular lifeboats and 28 Englehardt decked boats, 18 of which were carried below the regular boats, all at radial davits. Seven sets of boats were on each side of the Boat Deck with another two sets of boats on each side of the aft deck house.  

"Boats For All": Alsatian and Calgarian were the first newly designed and built British Atlantic liners to offer this.  This view of Calgarian's Boat Deck also shows another innovation: the mahogany motor life boat amidships, also fitted with wireless.  Before her maiden voyage, all of her boats would be painted to match.  Credit: Daily Record, 18 March 1914. 

The number of boats was not as newsworthy as one of them in particular for in addition to their cruiser sterns, the Allan Sisters were the first ocean liners with a motor lifeboat:

The Allan Line.—The Allan Line who have a reputation as pioneers have gone ahead of the Board of Trade regulations and are fitting a motor lifeboat to the Alsatian and Calgarian. This small craft is 28 ft. long, has a beam of 8 ft. and is housed in for half her length, while a self-draining cockpit aft provides accommodation for the helmsman. The material is mahogany and teak. A four-cylinder Gleniffer paraffin motor gave the vessel 7.4 knots during her trials which were carried out in half a gale. Two masts and oars are provided besides a complete lifeboat kit, while a complete wireless installation is also fitted whose range is 100 miles. From eight to ten ships' boats can be towed in moderate weather.

Marine Engineer & Naval Architect March 1914

Plans for Alsatian and Calgarian's pacesetting motor lifeboats. 

Virtually identical to that installed in Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, The Allan Sisters were the first British-built Atlantic liners to introduce the triple-expansion steam turbine which had first been fitted to Cie. Gle. Transatlanique's France of 1912 as well as the first quadruple-screw liners on the St. Lawrence run.  So similar was their machinery to the CPR Pacific pair, designed by W.D. McLaren of Fairfields, that is most likely he, too, designed and specified Alsatian and Calgarian's machinery.  Collectively, it proved one of the most reliable and efficient installations of its kind and era.

Alsatian's high and intermediate turbines. Credit: The Engineer. 

Overall, the machinery installation occupied 237 ft. of the ships' length amidships below F Deck with boiler rooms amidships separated by a coal bunker and, separated by another coal bunker, the four turbines in one compartment aft, one each direct driving its own shaft and screw.  The high-pressure turbine drove the port wing shaft, the intermediate-pressure the starboard wing shaft  and the two low low-pressure turbines drove the two inboard shafts.  The astern turbines were built into the low-pressure turbine casing so that the 60% astern power was transmitted to the inboard pair of screws. 

One of Alsatian's low pressure and astern turbine. Credit: The Engineer

Steam was generated by six double-ended and four single-ended cylindrical boilers working at 200 psi under Howden's system of forced draught and burning coal.  There was 51,712 sq. ft. of heating surface.  In addition to the cross bunker between the boiler rooms and the engine compartment, there was an additional one forward of the first boiler and also along side sides of the forward end of the engine room; "an excellent arrangement for minimizing flooding in the event of disaster." (Shipbuilder).In all, the maximum bunker capacity was 5,700 tons or sufficient for a round voyage although the usual bunker stow was 3,500 tons.  In Alsatian, the magnificent elliptical funnels, each measuring 19.5 ft. by 12.5 ft., rose 123 ft. above the grates. 

One of Alsatian's double-ended boilers, each one weighed 106 tons. Credit: The Engineer.

The normal shaft horse power was 19,000 which gave a service speed of 18.5 knots at 215 rpm or about half a knot over their fastest competition, Royal Edward and Royal George. All that power was transmitted to four four-bladed bronze propellers which were no more than 9 ft. in diameter.  During her fleeting commercial career, Calgarian was credited with breaking the Liverpool-Rimouski via Cape Race record, but Alsatian had to wait until after the war as Empress of  France, to make numerous record passages. 

R.M.S. ALSATIAN

General Arrangement & Deck Plans

from  Engineering 4 April 1913

(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)

Rigging Plan & Profile

A (Boat) Deck

B (Upper Promenade) Deck

C (Lower Promenade) Deck & D (Shelter) Decks

E (Upper) Deck & F (Main) Decks

G (Lower) Deck

Hold Deck

R.M.S. CALGARIAN

General Arrangement & Deck Plans

from  Shipbuilding & Shipping Record 26 June 1913

(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)

Rigging Plan & Profile

A (Boat) Deck

B (Upper Promenade) Deck

C (Lower Promenade) Deck

D (Shelter) Deck

E (Upper) Deck

F (Main) Deck

G (Lower) Deck

H (Orlop) Deck

Hold Deck

Everything that the skill of designers and builders can conceive has been accomplished, but perhaps it is in regard to her scheme of internal architecture and decoration that the Alsatian stands out pre-eminent in the magnificent fleet sailing under the flag of the British merchantile marine.  

Sheffield Daily Telegraph,  17 January 1914

Alsatian and Calgarian introduced true "Floating Palace" splendour in their passenger facilities and public rooms to the Canadian run.  If spurred on by Royal Edward and Royal George's accommodation and appointments, the Allan Sisters took them to a new level, hitherto unseen on the St. Lawrence and equal to the finest ships sailing to New York.  

In layout and capacity, Alsatian and Calgarian were similar with the only difference being the arrangement of the Boat Deck public rooms. With accommodation for 287 First, 504 Second and 848 Third (Alsatian; her sister's figures varying only slightly), the ratio of berths reflected the  Canadian run market which stressed "second saloon" and, of course, emigrant traffic. 

Indeed, it was in First Class carryings that Allan Line distinctly lagged, tallying only 3,581 fares westbound and 2,370 eastbound out of the total of 78,264 passengers carried on the Liverpool-based service in 1913 or less than 8 per cent.  Here, the focus, as it had been with Canadian Northern's new service, was to attract the larger American market situated in the Middle West and New England away from the New York ships by offering similar if not superior levels of accommodation and service, but also a shorter overall journey time "door to door." 

The decoration of the First and Second Class was entrusted to George A. Crawley (1864-1926) of Westminister, London. One of the leading exponents of classic English country house aesthetic, some of his better known works included Westbury House (1904-10), Long Island, New York,  the restoration of Crowhurst Place (b. 1450, restored 1912), Peterborough Hall (1916) and 27 Palace Court, Bayswater (1918).  As with so much of Alsatian and Calgarian influenced by the CPR trans-Pacific flyers, Crawley's introduction to designing liner interiors began with Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia and he went on to decorate Missanabie and Metagama (1915) and Empress of Canada of 1922. 

George A. Crawley, the famous British country house architect, interior designer and landscape architect who designed the interiors of Alsatian and Calgarian.  

Like Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, Alsatian and Calgarian were completely distinct in their interiors, the former being richly decorated along mostly  Jacobean lines whilst the latter, as a nod to her Canadian name, having "a simpler and more domestic effect" and decorated uniformly along mostly late Georgian themes. This continued Crawley's designs which combined both periods in Empress of Asia.  For the Allan Sisters, he lavished both with specially commissioned paintings, murals, carvings and furniture.

Both the  public rooms and suites of the first and second-class accommodation the architect Mr. George A. Crawley, had evolved a scheme of architecture and decoration which is Jacobean throughout, and neither trouble nor expense has been spared in getting together genuine antique furniture and objets d'art of that most interesting period… In a sentence, it may be said that never has a ship sailed out of any port in the world containing so many rare and valuable articles of vertu placed in surroundings so absolutely faithful in every detail to the period from they emanate. 

Sheffield Daily Telegraph,  17 January 1914

Writing of the art and decor aboard Calgarian, the Sheffield Independent of 17 March 1914 said:

Cultured taste is a striking feature of the saloon decorations. A week of seagoing leisure would not exhaust the interest the interest of the beautiful modern prints of eighteenth century pictures which adorn the walls of the spacious lounge, nor yet the collection of real Japanese pictures on silk in the first-class dining saloon. Coloured prints of pictures by Frantonard, Lanceret, and Morland adorn the library which in a colour scheme of power blue and gold, above a purple carpet, is in the Georgian period. Indeed, the carpets have been chosen with care and taste, notably a Chinese one in the lounge.

The number, range and size of the First Class public rooms was without equal on the North Atlantic relative to the number of passengers.  

Alsatian, gymnasium (shared at different hours with First and Second Class) and a "first" on the Canadian North Atlantic run. 

In Alsatian, on A (Boat) Deck amidships was a very large and well equipped gymnasium (a "first" for a Canadian route vessel), then aft was what was originally labelled as a "grill room" but completed as a veranda cafe, measuring 40-ft. wide by 27-ft. long, not sited all the way aft and half enclosed as these usually were, but with very large windows looking out on deck, and the top level of the impressive two-storey smoking room.  In Calgarian, the upper level of the smoking room was used as the veranda cafe arranged around an open well with the gymnasium immediately forward.  

Detail of Alsatian's aft Boat deck showing the upper level of the smoking room and veranda cafe with the gymnasium just aft of the lounge skylight. 

And the same section of deck in Calgarian with the veranda cafe arranged aft and around the well to the smoking room below and gymnasium adjoining. 

Alsatian, First Class promenade, looking aft. The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914.

The main public rooms were on B (Upper Promenade) Deck which was encircled by a broad, walk-around covered promenade that was glass-enclosed forward. 

Alsatian, First Class library.

Forward was the library/writing room measuring 42 ft. wide by 22 ft. long. In Alsatian, this was decorated along the lines of some of the rooms in Kensington Palace in the era of William & Mary and the bookcases copied from those in Pepys Library, Magdalen College, Cambridge. Decorated along Georgian motifs, Calgarian's library was in powder blue and gold with a purple carpet. Aft of this was the First Class entrance and grand staircase with a passenger lift in the centre.  

Alsatian, First Class grand staircase with passenger lift in the centre. The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914. 

But unquestionably the finest apartment on the ship [Alsatian] is the lounge. This has been carried out in oak by Messrs. George Trollope & Sons and Colls & Sons, of London. It has a semicircular ceiling with skylights, and at one end is a finely carved chimney piece, while at the other end of  the room is a large mirror enclosed by carved woodwork embodying nautical motifs. Over the chimneypiece and  mirror are decorative  paintings by Mr. George Lambert, the well-known Australian artist, and over the mantlepiece is a flower painting by Mr. Philip Connard. The whole forms a very rich and beautiful apartment.  

Architectural Review, The Architecture of the Liner, Arthur J. Davis 1914

Alsatian, First Class lounge. The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914.

Alsatian, First Class lounge

Corridors leading aft on either side of the forward funnel casing led to the decorative and social highlight of the ships', the magnificent lounge, measuring 48-ft. wide by 45-ft. long, with a barrel-vaulted ceiling over the centre portion giving an 18-ft. height whilst three large bow-windows on either side and skylights extending the full length of the room flooded the space with natural light. For Alsatian, Mr. Crawley chose Sir Christopher Wren's Royal apartments in Hampton Court as his decorative inspiration. At either end of the centre section were paintings by the Australian artist George Lambert, framed by fine carved panels in the style of Grinling Gibbons in addition to a fine oak trophy carved by Mr. Mark Rogers, the well-known wood carver.  The forward end of the room featured a splendid fireplace  whilst on the opposite end was a large decorative mirror.   The center portion featured a hardwood dance floor which, when the carpet was removed, converted the lounge to a ballroom. 

Alsatian, First Class lounge

In Calgarian, "the lounge is an example of the more sumptuous decoration fashionable in the time of George II, and it contains a fine carved mantelpiece and overmantel. The walls are  hug with toile de jouie; and the painted frieze of dancing children, which runs round the central portion of the room, is by Mr. Carey Robinson, now of the Glasgow School of Art." (Shipbuilder)

Alsatian First Class lounge detail. Credit: Historic England Archive

Alsatian First Class lounge detail. Credit: Historic England Archive

Aft and slightly to the portside was a large card room, 29 ft. by 21 ft., which was the only room in Alsatian not of the Jacobean period, being rendered in the Adams style of the late 18th century and featuring a beautiful antique stone mantelpiece and painted furniture. 

Alsatian, First Class Class card room. Credit: The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914. 

A starboardside corridor led to the main level of the 42 ft. x 41 ft. smoking room.  This was decorated in the style of King James in Alsatian and even among the panoply of splendid Edwardian liner smoking rooms, this was one of the most impressive with a wonderful side staircases in Jacobean style accessing the upper level on Boat Deck, a decorative chimney piece copied from that at Old Place, Lindfield, Sussex and the furniture faithful copies of the originals at Knole, Kent, the seat of Lord Sackville. The room was further distinguished by beautiful Jacobean plaster ceilings and friezes. In Calgarian, the room was described in the Shipbulder as being "in French walnut, the period represented being somewhat earlier than that followed in other decorations of the ship. The mantelpiece in this apartment is somewhat similar in character to that in the King's dressing room at Hampton Court Palace, and it carries a reproduction of an old Vauxhall glass mirror."

Alsatian, First Class smoking room. Credit: The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914. 

Alsatian First Class smoking room, facing aft. Credit: The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914. 

The imposing dining saloon on D (Shelter) Deck, measuring 60 ft. in length and extending the full width of  the ships with a 9 ft. overall  ceiling height  and  a two-deck high  central  raised area and gallery and, at one end, a "minstels gallery" for the orchestra which played at luncheon and dinner. The saloon seated 216 at a mix of small, medium and one very long table in the central area which, with the retention of the traditional swivel based chairs, gave it a  slightly old-fashioned appearance.  These were the last major Atlantic liners, in fact, to not have free-standing dining chairs in First Class saloon which, oddly, were featured in Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia the year before.  The sides of the saloon was nicely broken up into four dining alcoves on either side. 

Alsatian, First Class dining saloon.Credit: The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914. 

In Alsatian, the Jacobean theme was  given full reign in the dining saloon which completely panelled in aged oak whilst the ceilings were rendered (by Messrs. George Jackson & Sons, London) in the ornate plasterwork of the period and modelled after Crewe Hall. The buffets and chairs were modelled after authentic Elizabethan originals. Contrasting, the same room in Calgarian was "of studied simplicity, one noteworthy feature being the single order of Corinthian columns, which rise through both stories around the central well. The only ornament is a fine wrought iron balcony, a fine example of English smithwork." (Shipbuilder). Added the Sheffield Telegraph, "the colours here are white and green. Some charming convex mirrors reflect in miniature pictures of the entire room, and among the other decorations are a number of Eighteenth Century Chinese paintings on silk.

It is also possible to have one's private bathroom for the stateroom suites are so equipped, the sleeping rooms attached having bedsteads instead of berths. This first-class accommodation has electric bed head lamps, a convenience only equalled by the private telephone within easy reach. It is possible to imagine further luxury?

Four sets of en suite cabins, each consisting of two bedrooms, a sitting-room, and a dressing-room, so arranged that the sitting-room may be let separately as a one-berth state-room,  or with either or both of the bedrooms. There are also  eight special cabins with bath-rooms adjoining. All these 'en-suite' and special cabins are framed and panelled in oak, and have oak furniture. In addition there are 16 other special state-rooms with bath-rooms communicating with each pair  of rooms, and so arranged that the bath-rooms can be let with either room. The remainder of the first class sleeping accommodation consists of one and two berth cabins. 

Sheffield Telegraph

The quality of the First Class accommodation (for 263) lived up the press release hyperbole and was  equal or better to that offered in Royal Edward and Royal George, the two Canadian Northern liners which really raised the luxury bar on the Canadian run.  No other liner offered as many single berth cabins and finish and fit of the accommodation was especially good. 

Alsatian, First Class suite bedroom. Credit: Historic England Archive

Alsatian, First Class suite sitting room. Credit: Historic England Archive

Almost the whole of C (Lower Promenade) Deck was  occupied by the best First Class accommodation including the "special" cabins and the "en suite" rooms.  All outside cabins on this deck had windows overlooking the covered promenade deck.  More First Class cabins were around and forward of the main staircase on D (Shelter) Deck and E (Upper) Deck. The standard cabins were noted as "having iron beds with hardwood leeboards, sofas, wardrobes, and large wash-basins in lieu of the usual folding lavatory."

Alsatian, First Class en suite cabin. Credit: Historic England Archive

The second class accommodation provided is of very superior character. The sleeping berths are exceptionally well furnished, somewhat similarly to those ef the first class. The public rooms comprise splendid smoking room on the upper promenade deck, lounge on the lower promenade deck, and dining saloon the shelter deck. The whole of these apartments are spacious and handsomely furnished, being in every sense most up-to-date. Passengers travelling in this class are exceptionally well catered for. Ample deck space is reserved for promenading purposes.

Falkirk Herald, 26 April 1913

Alsatian, Second Class lounge. 

Considerable effort was expended on the Second Class as the sensible comforts, value and middle class dignity of "the second saloon" always found a ready market among Canadians as well as Middle West Americans and New Englanders. In 1913, Allan Line's Liverpool service to Canada carried 15,460 Second Class passengers westbound (five times more than First Class carryings)  and 5,490 eastbound, or more than double carried in First.  This was reflected in Alsatian and Calgarian providing no fewer than 506 berths in this class.  

Alsatian, Second Class smoking room. The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914.

Traditionally situated in its own stern superstructure "island", Second Class had open deck space on A (Boat) Deck, aft on B (Upper Promenade) Deck as well as covered promenades on either side of the smoking room (40 ft. x 43 ft.) and also on C (Lower Promenade) where the lounge (40 ft. x 43 ft.) and entrance was located. The 298-seat dining saloon (72 ft. long and the full width of the ship) was located aft on D (Shelter) Deck, separated from that for First Class by the galley as was the purser's office in the main stairway foyer.  The accommodation, all two- and four-berth cabins, occupied almost all of E (Upper) Deck except forward.  

Alsatian, Second Class C Deck entrance. The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914.

The Second Class public rooms, like their First Class counterparts, were decorated and furnished in the prevailing styles of Jacobean (Alsatian) and Georgian (Calgarian) and while there was no provision (or need to) "merge" the two classes into one, decoratively there was very little to distinguish them.

Alsatian Second Class dining saloon.

Second Class two-berth cabin.

For third-class passengers, the company have, as has been their rule for many years, shown that  they realise that to-day many  go to Canada who, while not able to afford the more expensive provision, are quite entitled to comfort and reasonable convenience. The third-class accommodation on the Alsatian than that which, but a few years ago, was enjoyed by second-class passengers, and is equal in many items to the first-class provision of 15 or 20 years ago.  

Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 17 December 1913

Third Class, with berths for 976, represented the importance this sector of the market, both westbound immigrants and a very healthy eastbound trade for budget travellers, had in the Canadian Run in general and Allan Line in particular.  On the Liverpool-based service alone, Allan carried 33,728 Third Class westbound and 17,635 eastbound in 1913.  

In terms of its relative quality, Alsatian and Calgarian's Third Class represented "the last word" in the essentials of cabins (2-, 4-, 6- and 8-berths), provision of lavatories and baths and especially the provision of public rooms, dining facilities and deck space.  

Uniquely, Third Class was, in effect, two separate and if needed, completely self contained "blocks" located fore and aft:  "It should be noted that whilst free communication between the third-class passenger accommodation at each end of the ship  is provided for by means of a wide passage on the starboard side of this deck [F Deck], it is at the same time so arranged that each portion is complete in itself with sleeping and dining accommodation, public rooms, hospitals, lavatories, promenading spaces etc, so that, in the event of infectious disease  breaking out in the ship, it only be necessary to place one-half of the third class under quarantine." (Engineering, 4 April 1913).  

Alsatian, Third Class lounge. The Standard (Montreal), 7 March 1914.

Third Class "aft" was of a particularly good quality especially the unique provision of two "proper" pubic rooms, a lounge and a smoking room, with windows overlooking the covered promenade space on D (Shelter) Deck with built-in deck seating as well.  This was just one deck below very similar space for Second Class making it especially desirable in contrast to  other ships. Third Class "forward" had its lounge on the portside and smoking room on the starboardside respectively on E (Upper) Deck) as well as very large enclosed promenade and open area on D (Shelter) Deck and open deck space on C (Lower Promenade) Deck aft of the foremast.  The dining facilities were on F (Main) Deck, the aft saloon seating 176 and the forward one 341. 

Save for a small block of cabins forward of the lounge and smoking room on E (Upper) Deck, Third Class accommodation was mostly sited on F (Main) Deck with 108 berths (interchangeable with Second), 168 berths (portable cabins) and 28 berths (interchangeable with Second) aft and 126 berths, 166 berths and 88 berths (portable) forward and 228 berths (portable) forward on G (Lower) Deck.

Wonderful cutaway of Empress of France early in her Canadian Pacific career. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

Of course, Alsatian went to serve 12 years as Canadian Pacific's Empress of France from 1919-1931 and if any more proof is needed that she, like her sister, were joint Allan/CPR designs, is how little she was changed during her years under their houseflag. Following her extensive war service, her builders restored her almost entirely to her original interiors save for the provision of freestanding armchairs in the First Class dining saloon. 

The same stateroom as previously shown in Alsatian, this view dates from the 1924 refit which removed all fixed berths and replaced them with beds and folding uppers as well as hot and cold running water.

The first important changes were made in early 1924 with conversion to oil firing and considerable improvements to the First and Second Class with cruising in mind as much as anything else. This include  removal of all fixed upper berths and provision of folding uppers as well as washbasin and running water (hot and  cold in First) in all cabins. Thermotank  ventilation was also  introduced in the cabins. 

R.M.S. EMPRESS OF FRANCE

Deck Plans

World Cruise 14 January 1925

credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)

For her stint on the North Pacific service, Empress of France's accommodation was re-arranged to First Class for 319, Second Class (254 berths), Third Class (52 berths) and Asiatic Steerage for 666. The Third Class got the aft lounge, smoking room and deck space and one third of the Second Class dining saloon on the starboardside was partitioned off to serve as the dining saloon. Steerage got most of the original Third Class accommodation, both dining saloons and the forward lounge and smoking room and deck space.

R.M.S. EMPRESS OF FRANCE

Deck Plans

North Pacific Service 1929

credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)

The most significant changes to the ship occurred late in her career, November 1929-January 1930, when after her stint on the trans-Pacific route, she underwent a conversion very much with cruising in mind. This included the rebuilding and rearranging of her Boat and Sun Decks to provide a new block of cabins amidships on Boat Deck with a relocated gymnasium (where it was situated on Calgarian) and new open deck space. In trans-Atlantic service, she now accommodated 331 First, 384 Tourist and 352 Third Class.

Sun Deck and Boat Deck c. 1926. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

Sun Deck and Boat Deck c. 1931. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

Detail from a photo from Empress of France's close call in 1931 with the British battleship Ramillies at Malta showing the new accommodation block built between the funnels with open deck on top. Credit: eBay auction photo. 

R.M.S. EMPRESS OF FRANCE

Deck Plans

Mediterranean Cruise 3 February 1931. 

Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

(LEFT CLICK on image to view full size scan)

Representing in every sense, the "last word" for both Allan liners and in North Atlantic liners, Alsatian and Calgarian were, with Aquitania, the final expression of the Edwardian Liner and barely introduced to commercial service before the outbreak of the Great War.  But what a summer it was...

They would not be Edwardian liners without a least one portrait by Odin Rosenvinge.  Credit: author's collection. 

ALLAN APOGEE

Few triumphs were as fulfilling or as fleeting.  Alsatian and Calgarian did all that was expected of them and had all of twelve short weeks in that glorious final summer of the Edwardian Era in which to reign as the queens of the St. Lawrence Run.

1914

It was indeed triumph tinted with tragedy even with Alsatian's maiden crossing to the St. Lawrence, beginning the afternoon of 22 May 1914 "with a large number passengers in all classes, the steamer’s saloon being particularly full. the passengers going out are Lieutenant A. F. G. Tracey, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Miss R. Pelletier, and Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie Harvey" (Liverpool Daily Post, 22 May 1914), totalling 145 First, 200 Second and 577 Third Class. 

On 28 May 1914, Quebec papers reported Alsatian "delayed by fog" off Newfoundland so that instead of arriving there as expected at 4-6 p.m. that day, she was expected to dock the following morning around 2:00 a.m. Alsatian and the outbound Empress of Ireland passed about 10 pm at Cape Aux Oles that evening: "The night was still clear when incoming Alsatian passed so closely that her passengers had a fine view of the big Canadian Pacific Railway ship, which showed beautifully and majestically as she swung by with her  decks blazing with electric lights." (The Tragic Story of the Empress of Ireland).  By 1:55 a.m., Empress of Ireland and 1,024 of the souls aboard were lost following a collision with the Norwegian collier Storstad five miles east of Father Point. It was the single worst  peacetime liner disaster of all time. 

Alsatian had just berthed at Quebec at 4.00 am 29 May 1914 when news of Empress  of Ireland's  sinking was made known.  That evening, the train from Rimouski with 396 of the survivors (those not rescued by Storstad which remained afloat after the collision) rescued by the Canadian Government revenue cutter C.G.S. Lady Grey arrived at Levis.  They were then embarked on the ferries Pilot, Levis and Lauzon for the short crossing the river to Quebec.  There, the First and Second Class  passengers were put up in hotels whilst  Third Class and crew survivors were taken aboard Alsatian.  Most would remain accommodated aboard her and looked after and elected to continue their voyage to England in her as she sailed just before 5:00 p.m. 4 June with 155 First, 189 Second and 713 Third Class. Among these were 169 survivors including six First, six Second and 35 Third Class passengers, 106 stewards, 15 seamen and five firemen. She also returned the bodies of nine of the victims, including the Chief Officer, for burial at home. Among those to see Alsatian off was Andrew Allan.  

Some of Empress  of Ireland's rescued survivors aboard Alsatian alongside Quebec. They would return to England aboard her.  Credit: Quad City Times, 3 June 1914. 

Alsatian at Quebec, before sailing for Liverpool on 4 June 1914 and interesting in also showing her revised livery with the black carried up one deck.  Credit: Boston Globe, 1 June 1914

Alsatian arrived at Liverpool on 11 June 1914: "Scenes of unrestrained emotion were witnessed at Liverpool when 170  survivors of the wreck of the Empress of Ireland, mainly members of the crew, arrived from Montreal on the Allan liner Alsatian. The little tug Knight Errant, which has been chartered by the Stewards' Union to convey a welcoming party of relatives, hailed the Alsatian in the Mersey at seven o'clock in the morning. The liner, dimly outlined in the mist, answered the greeting with a deep siren blast, and presently the decks of the Alsatian were crowded with survivors, shouting and singing, waving hats and hankerchiefs, and calling to their mothers, wives and sweethearts, who looked up with anxious faces from the tug. The tug had nearly 150  women on board.  Some of them had paced the landing stage all night with sleeping babies in their arms. One woman swooned on hearing her husband's voice. Another, the wife of a steward, held up a tiny baby in her arms, and his father clapped his hands on seeing his little son for the first time. Other women kissed each other and danced and wept with joy."

Vancouver Daily World, 27 June 1914

Empress of Ireland survivors arriving at Liverpool in Alsatian on 11 June 1914. Credit: Daily Citizen 12 June 1914. 

Few liners enjoyed as extensive and delightful an advertising campaign as afforded the new Allan Sisters in summer 1914, evoking both the charms of the vessels and a soon to vanish era:

Credit: The Leader Post 11 April 1914

Credit: Edmonton Journal, 11 April 1914

Credit: Saskatoon Daily Star, 9 May 1914

Credit: Edmonton Journal, 9  May 1914

Fast times are being made by the new Allan liners Calgarian and Alsatian and there seems little doubt that they will create records for the passage from Quebec to Liverpool before the navigation season closes. The Alsatian left Quebec on the 4th and arrived at Liverpool at 6 a.m. Greenwich time yesterday, which will enable her passengers to be in London early in the afternoon. The actual time of the voyage was only 6  days. 9 hours and this have been considerably bettered but for the fact that the liner was delayed nearly eleven hours off Cape  Race by fog. The Calgarian is showing about the same speed. She left Liverpool on the 4th and is due at Quebec at 4:30 this morning, an elapsed time of 6 days, 16 hours, and like  her sister she suffered delay from fog.  

Gazette, 12 June 1914

Having sailed from Liverpool on 5 June 1914, Calgarian landed 153 First, 173 Second and 391 Third Class on her second arrival at Quebec on the 12th.  Among her First Class passengers was the wife of Empress of Ireland's Capt. Kendall, who met her on the quayside.  Calgarian made a fast passage despite 12 hours delay by fog off the Grand Banks, Capt. Gambell saying they passed 22 bergs of various sizes. "The mails were  handled in exceptionally quick time, and in than five hours from the time of landing of them they were away to their destinations in the special trains of there were six, one for Montreal, one for Toronto, two for Winnipeg, one for Calgary and one for Vancouver." (The Daily Telegraph). 

On 16 June 1914 members of Calgarian's crew gave a charity concert at the Quebec YMCA in aid of the widows and orphans of the crew of Empress of Ireland. Calgarian's eastbound sailing on the 18th had an impressive list of 214 First, 254 Second and 820 Third Class, indication of  Allan's healthy Third Class trade to Britain especially early in the season.  Much of this was composed of farming families wealthy enough to visit the "Old Country," but having to return in time for the late summer harvest

On her second Quebec arrival on 26 June 1914, Alsatian disembarked 117 First, 191 Second and 471 Third Class.  She sailed for Liverpool on 2 July with 224 First, 273 Second and 515 Third Class.

Calgarian sailed from Liverpool on 3 July 1914 with 113 First, 201 Second and 362 Third Class passengers and arriving at Quebec at 7:30 p.m. on the 9th was credited with a new record for the westbound crossing via the Cape Race route of 6 days 18 hours 20 minutes.  This proved to be the final record for an Allan liner. With a big list of 151 First, 210 Second and 820 Third Class, she left Quebec on the 18th. She arrived at Liverpool on the 26th after a 72-hour fog delay off Newfoundland. "Lord Mersey and the other saloon passengers presented an address to Capt. Gamball, expressing their thanks for this skillful navigation in a difficult voyage." (Gazette)

The "home" liner's only record was big news in the Calgary papers. Credit: Calgary Herald, 11 July 1914. 

Alsatian sailed from Liverpool at 5:00 p.m. on 17 July 1914 with 148 First, 241 Second and 357 Third Class passengers. That late summer was bedeviled, more than usual, by fog off the Grand Banks. 23 July 1914; "The present summer season will probably go on record as being about the worst in memory for the amount of ice and fog which the liners running to and from between England and this port have encountered." reported the Gazette on the 23rd noting that Royal George, Alsatian, Calgarian and Scotian among those liners detained.     

Being considerably behind schedule both the Alsatian and Royal George were given an opportunity of showing their best paces when safely in the Gulf, the Allan liner arriving at Rimouski only about two minutes prior to the speedy Canadian Northern steamer, the former making the splendid run of 502 miles on the last day, this being only inferior to a day's run on her second eastbound trip when she covered 536 miles, but on this last voyage she was running for a time against both tide and stream. Passengers on board the two liners were provided with some excitement as the vessels approached Father Point, it being uncertain until the last minute which liner would be able to obtain the tender first in order to land her mails, this meaning a saving of fully an hour as the vessel to arrive would have to await her turn. The Alsatian finally just nosed ahead of the Royal George, after making 22.7 knots for several hours.

Gazette, 27 July 1914

Alsatian finally docked at Quebec at 8:15 p.m. on 25 July 1914, 58 hours late. She had aboard members of the Dominion's Royal Commission led by Sir Alfred Bateman. The ship was met off Rimouski by the C.G.S. Earl Grey and they disembarked to her for direct passage to Newfoundland to begin their tour. 

Notice for the special trains from Montreal to Quebec for what would prove to be Alsatian's final commercial crossing.  Credit: Gazette, 28 July 1914

An unusually large number of passengers are passing through Montreal on their way to sail for England by the Allan Liner Alsatian, from Quebec, this afternoon. A steamship special left the Windsor Station at 8:30 p.m. last night with 450 passengers, most of whom were English-speaking people from Toronto and Western Ontario. Over 500 more, including a large number of first and second cabin passengers, will leave this morning by two specials, which will pull out of Windsor station at 10 and 10:10, getting to  the steamer side at the Louise Basin, Quebec, just before she sails. 

Gazette, 30 July 1914

Already war clouds were gathering "on the other side" and when Alsatian sailed from Quebec the afternoon of  30 July 1914 with 91 First, 130 Second and 489 Third Class, the Daily Telegraph (Quebec) noted "the later being male foreigners who are evidently going home in connection with the war." Delayed again by fog off the Grand Banks, she made up the lost time and docked at Liverpool at noon on 6 August. Two days earlier the British Empire had declared war on German and Austro-Hungary.  After just seven round voyages, Alsatian's commercial career was over. On the 8th it was announced that Alsatian and Victorian had been requisitioned for war service by the British Government.

Another depiction by the prolific Odin Rosenvinge used as an Allan Line advertising card. Credit: author's collection.

Calgarian departed Liverpool on 31 July 1914  and on 5 August the Gazette reported "while there will naturally be some anxiety regarding the crack liner and her passengers since war has been declared between Germany and Great Britain, it is not at all likely that she will get into any trouble. The Calgarian can comfortably negotiate 550 miles a day in any kind of decent weather, and it is likely that when she learned by wireless that serious trouble was a foot her commander would have put her through as fast as her engines could run. By last night, when war was declared, she should have been more than half way across the ocean, and beyond range of any German cruisers, and there are not likely to any on this side of the ocean to  whom she could not show a clean pair of heels. The Calgarian will probably reach Quebec on Thursday." [6 August] (Gazette, 5 August 1914).  Among her 230 First, 287 Second and 307 Third Class passengers was Hugh and Travers Allan.

Despite rumor she had been "captured" by a marauding German cruiser, Calgarian safely entered Quebec harbour at 2:20 a.m. on 7 August 1914 and docked 15 minutes later. "When the big liner steamed into sight large crowds were on hand to greet her and thousands of people lined the shore waving Union Jacks and the Tri-color, and singing "God Save The King" and the "Marsellaise". (The Evening Record, 10 August 1914).

The Record added that "Calgarian… was in mid-ocean, [when] the captain of the ship received a message from the cruiser Essex saying that war had been declared and German cruisers were known to be near and would seize the liner as a prize. The captain ordered all lights extinguished and the boat was run at full speed towards Canada. During the night several icebergs were sighted and one morning when a fog lifted it was seen that the  ship had passed between two huge icebergs."

On 6 August the Victoria Daily Times reported that "a number of naval reservists from here will sail across the Atlantic from Quebec on the Allan liner Calgarian. The big ship will start her trip from the eastern port on August 13… it is expected that there will be a large number of men on the Calgarian who return to the support of the colors." With 88 First, 47 Second and 130 Third Class aboard, she sailed from Quebec on 13 August 1914.

On 28 August 1914 Calgarian was reported to have sailed that day "with her cabin accommodation absolutely full and encroaching on the third class again." Aboard were 366 First, 536 Second and 430 Third Class passengers.  Docking at at Quebec on 4 September, the Gazette reporting that "the voyage across is described by the passengers as an experience which they would not care to undergo very often, though it turned out to be uneventful. A sharp lookout was kept for stray German cruisers. According to the passengers, it was a marvel the way the ship's officers managed to conceal the whereabouts of the vessel by dousing all the lights at night. With the saloon, card room, smoking room and all berth lights going full blast, a walk around the decks would fail to discover even the slightest cranny through which light percolated."

Final sailing advertisement for Calgarian with Grampian replacing Alsatian. Credit: Gazette, 26 August 1914 

Calgarian sailed from Quebec on 9 September 1914 with 42 First, 47 Second and 130 Third Class aboard and docked at Liverpool on the 15th. 

In 1914, Alsatian completed 28 crossings carrying 11,285 passengers (5,880 westbound and 5,405 eastbound) and Calgarian completed 10 crossing carrying 8,692 passengers (4,550 westbound and 4,142 eastbound).

 

So abruptly ended the fleeting commercial careers of the last of the Allan liners.    Calgarian, would not survive the ensuing war, but not before giving the fullest measure of service through most  of it, whilst Alsatian, after no less important duty under the White Ensign, would go on to fully realise the aspirations of the Allans albeit under a different name and houseflag.  Alsatian and Calgarian remain, to this day, among the most outstanding pair of sister ships ever built.

R.M.S. Alsatian & Calgarian 1914

                                                    No. of Crossings (one-way)    Passengers  Carried     
R.M.S. Alsatian                     28                                                   11,285                               
R.M.S. Calgarian                 10                                                    8,292

                                                      38                                                 19,977

     

R.M.S. Calgarian, on trials.  Credit: Merseyside Maritime Museum. 

ALLAN AMC's

… on 18 August [1914], H.M.S. Alsatian, 16,000 gross tons, formerly of the Allan Line, built in 1913, came up to patrol off the Shetlands. A fast, strong ship, she met all the requirements for an Armed Merchant Cruiser, with ten stout bulkheads, built-in stiffening for her guns, her steering lines and six turbines all well below the waterline. "

Armed Merchant Cruisers, Kenneth Poolman.

This Empress of the Atlantic may easily boast of having one of the finest war record of any merchant ship afloat, having been accepted for war service on August 6, 1914.

The Gazette, 10 November 1923

When introduced, their cruiser sterns, underwater rudders, four-compartment flotation standards, Admiralty cowled funnels and overall tough, seaworthy appearance already elicited anticipation that Alsatian and Calgarian  possessed the intrinsic qualities of potential warships in the role of Armed Merchant Cruisers.  Their ensuing use as such during the Great War exceeded expectations  and they were, by any standard, among the most successful of such vessels engaged in the single most strategically important campaign of Britain's war at sea.

The pace of conversion of these liners into  full-fledged warship was astonishingly fast, a matter of week if not days.  In this short span, their finery and furnishings were landed, magazines created and they were armed with eight naval guns (having already been built with the necessary deck strengthening in the designated emplacements, four forward and four aft.  Alsatian was initially fitted with 4.7-inch weapons but these were changed out by 1915 for the 6-inch guns her sister already had. Cruising range was more important than armament and with most of their lower holds converted to coal space, the sisters' could carry 7,000 tons or double their normal bunker capacity giving an epic 11,500-mile range.

The sisters served apart,with Alsatian assigned to the 10th Cruiser Squadron and its largest vessel. Composed eventually of some 23 converted liners, this was tasked with the single  most successful and strategic role the Royal Navy played in the Great War… establishing a complete sea blockade of Germany and wage more than four years of crippling economic war on the country, government and  civilians. It was, of course, enabled by the presence of the Home Fleet based in Scapa Flow, the essential threat "in being" that, save for one occasion, kept the German High Seas Fleet bottled up and impotent in while converted liners armed with 6" guns and boarding parties in six-oared whaleboats essentially cut-off Germany from international trade and commerce for four years. 

Having established a list of prohibited "contraband" cargoes, Alsatian and the other converted liners forming the 10th Cruiser Squadron patrolled the approaches to the North Sea, off the Shetlands and between the Orkneys and Faeroe Islands,  and intercepted, boarded and inspected any and all neutral flag ships and if contraband goods, mails for the Central Powers or passengers belonging to said powers were found, they were removed. 

The Northern Patrol proved the real utility of the Armed Merchant Cruiser. Liners like Alsatian-- large, good seaboats with high freeboards, comfortable accommodation for their crews on long and often monotonous patrols, good speed and range-- were, in fact, far more suited than the elderly cruisers first assigned to the task. The Allan Sisters proved idea for the role.

In her role as an armed merchant cruiser, Calgarian was assigned to kept German merchantmen, stranded in neutral ports holed up in Lisbon and, most importantly, New York.  In Lisbon, alone, there were some 35 German and Austro-Hungarian mercent ships to keep from making a run to sea. 

By 1918, both ships were tasked with convoy escort duties but also carried, as required, cargo and up to 700 military passengers but remained  fully commissioned naval vessels and not transports. 

1914

H.M.S. Alsatian

Alsatian, which arrived at Liverpool from Quebec on 6 August  1914, was "called up"  immediately.  So immediately, that she was commissioned under Captain V. E. B. Phillimore the next day as H.M.S. Alsatian (M.50). Quickly converted, and armed with eight 4.7-inch guns, she left the Mersey under the White Ensign on the 17th and was off Lerwick two days later.  By the 19th she had already intercepted, boarded and inspected her first two vessels and officially  joined the 10th  Cruiser Squadron on the 28th.

Armed Alsatian: the two portside forward six-inch guns of H.M.S. Alsatian.  Credit: Shetlands Museum

As a liner, Alsatian and her consorts were not just intercepting freighters and  trawlers but the crack liners of neutral nations like the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.  On 21 August Alsatian inspected the Scandinavian American liner Fredrick VIII and "found all correct", let her proceed unhindered.  On the 25th she inspected no fewer than five vessels. In these opening weeks, she was often paired with the former White Star liner Oceanic.

Scapa Flow was the base of operations for the squadron but Alsatian and the big liners usually coaled and provisioned in Liverpool every three weeks.

On 8 September 1914 Oceanic went aground off Foula Island in the Shetlands and became a total loss. Alsatian was immediately summouned to her aid and was on the scene by that evening. She  proceeded to take off Oceanic's crew and their belongings and also took aboard most of her boats and was on her way by midday the 9th. And still managed to board and inspect a Swedish steamer  later the same day. On the 11th she met up with  Megantic and transferred Oceanic's men to her. 

On her next meeting with Fredrick VIII on 2 October 1914 she  found six German stowaways aboard who were arrested as prisoners of war and taken off the vessel. On the 13th she founded contraband aboard another Danish vessel, Dania of Copenhagen and put six ratings, a petty officer and a midshipmen aboard her along with the German POWs and she was taken into Kirkwall.

Alsatian launches one of her six-oared boarding party boats.  The effective enforcement of the blockade against Germany maintained by such craft was more strategically important than all the battleships of the Home Fleet. Credit: Naval-history.net

On 1 December 1914 Alsatian put into Liverpool and in Canada Dock on the 4th, the flag of Rear Admiral D.R.S. de Chair CB, MVO, was hoisted to her masthead. The pride of Allan  Line was now also the flagship of the 10th Cruiser Squadron and her compliment swelled by 19 signal ratings, 8 telegraphists, 1 Admiral's  coxswain, 6 signal boys and one Admirals servant in addition to the Admiral and a Flag Lieut. Commander.  She was now commanded by Capt. George Trewby. Workers from Cammell Laird installed eight 6" guns and mountings, two 6-pdr. high angle guns and was repainted.  On the 23rd H.M.S. Alsatian was back on patrol. 

Alsatian's main area of patrol was the Okneys-Faeroes "gap" and she and the AMC Mantua were responsible for the northern area near the Faeroes. 

H.M.S. Calgarian

Upon arrival at Liverpool on 15 September 1914, Calgarian was immediately requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser.  Armed with eight 6-inch guns, she was commissioned as H.M.S. Calgarian (M-54), under Capt. Thomas W. Kemp.

Assigned to the 9th Cruiser Squadron, Finisterre-Canaries Division, Calgarian's first duty was to patrol off the mouth of the Tagus River to prevent German merchantmen held up Lisbon from escaping. By 1 October 1914 she was so stationed, both on guard duty and also intercepting and inspecting any neutral flag merchantmen . On the 6th she had a minor collision with the British cargo  ship Baron Minto in fog off the Tagus.  The routine of patrol duty was enlivened by regular gunnery practice and general quarters drill, the best time to have guns manned and sea boat crews on station was down to 40 seconds. The base of operations was Gibraltar where she first docked on the 19th.

By the first of November Calgarian switched her area of patrols to the Canary Islands, specially off Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The next month she extended her operations as far as Madeira and then Las Palmas and actively interdicting and inspecting neutral flag ships for contraband.  To conserve coal (even though she would load some 3,750 tons of it each layover at Gibraltar), she usually cruised at 8-10 knots. 

Warpaint cannot diminish her lovely profile, H.M.S. Calgarian. Credit: IWM SP235

1915

H.M.S. Alsatian

Into the New Year, Alsatian was often working with the AMC's Cedric and Oropesa and her former fleetmate Virginian. Even Allied ships were sometimes stopped and inspected as was the Russian American liner Dwinsk, bound from Glasgow to Archangel  was on 18 January 1915.

When UB-21 penetrated British defenses and surfaced in Morecambe Bay in January, and went on to sink four British freighters, one 18 miles off Bar Lightship, Alsatian and other AMCs which were in Liverpool for coaling, were kept there kept in port as precaution before sailing north through mine infested waters to the Hebrides to resume patrols.

In addition to taking on coal during her regular calls at Liverpool, Alsatian also welcomed back the prize crews who had been tasked with taking ships with contraband into Kirkwall and other ports.  On 9 July she entered the Canada Graving Dock for a much need hull cleaning and painting.

On another encounter with the liner Fredrick VIII on 19 August, bound from New York to Copenhagen, an armed guard and officer was put aboard her to take her to Kirkwall for further inspection.

In 1915, Alsatian was at sea for 262 days, steamed 71,500 miles and burned 41,000 tons of coal.

H.M.S. Calgarian

Calgarian went into the new year on her familiar pattern of patrolling off the Canary Islands.  March 1915 brought a considerable change in weather, route and  destination when on the 13th she sailed from Gibraltar, and after a very rough passage, arrived at Halifax.

She was now assigned to the North America and West Indies Station, to carry out patrols off the U.S. Atlantic seaboard as far south as Cape Charles, Virginia and off the New York coast to prevent the numerous German merchantmen (as well as some crack liners) from making a run for it.   On 25 March 1915 she left Halifax and proceeded south to Cape Charles and by 6 April patrolling off New York, south of Ambrose Light vessel.  Among her duties was towing targets for the other British warships in the area, including on the 9th for the AMC Caronia. Halifax was the base of operations and where she returned for coaling every three weeks or so. On 17 June she first called at St. John from Halifax to embark F Company of the First Newfoundland Regiment and sailed from there for Gibraltar where she arrived on 3 July. There she embarked German prisoners of war (mostly from the Cameroons) on the 5th and sailed that evening for Liverpool and docked there on the 9th. Calgarian was finally home after the best part of ten months. 

Calgarian at St. John in June 1915 to embark F Company of the Newfoundland Regiment. Credit: eBay auction photo.

After a period of refit, Calgarian left Liverpool on 21 August 1915  for Bermuda which was reached on 31sth.  In heavy weather, she sailed on 10 September for Halifax and making good  time, arrived there on the 12th. Resuming her patrol duties off New York, she left Halifax on the 22nd and on station off Ambrose two days later.  On 7 September 1915 Capt. Robert G. Corbet assumed command. 

By the time Calgarian returned to Halifax on 13 October  1915 she had 1,273 tons of coal left and bunkering remained a critical part of her routine even when reducing speed on regular patrols.  Laden with 4,168 tons, she left Halifax eight days later to resume patrols off New York in company with AMC Caronia.  On 22 November she fired a blank when the Munson Line cargo ship Paloma did not answer her signal. 

Amidst the war and only formalising what most already accepted as accomplished fact, on 1 October 1915, a new entity 'Canadian Pacific Ocean Services Limited' or 'C.P.O.S." came into being to manage the combined Canadian Pacific and Allan Line fleets totalling 36 ships of a combined 343,207 gross tons.  Of course, most of the ships were already engaged in war service with neither funnel colours nor houseflags to distinguish them and Allan's Grampian had been on the CPR Liverpool-Canada run all of the winter of 1915-15. 

1916

H.M.S. Alsatian

Alsatian started the New Year patrolling north of the Faeroe Islands in company with H.M.S. Alcantara and on these, she coaled at Busta Voe in the Shetlands. On 6 February 1916 she finally got to put into Liverpool for a brief respite alongside that lasted until the 22nd. 

Alongside at Liverpool on 6 March 1916 the flag of Vice Admiral C. Tupper CVO was hoisted as he assumed command of the Squadron.

Whilst shifting berths at Liverpool on 12 July 1916, Alsatian brushed against Metagama damaging three letters of her name on her bows and Alsatian's starboard depth charge chute. 

On 5 November 1916 off Rathlin Island, Alsatian passed Calgarian with two destroyers bound northwest. 

H.M.S. Calgarian

Christmas Day 1915 was spent at Halifax and the New Year continued her routine patrols off New York. But in February she ventured south to the Cape  Charles Light and the Chesapeake Bay. Most of the year, however, was on her familiar pattern off New York and returning to Halifax for coaling.  In May 1916, however, she cruised off the Delaware coast and on the 17th, stopped and boarded the steamer Emila de Perez and took off two German stowaways. On 24 June Capt. Humphrey H. Smith assumed command. In dense off off New York, she collided with the American training ship Ranger on 26 June but with no material damage to either vessel. After a patrol off the Chesapeake,  Calgarian returned to Halifax and after coaling, sailed on 21 August for Liverpool where she arrived on the 27th.  Two days later she was berthed alongside Mauretania in Sandon Dock. 

After a refit, Calgarian sailed from Liverpool on 5 October 1916 for Halifax which was reached  on the 12th.  The next day the Governor-General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught, and the Duchess of Connaught with Princess Patricia embarked for passage back to England at the end of his term (which had begun in October 1911). Calgarian sailed the following early evening for Devonport where the Viceregal party disembarked on the 20th and the ship proceeded to Liverpool.

Having returned the retiring Governor-General, Calgarian had the honour  of taking his replacement to Canada, embarking the Duke of Devonshire and his party on 4 November 1916 and sailing for Halifax  that same evening and arriving there on the 11th "The ship bearing the Duke and Duchess and their two  daughters Lady Maud Louisa Emma Cavendish and Lady Blanche Katherine Cavendish, arrived in the harbor at 10 o'clock. The big gun on Citadel Hill just boomed the noon hour when the swung in alongside the new Pier No. 2. " (Star-Phoenix, 13 November 1916).  Calgarian left  Hailifax on 8 December for a patrol off Nova Scotia, returning on the 18th. She sailed two days later and after observing Christmas Day at Sea, docked at Liverpool on the 28th.

An exceptionally smart looking H.M.S. Calgarian as her crew finish painting her. Her aft two guns are clearly visible. Credit: Clydeships.co.uk

1917

H.M.S. Alsatian

Although the nominal base for the 10th Cruiser Squadron, Scapa Flow did not see the  flagship until 21 February 1917 when Alsatian came into the anchorage to join H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, flagship of Admiral Beatty. After coaling there, Alsatian resumed her patrol duties.

Certainly a high point of the year for the vessel and her crew occurred alongside Canada Dock on 15 May 1917 when H.M. King George V inspected Alsatian's ship's company mustered in the dock shed.

While leaving Canada Dock on 20 May 1917 Alsatian collided with the American liner Philadelphia abreast her forward  port boat.  This holed Alsatian and she was making 140 tons of water per hour but kept in check with pumps. She had two damaged frames in her forepeak and two plates damaged and 17 frames and four plates damaged on D Deck starboardside and damage to rails and windows as high as B Deck and three plates below the waterline damaged. The next day she went into Canada Graving Dock for repairs and was refloated on 5 June.  On the 8th she returned to patrol duties.  Whilst she was being repaired Vice Admiral Tupper had made Virginian his flagship but on the 11th returned to Alsatian. 

H.M.S. Alsatian was the first Royal Navy ship painted in the distinctive "dazzle" camouflage in August 1917.  Even that cannot conceal her lovely lines nor that she is the Flagship of the 10th Cruiser Squadron with the  Vice Admiral's flag at her foremast. Credit: Mariners Museum, Eldredge Collection.

Alongside Liverpool's Sandon Dock on 12 August 1917, Alsatian's log for the day records "Hands employed painting  ship's side camouflage pattern" and she was the first Royal Navy vessel to adapt the new "dazzle" camouflage scheme. 

In November 1917 the 10th Cruiser Squadron was disbanded.  Its effectiveness and the entry into the war by the United States had ended the main source  of contraband and the ships were  reassigned to the more vital task of convoy escorting when the German U-boat campaign reached its peak. The record of the Squadron was one of the great successes of the Royal Navy in its entire history, interdicting nearly 13,000 vessels and only 642 ships getting through the blockade in four years.

Leaving Scapa Flow on 27 November 1917, Alsatian proceeded to Belfast where she arrived the next day to meet H.M.S. Arlanza with an inbound Atlantic convoy including Cedric, Celtic and Aurania. Vice Admiral Tupper shifted his flag to Arlanza and the convoy proceeded to Liverpool.

H.M.S. Calgarian and unidentified H.M. Submarine in Halifax harbour. Credit: Peoples Collection Wales

H.M.S. Calgarian

With a cargo of bullion, Calgarian sailed from Liverpool on New Years Eve and reached Halifax on 7 January 1917. During her call there, the ship was visited by officers of a visiting French squadron and on the 14th, Calgarian was again at sea and by the 22rd was back in Liverpool.  She left there on the 31st.  On the 2 February she ran across the Norwegian steamer Hero, derelict and abandoned, and at 10:00 a.m. commenced  fire on her and sinking her within 40 minutes.   Calgarian arrived at Halifax on the 7th.  A week later she was en route back to Liverpool where she berthed on the 21st.  On the last of the month, she was off again for Halifax, again carrying bullion (638 boxes)  and had a very rough passage with a force 8 and snow on 7 March, the day before she arrived at Halifax.  After a prolonged stay in there, during which her crew seemed to have painted most of the vessel's exterior, Calgarian cast off on the 28th for Liverpool where she made landfall on 6 April. 

Sailed from Liverpool on 22 April for Halifax  and docked there after an eight-day passage.  Whilst at Halifax the ship and her company were inspected by Admiral Montague Browning, C-in-C North America and West Indies on 6 May. She sailed on the 21st in convoy until the 30th except for Missanabie and finally reached Liverpool on 1 June to join her sister ship Alsatian in Canada Dock.  Her next voyage to Halifax commenced on 13 June and she reached her destination by the 21st. Calgarian was Mersey-bound once again on the 25th and reached there on 4 July.

Calgarian sailed Liverpool on 23 July 1917, in convoy and in company with H.M.T. Justicia and after a foggy crossing, reached Halifax on the 1 August. She sailed, again in convoy and keeping station with Saxonia, on the 13th and reached Portsmouth on the 24th. There, was given a substantial refitting and did not depart until 18 October for Halifax where she docked on the 25th and sailed eastbound on 8 November.  On the 15th Calgarian's steering gear coupled up and the ship dropped out of line to effect repairs whilst Missanabie took charge of the convoy in the meantime.  She reached Liverpool on the 19th.

Having sailed from Liverpool on 28 November 1917, Calgarian arrived at Halifax on 7 December, a day after the devastating explosion the previous day of the French freighter Mont-Blanc load with high explosives after she collided with the Norwegian steamer Imo.  The explosion killed 2,000 and injured 9.000 more and was the largest man-made explosion to date, destroying every structure within a half mile radius. Calgarian stayed in port until the 21st and took about 29 refugees, including 18 crew of Imo   and sent out search parties.  On New Years Eve she arrived at Greenock and proceeded to Glasgow where she docked on 6 January 1918. 

H.M.S. Alsatian in "dazzle" paint. Credit: IWM SP282

In a final act of corporate consolidation, on 16 July 1917 Canadian Pacific Ocean Services assumed the "management, control and operation of the Allan Line steamers, together with the head and branch offices."  Thus passed into history "The Pioneer Line" of Canada and if the final Allan liners survived the war, they would resume service as Canadian Pacific ships.  

1918

H.M.S. Alsatian

For Alsatian, 1918 and the rest of the war was spent on convoy escort duty.  On 6 March she sailed from Liverpool in a convoy including Virginian, Corsican and Missanabie which arrived without incident at Halifax on the 16h. Her return passage took her to Greenock where she arrived on the 25th. On these Halifax voyage  voyages she generally carried full eastbound cargo but not troops and acted primarily as a convoy escort not a transport. 

On 14 April 1918 she left Glasgow and made her maiden arrival at New York on the 23rd. There, she did embark American troops and sailed on 3 May for Liverpool, docking there on the 16th.  Alongside the Landing Stage, Ausonia collided with Alsatian as she backed out of the pier, but with little apparent damage.  She stayed at Liverpool until 25 June being refitted and completely repainted before she was off again for New York where, appropriately enough, she docked at Pier 95  on 4 July. She sailed ten days later with 18 officers and 698 U.S. Army  personnel and was back at Liverpool the 26th. New York was again the destination when she cleared Sandon Basin on 3 August and docked at Pier 95 on the 12th. With 15 officers and 712 troops, Alsatian departed on the  24th and made Liverpool on 5 September.  Another voyage to New York began on the 28th which had her alongside Pier 95 by the evening of 6 October.  No mention is made of any troops aboard when Alsatian cleared New York for Liverpool on the 15th which was reached on the 23rd.  During her layover there, she was drydocked in Canada Graving Dock and was alongside Sandon Quay the day the Armistice was declared. 

Alsatian sailed from Liverpool on 15 November 1918, not for New York this time, but rather Halifax where she tied up to Pier 28 on the 22nd. Her crossing beginning on 4 December was the first in more than four years under peacetime routine with no "darken ship" mention in the log. But it was a very stormy one and on the 7th the ship was hit by a wave that almost carried away no. 11 boat. By the following day, there was extensive flooding and damage to D Deck accommodation, the ladder to the aft docking bridge bent, life rafts damaged and superstructure doors to the open decks smashed.  It was doubtless a relief to tie up in Canada Basin on the 12th.

It proved to be  Alsatian's last voyage in H.M. Service. On 30 December 1918 the floating crane Samson alongside and began removing her guns and the process was completed on New Years Eve. Alsatian was starting the New York 1919 on "Civvy Street".   She was formally decommission on 31 January 1919.  During her exemplary war service, H.M.S. Alsatian had steamed 266,740 miles, consumed 170,570 tons of coal, intercepted and  inspected 3,500 vessels (of which 690 were  found to have contraband) and escorted nine convoys to safely carrying 30,000 American troops.

H.M.S. Calgarian

Like her sister, Calgarian (Capt. Robert A. Newton) switched to convoy escort duties in 1918. In late February she departed Halifax with a 30-ship convoy. In addition to her 450-man crew, she had 169 naval ratings as passengers. It was routine crossing and 70 miles west of Islay on 1 March 1918, an escort in the form of two destroyers, six patrol trawlers and minesweeping sloops joined the convoy for final run up to Liverpool. A few miles off Raithlin Island, at 4:50 p.m. she was struck by a single torpedo fired by UB-19 in the forward boiler room; "so slight was the shock, however, that it was thought she had merely touched a mine astern, and it was a considerable  time before a second torpedo struck her."  This put her lights outs, jammed her steering and fractured steampipes, but the staunch  Allan liner was resolutely afloat.

Remarkable photograph taken from H.M.S. Poppy of H.M.S. Calgarian five minutes after she was first torpedoed.  Credit: Kate Mulkern, Wikimedia Commons.

The destroyer H.M.S. Beagle and the trawler Lord Lister prepared to take Calgarian in tow while the destroyer H.M.S. Moresby laid down a smokesceen.  On board the cruiser, Commander Harry Kendall (yes, the former captain of Empress of Ireland) worked to engage her emergency steering and the pumps were holding their own.

With great determination, Kapt. Johannes Spieß when seeing his single torpedo was not sufficient to sink the big Allan liner, made another attack despite the ship now being surrounded by destroyers and fired three more torpedoes about 45 minutes after the first one.  These spread into a perfect fan, striking her portside in both boiler rooms and no. 3. hold.  These hit  devastating impact, the blast going up the engine hatch and reducing lifeboats nearby into kindling wood and blowing  some men into the seas. The trawler Thomas Collard which was alongside was badly damaged and later sank. "It was then seen that the ship was doomed, and the work of transferring men to the boat was carried out with celerity and complete absence of panic." (Liverpool Daily Post). At the time there were seven destroyers, two sloops and 11 trawlers on the scene. Two officers and 46 men were killed, almost all believed to be in the boiler and engine rooms and about an hour after the first torpedoed hit, Calgarian sank by the stern. She was first ship to take four torpedoes to dispatch.

This was among the most notorious of all killing grounds for liners during the war and within a 50  miles radius of Islay, Laurentic, Devonian, Andania, Tuscania, Amazon, Calgarian and Justicia were all torpedoed and sunk. Calgarian was also one of a dismal toll of sisterships sunk, especially among the Canadian run vessels. Few had as fleeting career. 

Even after nearly four years of war, the  torpedoing of Calgarian was still  headline news especially in Canada.

The Daily Mirror of 7 March 1918 used this excellent photo of Calgarian on trials when reporting her loss.

Some of Calgarian's survivors. 

Another survivor: The former Alsatian, now Empress of France in the Mersey ready to begin her Canadian  Pacific career. Credit: author's collection.

ALLAN EMPRESS

The Empress of France has 'carried on' in peace as in war with accomplishing notable events...

The Gazette, 10 November 1923

In the world of corporate finance, Alsatian had, in fact, always been a de facto Canadian Pacific ship. Even so it was with considerable sadness that having survived the war unlike her sister, she had not done so as an Allan liner and would finally be able to fully realise the ambitions of the old firm under a different name and different colours.  As an Empress, she would bring blue ribands, royal patronage and a new era of world cruising to Canadian Pacific in post-war career of but a dozen years that would be as glamourous, eventful and successful as any vessel to fly the chequerboard houseflag. 

1919

Alsatian left Liverpool on 17 January 1919 for Beardmore's for complete refurbishment. Converted into an armed merchant cruiser in a fortnight, it would take ten months to restore her back to her original role and splendour. On 4 April she was renamed Empress of France and at the time was widely referenced as "the replacement for the lost Empress of Ireland". Indeed, she would be the first "Empress"  to resume service after the war and on 21 May the Gazette remarked that "Before September next the Alsatian will be in service as the Empress of France."  

The company announced on 12 August 1919 that "The strength of the Canadian Pacific Ocean Services fleet on the St. Lawrence will shortly be augmented by the arrival of the Alsatian, which, having been released by the Admiralty after five years' service, is now being reconditioned and put in first class condition. Under the name of the Empress of France, this vessel will ply as one of the largest and most commodious ocean liners having first, second and third class accommodation..."All the comforts and conveniences which marked the vessel when it was first completed will be restored and, in fact, added to."  Empress of France would sail from Liverpool 26 September for Quebec and from Quebec 9 October.  Complete railway ticking and baggage staffs would be embarked at Rimouski to handle all onward arrangements for through railway connections from quayside to Montreal, Toronto and West. Immigration officials, too, boarded there would be no delay on arrival at Quebec. "When the vessel docks the cabin passengers will simply have say good-bye and leave the ship with the transportation, sleeping berths and all other details arranged, and board waiting trains for the destination."

Announcing Empress of France's maiden sailing from Quebec on 9 October 1919. Credit: Gazette, 23 August 1919.

A bit of clumsy early post-war CPOS publicity heralding the return of Alsatian to service as Empress of France, but featuring a photo of the lost Calgarian. Credit:University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

As it was, Empress of France would not only resume the fabled Empress Service on the North Atlantic but would be only Empress liner through at least the start of the 1920 St. Lawrence Season with Empress of Britain undergoing a major refit that included conversion to oil. Empress of France would make three sailings from Quebec before the St. Lawrence was closed to navigation: 7 October, 1 and 25 November.  

Empress of France in the Clyde after her post-war refit. Credit: Mariners Museum.

On 21 September 1919 Empress of France, looking quite magnificent even if not as pretty as she did in the old Allan Line funnel colours, arrived at Liverpool from Dalmuir. 

"CPOS" never quite succeeded as an Atlantic acronym like CGT or HAPAG and lasted only from 1915-1921. Poster by Harry Hudson Rodmell. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Empress of France arrives in the Mersey after her refit. Credit: Taylor Collection, Mariners Museum.

THE CANADIAN L!NER. The CP.O.S. steamer Empress of France, which rendered magnificent service the war the flag ship of the Atlantic ' Cruiser Squadron, has now been refitted as a' passenger steamer, and sailed yesterday from ' Liverpool to Quebec. Her transformation from  warship palatial passenger steamer has now 'been completed and she will, doubt, soon establish herself as one the largest and fastest, as well as one of the most luxuriously furnished steamer  in the Canadian trade.

Western Daily Press, 27 September 1919

SCENE ON LANDING-STAGE. PASSENGERS FIGHT THEIR WAY TO A LINER. Pandemonium reigned unchecked the Liverpool landing-stage yesterday for over an hour before the departure of the Empress of France, the flyer the Canadian Pacific liners, on her first post-war trip to Quebec. Hundreds of saloon passengers fought and struggled at the gangway entrance. cries of women crushed in the crowd were pierced the screams of children arms. The angry, deep-throated protests of men were home down two trade union officials who, elbowing women and children aside, threatened call out the firemen the liner and hold up her departure unless they were given a clear passage to the gangway. There was need for this panic, every person in the crowd having booked berth on the liner. 

Yorkshire Post, 27 September 1919

Despite the chaotic departure, Empress of France's (Capt. Ebenezer Cook) sailing marked the return of the celebrated Empress Service as well as the return of the largest and fastest liner of the Canadian run. Among her 410 First, 219 Second and 1,067 Third Class passengers was Lt. Col. Sir H. Montagu Allan and Lady Allan and daughter who had been aboard Lusitania when it was torpedoed. On 1 October 1919 it was hopefully reported that she might reach Quebec the following evening or next morning, but bad weather and fog in the Gulf of St. Lawrence delayed her arrival and it was not until after midnight on the 4th that Empress of France came in, "owing to the lateness of the arrival of the Empress there were few to meet the big liner when she pulled into the Louise Basin."  The Gazette added that Capt. Cook "said the ship had a pretty hard passage, encountering head winds and heavy gales, which had delayed her arrival a couple of days. The passengers were enthusiastic in their praise of the accommodation and service." Her passengers, except those disembarking at Quebec, spent the night aboard and left the following morning on four special trains. 

Empress of France coaling at Quebec. 

This page from a passenger list from Scandinavian 25 October 1919 still featured Empress of France in Allan Line colours. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

 

Beginning her winter season, Empress of France left Liverpool on 9 December 1919 for St. John with a heavy list of 1,641 aboard and on the 19th became the largest vessel ever to dock there to date. On her second voyage to St. John, departing Liverpool on 7 January 1920, she arrived there on the 15th, among her 183 First, 467 Second and 921 Third Class passengers was the crew to take the former German liner Prinz Frederick Wilhelm, a war prize awarded to Canadian Pacific, from New York to Britain.  They embarked a special CPR train to New York.

In 1919, Empress of France completed 8 crossings carrying 10,973 passengers (6,559 westbound and 4,414 eastbound). 

Odin Rosenvinge poster for Empress of France, notable for showing the revised houseflag for Canadian Pacific Ocean services. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

1920

Arriving at St. John on 8 March 1920, Empress of France was to have sailed for Liverpool on the 13th with a VIP party headed by the Governor-General of Canada, the Duke of Devonshire and his family.  Instead a gale driven snowstorm kept  her tied for up for an entire day.  The delay risked the Governor missing an important dinner at the Canada Club in London on the 22nd and as reported in the press:

Captain E. Cook, who commands the Empress of France was consulted by the duke, and have a solemn undertaking that if the engines of the steamer could possibly manage it, His Excellency would be in Liverpool by March 22nd.

It is probable that never before has such interest been displayed in the steam gauges of this famous C.P.O.S. liner as on this trip. Every pound of steam pressure was extracted that could be coaxed out of the boilers by the most skilful firing of the stokers, who entered into the  spirit of the adventure with true British zest. Fortunately, the sea and climatic conditions were eminently favorable, and, driven for all she was worst, the majestic ocean liner ploughed through the ocean with a rare turn of speed, and, making the port of Liverpool at an early hour this morning, enabled the duke to have the pleasant reflection that he would fulfil his promise to take the chair at the Canada Club dinner in London tonight.

A dense fog prevailed when the Empress of France 'made' the Mersey soon after midnight. By cautious navigation Captain Cook crept up the river with his great vessel and at six o'clock this morning was safely riding at anchor in midstream right opposite the Prince's landing stage. The fog was too tick to allow of the liner coming alongside the stage. Therefore, at seven o'clock a tender went out to her and brought the duke and his party ashore in time to catch the forenoon train from Lime street station to London. 

As the tender was leaving the liner the Duke raised his hat and. with the rest of his party, cheered the crew of the Empress of France, who enthusiastically responded. It was an acknowledgment of the crew’s good work which they appeared to appreciate highly. 

Gazette, 15 April 1920

Empress of France takes a background role to Canada's "plenteous store abound" in this early CPOS poster by Odin Rosenvinge. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

On 27 March 1920 the first Church Army immigrant party (250 in all) for Canada since the war, sailed from Liverpool in Empress of France, occasioning King George V to send a farewell message: "The King understands that the first party of Church Army settlers to leave for Canada--since the outbreak of war will sail to-day in the Empress of France. It is His Majesty's  hope and desire that each one of them may prosper, and by showing a true pioneer spirit and brave endeavour help in building on a strong and lasting foundation in the might Dominion of the West" 

That the Empress of France, C.P.O.S., has established her popularity, is evidenced by the fact that when sailing from St. John on Sunday last [11  April] for Liverpool all the available space in the first and second class was taken up. She carried, on that voyage, over 300 first, 400 second and 500 third class  passengers. On her last trip from Liverpool to St. John, arriving there on the 6th of this month, the Empress of France carried 184 first, 660 second and 690 third class passengers.

Gazette, 13 April 1920

The ship surely did not lack for passengers as still the sole "Empress" in service. On 1 May  1920 she sailed from Liverpool to open up the St. Lawrence season that year, having aboard 358 First, 344 Second and 814 Third, including a large Thos. Cooks party of 400 and the returning Governor-General. Empress of France  rounded Point Levis just before 5:00 p.m. on the 9th. When she sailed eastbound on the 14th, among those aboard were 40  through passengers from the Orient.  

The Canadian Pacific Ocean Services Ltd.- the pioneers of many developments in passenger steamships—are once more in the field with new ideas for the comfort of their passengers. Before leaving for Canada recently, the Empress of France —the company's largest Atlantic liner —was fitted with spring hair mattresses instead the old straw beds in the third-class cabins. 

Aberdeen Press and Journal, 17 June 1920

It wouldn't be summer without fog delays and on 8 July 1920, a 48-hour late Empress of France finally docked at Quebec just after 11.00 p.m. with 316 First, 370 Second and 794 Third Class who, except for locals, spent the night aboard and were finally off on their special trains at 7:00 a.m. the following morning. Better weather was enjoyed on her next westbound crossing and she made Quebec at 4:00 a.m. on 4 August "after making a good run across. She came through the Straits of Belle Isle and enjoyed fine weather, although many icebergs were sighted. She brought over 297 first, 308 second and 734 third class passengers, 1,348 bags of  mail, 876 pieces of  parcel post and 1,200 tons of general cargo." (Gazette).

What had been billed as the "fastest" liner on the Canadian run since her maiden voyage as Alsatian some six years previously, finally clutched the mythical Blue Riband of the St. Lawrence when Empress of France, which left Liverpool at 6:00 p.m. on 25 August 1920, came alongside at Quebec at noon on 1 September clocking 5 days 23 hours dock to dock which was the fastest time yet recorded for the run.  She had averaged 18.4 knots across and landed 332 First, 409 Second, 707 third, 1,200 tons of cargo, 1,927 bags of mail and 760 parcels. Twenty of her passengers were booked through to the Orient.

Passenger List cover for Empress of France, 30 October 1920 Liverpool-Quebec. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

On her last crossing from the St. Lawrence of the season, Empress of France sailed from Quebec on 29 November 1920 and had a rough trip cross, docking a day late at Liverpool at 8:00  a.m. on 5 December.

ALMOST MISSES CATCHING HIS RETURN BOAT. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was so reluctant to say good-bye that he almost missed the C.P.O.S, liner Empress of France from Liverpool yesterday on his return to Canada. At the last moment jumped aboard a fender and embarked on the liner in mid-river. In spite of his 73 years Dr Bell thought the experience a good joke, and smilingly remarked he "wanted spend the last moments of my time on this English soil, for I love your country." 

Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 16 December 1920

With 117 First, 304 Second and 1,072 Third Class... including Alexander Graham Bell... Empress of France sailed from Liverpool on 15 December 1920 on her first winter crossing of the season. She docked at St. John on the 23rd landing 7,000 bags of mail, including a record 1,019 bags for Toronto.  Tragedy, however, befell one of the CPR special trains for the West the following day when it collided head-on with a freight train that had failed to clear the main line, near Onawa, Maine.  Of the 800 passengers on the train, 15 persons, including eight passengers, were killed and 35 injured.  

North Atlantic Mail Ship: R.M.S. Empress of France arrives at Quebec with  ice-caking her bows. Note her lifeboats are now painted white and this was probably done during her 1920-21 overhaul. Credit: Eldredge Collection, Mariners Museum. 

Both Empresses put in fast, remarkably consistent passages on their last sailings of 1920, Empress of Britain leaving Liverpool on 31 December at 5 pm and reaching St. John at 5.00 pm on 7 January 1921 whilst Empress of France sailed from St. John at 4.10 pm 30 December and docked at Liverpool same time on the 7th. She landed the Canadian curling team who were played off the ship by the Liverpool Scottish Regiment.

In 1920, Empress of France completed 24  crossings carrying 29,324 passengers (17,370 westbound and 11,954 eastbound). 

One of the earliest and possibly best poster depiction of Empress of  France is this atmospheric 1921 masterpiece by Harry Hudson Rodmell.  Credit: Christies.com

1921

Beginning the New Year in dry dock, Empress of France did not resume service until 11 March 1921 when, departing Liverpool with 65 First, 591 Second and 703 Third, she had a miserable crossing, not reaching St. John until the 19th: "After fighting with stormy seas and strong head winds the C.P.O.S. liner Empress of France docked at St. John at 8:50 a.m. on Saturday [19th] from Liverpool, completing one of the worst passages of the season in the fast time of seven days. She sailed from Liverpool on the evening of March 11 and for a thousand miles faced a storm which raged for four days, when even some of the crew suffered from seasickness." (Gazette). The true Atlantic mail ship, she also landed 1,868 tons of cargo, 2,658 bags of mail and 1,303 packages of parcel post. 

Starting her 1921 St. Lawrence season, Empress of France docked at Quebec on 20 May with 177 First, 464 Second and 791 Third aboard. "Commander Cook, R.N.R., reported a pleasant and uneventful trip. The weather was almost ideal."  (Gazette).  When she sailed for Liverpool on the 24th she had  211 First, 245 Second and 475 Third and 800 bags of mail and 1,000 tons of cargo also 1,000 extra tons of coal owing to a coal strike in England and fears she would not be able to bunker fully on the other side. "Empress of France was gaily dressed in flags and bunting in honor of Victoria Day and presented a fine appearance as she sailed down the river on her way to Liverpool." (Gazette).

Canada's new Governor General on arrival at Quebec with Capt. Cook. Credit: Nanaimo Daily News 26 August  1921. 

Having taken the retiring Governor-General, the Duke of Devonshire and the Duchess of Devonshire, home to England on her 19 July 1921 crossing, Empress of France conveyed his replacement, Lord Byng, and Lady Byng, to Canada, departing Liverpool on 4 August arriving at Quebec on the 10th after her second fastest crossing date, amid all the ceremony once afforded such occasions including a 19-gun salute fired from the Citadel as they disembarked the morning of the 11th.  Capt. E. Cook of Empress of France said that he had carried four governor-generals during his career. The ship also numbered among her passengers arriving at Quebec on 31 August the Prime Minister of New Zealand, W.F. Massey, and the Attorney General of that country en route home via the west coast.

Another record for Empress of France achieved 23 August-9 September 1922 when she completed a roundtrip in 15 days, 5 days and 15 minutes. 

The ship chalked up a record on her August-September roundtrip, doing Liverpool-Quebec-Liverpool in 15 days, 5 hours an 15 minutes averaging more than 18 knots in both directions. 

Credit: Saskatoon Daily Star, 8 September 1921

On 8 September 1921 it was announced that henceforth the operating company for both the North Atlantic and Pacific routes would be known as Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. or "CPS".  The livery for the North Atlantic ships was changed to plain buff funnels with a white sheer line added to the black hulls.  Empress of France would be repainted in the new scheme during her next overhaul. 

Heralding a new role for Empress of France, the first advertisement for  her first cruise, chartered to  Frank C. Clark, 74 days to the Mediterranean. Credit: New York Tribune, 29 September 1921

Following announcements that Empress of Scotland and Empress of Britain would be used for cruises that coming winter, it was reported on 27 September 1921 that Empress of France, too, had been chartered to Frank C. Clark Co. of New York.  The same firm had completely sold out all berths in Empress of Scotland for her 74-day Mediterranean cruise departing New York 4 February 1922 in an extraordinary ten days and thus quickly arranged a second cruise using Empress of France, a week later and adding 11 more days.  Remarkably, over 200 persons booked this within a week of the announcement. 

Among Empress of France's arriving passenger at Quebec on 13 October 1921 was  the famous Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova and her troupe.  

Canadian Pacific announced on 1 November 1921 that Empress of France, Empress of Scotland and Empress of  Britain  would be transferred to Southampton upon the entry into service of the new "M" cabin boats Montcalm, Montrose and Montclare which would be Mersey-based.  On the 8th it was stated that the change would be effected with the opening of the 1922 St. Lawrence season. 

Empress of France continued to  populate her passenger lists with notables. On 2 November 1921 she left Liverpool with the Right Hon. A.J. Balfour and his party of 20 bound for the Washington, D.C. naval treaty conference, two princes (H.R.H. Prince Erick of Denmark and Prince Rene De Bourbon Parma of Austria) as well as the South African wreath for the  Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Arlington National Cemetery .  The ship  docked at Quebec on the 8th and the Balfour party reached Montreal at 11:35 p.m. in private cars attached to The Empress  Special. 

On 26 November 1921 came the sad and unexpected news of the death of Capt. Ebenezer Cook, R.N.R., aged 52, in Liverpool. He had become ill on the trip over and upon Empress of France's arrival back in Liverpool was removed by ambulance to his home in Great Crosby where he passed away.  Capt. James Gillies was appointed as his replacement on the 30th.

Canadian Pacific released details for the new Quebec-Havre-Southampton Empress Service on 1 December 1921.  After Empress of Scotland arrived at Quebec on 29 April 1922 from Liverpool, she would sail for Havre and Southampton on 4 May followed by Empress of France which would dock at Quebec on 10 May and depart for Havre and Southampton six days later.  Empress of Britain, however, would continued to be based on Liverpool. 

Making the first of a shortened winter season visit to the port, Empress of France docked at St. John on 7 December 1921 with only 272 passengers, but having had "a favorable voyage all the way, nearly 400 miles a day being the average."   Her homeward crossing, commencing on the 13th, was that year's Christmas Sailing and she took out 822 passengers and a large quantity of mails, including four carloads from Western Canada.  Altogether, Empress of  France went out with 1,082 bags of parcels and 510 bags of letters.  She arrived at Liverpool on the 20th. 

In 1921, Empress of France completed 22 crossings carrying 18,122 passengers (10,483 westbound and 7,639 eastbound). 

A remarkable assemblage of CPS tonnage in Canada Dock, Liverpool in December 1921: left to to right: Empress of France, Empress of India, Empress of Britain (the only time there were three Empress liners together in the port) and in the right background, Metagama.  The last two named ships have been freshly repainted in the new CPS colours and Empress of  France and Empress of India are in their final days in the old CPOS livery. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

1922

First advertisement for Empress of France around-the-world cruise chartered to Frank C. Clark Co. departing 23 January 1923. Credit: New York Herald, 22 January 1922.

It was announced on 21 January 1922 that Empress of France had been chartered to Frank C. Clark for a round the world cruise from New York on 23 January 1923. The 113-day circumnavigation would take her through the Panama  Canal, to Treasure Island, San Francisco, Honolulu, Yokohoma, Kobe, Nagasaki, Hong Kong, Manila, Batavia, Singapore, Rangoon, Calcutta, Colombo, Bombay, Suez, Port Said, Naples, Gibraltar, Havre and Southampton. 

New Look Empress: prior to sailing on her first crossing of 1922 and then undertaking her Mediterranean cruise that February, Empress of France was repainted at Liverpool in CPS's new North Atlantic livery of all buff funnels, white sheer line and green boot-topping. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Bidding farewell to Mersey, Empress of France, repainted in CPS's revised colours, sailed from Liverpool for the last time on 27 January 1922 and docked at  St. John at 12:55 p.m. on 3 February from Liverpool, landing 63 First, 155 Second and 244 Third Class  passengers. Among them was Capt. J.H. Ruston of Vancouver, the very last of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces to be demobilized who had been overseas since 1915. 

Proceeding to New York, Empress of France arrived on 7 February 1922 to prepare for her first cruise, the 74-day voyage would call at Las Palmas, Funchal, Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Tangier, Algiers, Genoa, Livorno, Venice, La Spezia, Naples, Phaleron Bay,  Constantinople, Haifa, Alexandria (10  days in Egypt), Monaco, Havre and Southampton. With 780 passengers, she sailed from New York at noon on the 11th. The cruise went off without a hitch and Empress of France concluded it at 6:30 a.m. 17 April when she made her maiden arrival at Southampton. Of her total list, 365 had disembarked at Monaco and another 306 at Havre with the remainder boarding a special train for London.  

Command of the vessel passed from Capt. James Gillies, who was going over to Empress of Scotland, to Capt. Evan Griffiths, RNR, while the ship was shifted to Portsmouth to undergoing a refit by Messrs. Crampton, employing some 1,500 for the task before taking up her St. Lawrence season. 

Advertisement for the new era of Empress service from Southampton, Havre and Hamburg to Quebec. Credit: Windsor Star, 27 March 1922.

At noon 3 May 1922 Empress of France sailed from Southampton for the first time, and after calling at Cherbourg, had 399 First, 58 Second and 131 Third Class passengers aboard.  She arrived at Quebec at 3:00 a.m. on the 11th.  Her first sailing to Cherbourg, Southampton and Hamburg got underway on the 16th, taking 175 First, 175 Second and 150 Third Class as well as 500 bags of mail and 1,000 tons of cargo. 

The well known F.G.O. Stuart photo of Empress of France taken as she sails from Southampton. Credit: Author's collection. 

The Canadian Pacific liner Empress of France, which reached Southampton yesterday morning from Hamburg, formally inaugurated the latest service undertaken by the great railway and shipping organisation hitherto chiefly associated on this side with Liverpool, Glasgow, and Belfast, as well as Antwerp. The Canadian Pacific Company has now also started a regular fortnightly Hamburg-Southampton.Cherbourg-Quebec service with two of its best boats, the Empress of Scotland and the Empress of France.

In thus making a bid for a share of the Continental traffic the Company is hoping to play not an unimportant part in development of the Transatlantic trade which is expected from the restoration of the more normal conditions throughout the world.

Hampshire Independent, 2 June 1922

Empress of France at Southampton showing the beautifully profiled early cruiser sterns she and Calgarian had. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Making her first departure from Hamburg on 30 May 1922 for Southampton (1 June)  and Cherbourg (1 June) and Empress of France docked at Quebec at 3:30 p.m. on the 9th with 469 passengers. "Captain Griffiths reports a fine summer passage from the ship's departure at Hamburg until the time of its arrival at Quebec. There were a number of Americans on board, who were pleased with the trip, especially the scenic effects on the way up the St. Lawrence." (Gazette).

On 24 June 1922 it was reported that Empress of France would not call at Hamburg owing to the harbour there being obstructed by the Brazilian Lloyd liner Avare which capsized leaving the Vulkan dry dock the previous week. As it was Cap Polonio was trapped at her berth. This and a coal strike there had Empress of France, which arrived at Southampton via Cherbourg from Quebec on 21 June, already 12 hours late owing to fog in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, put her 100 Hamburg passengers on trains via Harwich and ferry to Flushing to reach their destination. 

Supporters of the Port of Montreal could not have been pleased with CPS's new "Too Big to Come to Montreal" advertising pitch which stressed,  instead, the convenience of Windsor Station to shipside "Steamship Specials" on sailing day. Credit: Gazette, 22 July 1922. 

Empress of France, after an uneventful St. Lawrence season, departed Quebec for the last time in 1922 on 14 November for Cherbourg and Southampton only with 400 passengers aboard.  She reached Southampton on the 22nd and was drydocked to get her ready for her epic round the world cruise. The work was carried out by Messrs. J.& I. Thornycroft and included, in addition to general overhaul, fitting of a temporary outdoor pool, photographers dark room and a much larger laundry. 

In 1922, Empress of France completed 15 crossings carrying 7,195 passengers (4,430 westbound and 2,765 eastbound). 

1923

The true pioneer of cruising from the United States, Frank C. Clark's brochure for the 1923 World Cruise in Empress of France little different from those of the turn of the century. 

On 5 January 1923 Empress of France sailed from Southampton for St. John, her only traditional winter crossing of the season. Arriving there on on the 14th, she sailed the next morning for New York and docked there on the 17th.  When she departed on her world cruise on the 23rd, she had 803 passengers aboard, a record for such a trip.

Unlike the other world cruise ships that season (including Samaria and Resolute), Empress of France was a coal burner and this was to cause problems early in her voyage.  Calling at San Francisco on 8 February 1923, she was afforded an enthusiastic reception amid beautiful weather.  She embarked another 75 passengers there and took on bunkers. Alas, the quality of the coal was so poor as to make her more than 11 hours late in reaching her next destination, Hilo, Hawaii, and when she finally reached Honolulu the evening of the 15th, she took on another 1,500 tons of better quality coal which saw her across the expanses of the Pacific.  

World Cruise as headline news. And Empress of France's in 1923 was indeed, including the San Francisco Chronicle (left top) and also arriving in Honolulu (right) for the first time.

Well after the cruise was over, it still garnered press attention as the above photo of the Crossing the Line ceremony (using the temporary canvas pool erected on the fore deck) shows as well as the news that 20 couples became engaged during the voyage. Credit: Victoria Daily Times, 6 August 1923.

Empress of France left Southampton 13 June at 1:00 p.m. for Quebec via Cherbourg, altogether she had 460 aboard, including 100 passengers who made the world cruise.  She was making a record passage, too, until held up 10 hours owing to fog and another four hours in the St. Lawrence owing to smoke from a forest fire.  It was 4:10 p.m. on the 21st that she finally docked at Quebec, after an absence of some seven months. 

Among the 951 passengers arriving at Quebec from Hamburg, Cherbourg and Southampton aboard Empress of France on 17 July 1923 was a party of 560 Mennonites, bound for Winnipeg and Rosthern, Sask. On her next  Quebec arrival, 15 August, she landed 211 First, 132 Second and 902 Third Class, including 532 harvesters coming over  for the annual wheat harvest season.

Registering itself as the apex of notable events witnessed during the course of the present year in British and Canadian passenger traffic circles, the sailing of the Empress of France, of the Canadian Pacific Atlantic  service is scheduled to take place this afternoon from Southampton with his Royal Highness, Edward Prince of Wales, as a passenger to Canada. To preserve his incognito the heir to the British throne assumes the title of Lord Renfrew, and will be accompanied by only three members of his suite, General Trotter, Sir Godfrey Thomas and Major Metcalf.

The Prince will occupy a suite of three rooms situated on the upper deck and will have his seat in the dining saloon as a regular passenger. His Royal Highness' arrival in Quebec is  expected on September 12, and he will proceed immediately by a special Canadian Pacific  train to  his ranch situated near  Calgary. 

The Gazette, 5 September  1923

Having completed a 30,000-mile circumnavigation of the world did not in any way compare with the press attention afforded Empress of France numbering one "Lord Renfrew" on her passenger  list upon  departure from Southampton on 5 September 1923 for Quebec.  It is hard, with the passage of time and in view of subsequent events, to appreciate the near cult-like status afforded the then heir to the Britush throne, but HRH Edward, the Prince of Wales, was the rock star of his era and choosing Empress of France as his means of crossing the North Atlantic to the Dominion for a stay at his ranch outside Calgary elevated the vessel to the top echelons of liner society. 

Despite  the rather futile efforts at "incognito" for the voyage, the cat was well out of its bag, at least in the Canadian press as early as the previous month: "practically certain that he will sail for Canada to  visit  his Calgary ranch on the Empress of France returning to  London October 13. It is officially stated that the Prince desired that his visit shall be purely private and that all demonstrations of welcome and the like will be banned." The Province, 13 August 1923.

Even so, the preparations were considerable and the Gazette of 5 September 1923 reported that "The royal suite on the Empress has been lavishly  altered and the London press is  full of comment on the installation of telephones and electric heaters, silver towel racks and even the carpeting of the whole of C Deck."

R.M.S. Empress of France sails from Southampton 5 September 1923 and on account of one "Lord Renfrew" on the passenger list is, instantly, the most famous celebrated ocean liner in the world, more so than even Mauretania, the Blue Riband holder, which lies in relative obscurity on the quayside. 

ON BOARD EMPRESS OF FRANCE, in the St. Lawrence, Sept. 12-- Lord Renfrew was about the ship more than usual yesterday. Under the guidance of Capt. Jones he made a thorough inspection of the entire vessel,  visiting the second class and steerage quarters, the hold, kitchen and laundry, and showed much interest in the bringing up of the baggage and other preparations for disembarkation. He also spent some time on the bridge. The prince and Commander Griffiths seem warm friends and they had their picture taken together. 

Lord Renfrew lunched and dined in the general saloon as usual and afterwards danced in the lounge. His partners were Mrs. Holt of Montreal, and Miss Lila Malkin of  Vancouver, daughter of W.H. Malkin.

There is no doubt that he intends to live and act as though he  were not royalty. He is not for the time being the Prince of Wales, with responsibility, cares and irksome duties. He is Lord Renfrew, a young English nobleman, off for a real holiday and bound to  have it.

Vancouver Daily World, 12 September 1923

"Lord Renfrew" had the bedroom of his suite aboard completely redecorated for his crossing.

The Prince of Wales with Capt. Griffiths aboard Empress of  France.

Seldom has one individual's trans-Atlantic crossing been more extensively or breathlessly documented but as this sampling of clippings from the Canadian press shows, the Dominion loved its Prince.

HMV Canada wanted you to enjoy "Running Wild" as much as the Prince of Wales did aboard Empress of France. 

Concluding an otherwise routine crossing, Empress of France docked at Quebec at 7:00 a.m. on 12 September 1923 and landed 365 First, 204 Second and 515 Third Class passengers.

R.M.S. Empress of France arrives at Quebec with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales aboard. Credit: eBay auction photo

Lord Renfrew, aka HRH The Prince of Wales says farewell to Capt. Griffiths who escorts him off the ship at Quebec. 

The Prince returned in Empress of France, sailing from Quebec on 13 October 1923:

In the same informal manner in which he arrived in Canada, Lord Renfrew set off from Quebec today, with this difference that he was afford the unusual privilege of being on the bridge when the Empress of France moved away from the pier at the mouth of the St. Charles River and headed for the St. Lawrence to begin the voyage down that noble stream. There was a great gathering of citizens on the steamship pier as the Empress cast off her moorings, and cheer after cheer arose, to which Lord Renfrew responded with his usual happy smile, and by repeatedly raising his hat in salutation, occasionally giving it a cheerful flourish.

The Gazette, 15 October 1923

Empress of France with "Lord Renfrew" aboard returning to Southampton 27 October 1923.  Dressed overall, she is flying a splendid over-sized  Blue Ensign. 

Empress of France docked at Southampton at 3:00 p.m. on 27 October 1923, dressed overall, and the Prince, "looking bronze and well, appeared on the boat deck of the liner as it drew alongside the quay." (Hampshire Advertiser).  The Prince later sent the Captain and officers of the ship presents of appreciation.   It was, in all, a tremendously successful occasion for the ship, her officers and crew and for Canadian Pacific.

A marvelous Beken & Son photograph of R.M.S. Empress of France in all her coal-fired glory which was soon to pass. Credit: Mariners Museum

Lost in all the royal hubbub was the announcement on 22 September 1923 that Canadian Pacific had invited tenders for the  conversion of Empress of France to oil burning, "although no announcement has yet been made as to the firm that will carry out the fitting of the necessary installation, the whole matter is in an advanced state." (Hampshire Advertiser, 22 September 1923). Given the issues encountered recently on her world cruise and with her increasing use for for cruising, the decision to convert the ship was not surprising, although the process proved protracted. The contract was eventually let to her builders, Beardmore, on 22 November and the ship, after her 31 October-17 November round voyage would be sent to Dalmuir.

On her final crossing of the season, and as it proved for a considerable period, Empress of France sailed from Quebec on Armistice Day with 520 passengers and docked at Southampton on the 17 November 1923. 

Departing Southampton on 25 November 1923, Empress of France went into the fitting out basin at Beardmores on 5 December and was expected to resume service on 10 May 1924 in time to begin the St. Lawrence season. In addition to the considerable work entailed in converting her to oil fuel-- changing 64 furnaces, building new oil bunkers and adapting several double bottom tanks to hold fuel to give a 3,600-ton capacity in all-- extensive refurbishment of her accommodation was also undertaken. This included providing hot and cold running water to all First Class cabins and the replacement of all fixed berths in First and Second Class with brass bedsteads and folding upper berths.

In 1923, Empress of France completed 14 crossings carrying 7,880 passengers (5,936 westbound and 1,944 eastbound). 

Classic Oswald F. Pennington  postcard of Empress of France. Credit: author's  collection

1924 

Empress of France ended 1923 in Beardmore's Dalmuir yards and wound up spending half of 1924 there without turning a screw. On 14 February 1924 Shipbuilding & Shipping Record hopefully reported that the yard "have now almost completed the work." Then, like her construction as Alsatian, progress ground to halt amid a series of strikes and management retaliation shut-outs so that on 13 March it was reported that "Empress of France to remain dock for about a fortnight." Canadian Pacific cancelled her 10 May sailing on 18 April, citing a "prolonged strike" at the yard and on  1 May it was stated "it is expected that the vessel will be another month at Dalmuir."

Meanwhile, in one of the most important announcements for the Company's future, CPS stated on 16 March 1924 that they would henceforth operate all cruises under their own management and direction, ending the chartering of vessels to tourist firms like Frank C. Clark. In doing so, they were the first British North Atlantic line to do so and cruising came to play an increasing role. At the same time, it was announced that Empress of France would undertake a second world cruise, from New York on 27 January 1925, sailing eastward this time.  Not forgotten was the transatlantic service for the 1925 St. Lawrence season announced a few days later comprising 96 arrivals and departures, the most ever by a single line to the St. Lawrence by the two Empresses and 11 cabin ships totalling 197,000 tons.

Arriving at Southampton in Minnedosa on 15 May 1924 from Montreal, Capt. E. Griffiths said that Empress of France would run trials on the 23rd and re-enter service on 7 June.  She, in fact, finally left Dalmuir on the 25th and ran "highly successful trials" en route from Glasgow to Southampton, maintaining for 12 hours an average speed of 19.5 knots and topping 20.8 knots. Her stokehold crew was reduced from 117 men to 34.

The vessel looking quite magnificent, this Gieves photograph may have been taken right after Empress of France's  conversion to oil fuel on the Clyde. Credit: https://www.dalmadan.com/

It had been a long and expensive enterprise, not the least of which was missing seven months, including the entire winter cruise season, but Empress of France was now completely renewed and Canadian Pacific's North Atlantic Empress Fleet was now entirely oil-fuelled. 

Credit: Gazette, 14 June 1924.

Oil burning promised faster or at least more consistent speeds and this was  realised on Empress of  France's very  first crossing after her refit. On 13 June  1924 it was reported she would set a new record if she arrived at Quebec by 10:00 p.m.  that evening, thus doing the longer Cape  Race route in 6 days 9 hours and was said to be averaging 19.3 knots across.  The ship already held the record for the shorter Belle Isle route of 5 days 23 hours.  This was, in fact, accomplished and on the 14th it was reported she had docked at 9:40 p.m. to average 20.3 knots from Cape Race to Rimouski and an ocean speed of 19.3 knots with a total steaming time from Cherbourg to Rimouski of 5 days 20 hours 19 minutes. 

First Canadian market advertisement for the new programme of Canadian Pacific Cruises, highlighting the world cruise of Empress of France, the "gigantic private yacht.... chosen twice for voyages by Lord Renfrew, the Prince of Wales..."  Credit: Gazette, 28 June 1924. 

The ship put in yet another record run on her crossing beginning from Cherbourg at 8:00 p.m.5 July 1924, lowering her own record for the Belle Isle route set in June 1920.  When she swept into Quebec at 10:00 a.m. on the 11th, Empress of France had clocked 5 days 19 hours for the passage, averaging 20.155 knots for the crossing.

The Empress of France has just completed a record run from Cherbourg to Quebec. She left Cherbourg at 8 p.m., Greenwich time, on Saturday, July 5, and docked at Quebec at 10 a.m. July 11, which allowing for the difference in time, is five days and 19 hours, showing a speed of 20.155 knots per  hour. This compares very favorably with her last good trip of five days 23 hours from Liverpool, when covered 143 miles less.

Captain Griffiths wirelessed his position a few days ago, and predicted that he would reach Quebec with his ship in record time. His forecast aroused considerable interest, and the news of his arrival at Quebec yesterday morning at 10 o'clock, daylight saving times, was received with satisfaction by the company officials.  The fastest trip across hitherto was made by the same ship in June 1920. This spring she was reconditioned and was converted into an oil burner. Much care was taken in overhauling her engines, and on her first trio out over the long southern route, via Cape  Race, she showed speed she had never attained before. A new record for that particular route was established on that voyage, and Captain Griffiths remarked at the time, that as soon as the shorter northern route via Belle Isle was open for navigation he expected great things from the France. Her present feat has more than fulfilled his expectations, and proves she is in a class by herself, the fleetest ship on the river.

Statement by G.M. Bosworth, Chairman of Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd.

It should be added that in addition to 444 passengers able to breakfast in London or lunch in Paris and have dinner in Montreal six days later,  Empress of France brought over tins of newsreel film of the opening of the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, the film having first been flown to Cherbourg and they were shown in New York City a week later. 

Credit: Gazette, 24 July 1924.

With the bit in her teeth, Empress of France left Quebec on 16 July 1924 for Cherbourg, Southampton and Hamburg.  Sure enough  she set a new eastbound record of 5 days 14 hours 15 minutes from Quebec to Cherbourg, averaging 20.65 knots.  CPS Chairman Bosworth put in it more meaningful terms: "Passengers by the ship had had luncheon at the Chateau Frontenac at Quebec on Wednesday, July 16, and Tuesday, July 22, were lunching on the Cherbourg-Paris express and were in Paris  for breakfast yesterday morning. The journey from the Ancient Capital  of New France to the capital city of Old France was thus achieved well within the week. The time was five hours and fifteen minutes better than the recent westbound record  established by the Empress of  France…"

The undoubted Blue Riband holder of the St. Lawrence, R.M.S. Empress of France at Quebec. Credit: New York Public Library. 

A decade after she entered service as Alsatian, the ship was at her prime, more than fulfilling the aspirations of the Allans  as the doubtless Greyhound of the St. Lawrence Run, the fastest ship on the shortest route from Old World to New. 

While the ship was proving her bona fides as an Atlantic Greyhound, promotion of her upcoming World Cruise began in earnest. 

Captain E. Griffiths, R.N.R., her commander, stated that "the voyage had been a splendid one in every respect" to the shipping reporter of the Gazette upon bringing Empress of France alongside Quebec  at 5.30 pm on 31 October 1924 after leaving Southampton on the 25th at 1:00 p.m., taking 5 days 3 hours 30 minutes for the passage.  This had Montreal passengers home by 11:30 p.m. that same evening and Toronto ones by 8:00 the following morning.  Ending a truly glorious season, Empress of France sailed from Quebec on 5 November.

In 1924, Empress of France completed 14 crossings carrying 5,445 passengers (3,751 westbound and 1,694 eastbound). 

The beautiful frontispiece  artwork for the Round the World Cruise brochure. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. 

1925

Of course, the big event in Empress of France's 1925 was her second world cruise and also the second organised directly by Canadian Pacific (the first being Empress of Canada's 30 January 1924 voyage), but coming in the wake of her Prince of Wales and record breaking crossings, it was second to none when it came to publicity and was doubtless the "it" cruise of the year.  

The complete itinerary was New York, Madeira, Algiers, Monte Carlo, Naples, Haifa, Alexandria, Bombay, Colombo, Sumatra, Java, Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taku, Kobe, Yokohama, Honolulu, Hilo, Victoria, Vancouver, San Francisco, Panama Canal, Havana and back New York on 24 May 1925 after 29,834 miles. 

She sailed from New York on 14 January 1925 with 291 aboard and, after the call at Naples, there were 332 passengers, of whom 190 were Americans, 131 British, three Belgians, three French and two Germans. The British contingent was said to be "the largest number of British subjects ever to have circumnavigated the globe on one cruise."  The youngest passenger was aged 8, the oldest aged 82 and the average age was 45 years old.  Canadian Pacific staffed the ship with a cruise staff of 14 cruise directors, shore excursion agents etc. 

With flags flying and amid showers of confetti the Empress of France sailed from the docks of the North River at noon today. Under Commander Griffiths, R.N.R., the giant Canadian liner started a four months' cruise of the world with a happy family of Canadians and Americans. The opinions of those on the pier was that Canadian enterprise was being well advertised by one of the hero ships of the war leaving an American port on a world cruise.

The Empress of France was the leader of the tenth squadron an was rated as a flagship in the British Navy. Commander Griffiths also had the honor of bringing the Prince of Wales to and from America. The smart lines of the cruiser type of British ship in New York harbor drew much attention, and during her brief stay in these waters the ship was  visited by thousands. Many visited the  royal suite, which is recognized as one of the most perfect examples of  interior maritime architecture.

The Gazette, 15 January 1925

Canadian Pacific publicity swung into high gear for the cruise and almost every call prompted a press  release:

Funchal, Madeira, January 22--  for twenty-four hours Funchal has been wearing her gala attire for the honor and entertainment of the cruising Canadian and American passengers of the Canadian Pacific SS Empress of France, which after a weeks steaming across the southern route anchored about a quarter of a mile from the landing quay, making this city her first port of call on a trip around the world…  luncheon was served on shore to the whole passenger list, and with flags fluttering in a soft southern breeze, the Empress weighed anchor at 5 p.m., turning her bow towards Gibraltar…

Fair  weather has followed the cruising steamship since it left New York January 14 and shore excursions at Funchal and Algiers were made under the most favorable conditions… tomorrow  morning the Empress will weigh anchor for Naples…

Empress of France's arrival in San Francisco Bay was widely anticipated. This clipping featuring a nice photo of her departure from New York. Credit: Oakland Tribune, 5 May 1925.

The arrival of Empress of France figured in many local newspapers including the Honolulu Advertiser

 

To top off the passenger  list towards the end of  the cruise, CPS announced on 5 February 1925 it was taking bookings for a "South American" cruise segment starting at Vancouver on 4 May and taking Empress of  France to New York via San Francisco, Balboa, Colon, Havana and New York where the cruise concluded on 23 May. There were also segments sold from Honololu to Southampton.  And to get her home, CPS dispatched her on a one-way New York-Cherbourg-Southampton crossing on 26 May.

Advertisements for some of  the segments sold on the later portions of Empress of France's world cruise including Honolulu-Southampton, Vancouver-New York or onward to Southampton and New York-Cherbourg-Southampton.

It cost $17,362 in fees for the ship to transit the Suez Canal. There were the occasional hiccups associated with foreign travel that even Canadian Pacific could  not have foreseen including the herd of elephants that blocked the railway line at Kandy, Ceylon on 4 March 1925 compelling the Empress to leave Colombo late to wait for the delayed train and its contingent of tourists. Most famously, the ship sailed right through the largest U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet "wargame" ever en route from Hilo to Vancouver and was subject to countless "attacks" and reckoned to have been "sunk" three times.  The Vancouver arrival on 4 May was the first time a CPS Atlantic liner had visited the port. 

Empress of France's maiden arrival at Vancouver was the first time a CPS Atlantic liner had visited British Columbia and also occasioned some marvelous photographs taken in the beautiful approach to and from the port. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. 

Another stunning photograph of the Empress.  Credit: City of Vancouver Archives.

Empress of France transits the Panama Canal, 16 May 1925. Note the impressive deployment of awnings over the open decks! Credit: James L. Shaw collection.

At the final stop at Havana, Cuba. President Machado invited the passengers to attend his inauguration and to witness the unveiling of a statue to his predecessor. But it finally came to an end on 24 May 1925 when Empress of France returned to New York with 288 passengers still left aboard on the  final leg. 

Decorated from stem to stern with flags and accompanied by the sounding of sirens from vessels in the harbor, the Canadian Pacific Ss. Empress of France, completing the last leg of her 30,000-mile tour around the world, sailed into New York harbor Saturday morning. She carried 288  passengers who made the world tour.

Times Colonist, 25 May 1925

Coinciding with Empress of France's return, Canadian Pacific announced their cruise  programme for winter 1926 which would "swap" Empresses, with Empress of Scotland performing the world cruise and Empress of France doing the long Mediterranean  voyage, 64 days departing New York 9 February 1926.

Back the relative humdrum of an Atlantic Ferry,  Empress of France arrived at Southampton on 3 June 1925 from New York.   After a brief refit, she sailed for Quebec, via Cherbourg, where she docked at 3:00 p.m.  on the 26th with 90 First, 43 Second and 107 Third Class after an eight-month absence.  During this period, Marburn replaced her on the Hamburg-Quebec run but now reverted to her usual Glasgow  route. Empress of France made her first eastbound sailing of the season on the 30th.

The main body of the British delegation attending the Imperial Press Conference in Melbourne on 1 September 1925 departed Southampton in Empress of  France on 13 July and would take The All Red Route to Australia, voyaging out to Melbourne in Aorangi. Empress of France docked at Quebec on the 17th with 147 First, 75 Second and 192 Third Class.

Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Empress of France sailed from Quebec on 16 September for Cherbourg, Southampton and  Hamburg and called at Cherbourg on the evening of the 22nd.  En route to Southampton, in near gale conditions, she broke her rudder 30 miles south of St. Catherine's lightship, 25 miles south of Southampton just before midnight.  A distress was sent out, but it was not until 1:00 p.m. the following day that the tug Romsey arrived on the scene, 30 miles south of St. Alban's Head. The task of towing the liner proved extraordinarily difficult: 

A thrilling story of how the Empress of  France, with 230 passengers on board. travelled up the Channel broadside on with a broken rudder was told yesterday the disabled ship at last reached Southampton. It was at midnight on Tuesday that the rudder jammed. Half a gale was blowing and the sea had a heavy swell. The position was fraught with alarming possibilities, but skillful navigation coaxed the vessel into safety, although she was out of control. Until dawn the commander, Captain Griffiths, and pilot Somervill spent a most anxious time on the bridge, while the passengers, unaware that anything untoward had happened, slept snugly in their beds. A wireless call for assistance was sent to the Canadian Pacific Company's local office and at six o'clock on Wednesday morning the tug Romsey was despatched to pickup the liner which was found at one p.m. 

Two of the tug's crew had an extraordinary escape just off the Nab Lightship, when the towing gear was carried away by the strain. This gear consists of a towing boll, a steel bar five inches in diameter, on which works a towing book. Attached to the hook was a seven-inch wire hawser, and a 17-inch one, which was being used for towing purposes. Without any warning, when the Empress of France met a particularly heavy swell, the towing bolt snapped with a report like as exploding shell. The great steel hook missed by inches two of the crew who were standing aft of the towing platform, sad, striking the rails, bent them like match- wood. The hook burled through the air and finally came down on the deck of the Empress of France 1,200 feet away.

 It was impossible to tow the liner in the orthodox way, because of her helm being out of action. The broadside journey was a most delicate and trying operation. Early on Thursday morning, however, two other tugs joined the Romney. 

Eventually the Empress of France anchored in St. Helens Bay, off the east end of the Isle of Wight. 

Belfast Telegraph, 25 September 1925

After her passengers, baggage and mails were taken off by tender in St. Helen's Bay midday, Empress of France was finally brought by five tugs alongside at Southampton on the night of 24 September 1925. After an initial inspection by a diver the following morning, Canadian Pacific cancelled her next sailing.Her cargo was unloaded and she entered dry dock on the 26th. Fully repaired, she sailed on her next scheduled sailing, arriving at Quebec on 7 November 1925 where she landed 85 First, 82 Second and 286 Third Class passengers.  Empress of France left Quebec on her final crossing of the season on Armistice Day and docked at Southampton on the 18th.

In 1925, Empress of France completed 10 crossings carrying 4,128 passengers (2,706 westbound and 1,422 eastbound). 

The Storm by Oswald F. Pennington, 1926.  So fearsome was the winter gale that Empress of France was pummeled by en route to New York to begin her Mediterranean cruise that CPS's well known painter of more lanquid postcard scenes of their ships depicted a rather less "marketable" but true to real life portrait of the ship in truly epic seas.  

1926

After drydocking and alterations for her upcoming Mediterranean cruise, Empress of France left Southampton on 26 January 1926 for New York, via Cherbourg and Queenstown.  What was intended to be a routine winter "positioning" crossing  proved to be one of the most arduous ever made by the ship:

Dented steel bulkheads, twisted cargo books, a dozen broken windows, a smashed hatch and $25,000 worth of passengers' baggage watersoaked corroborated the vivid evidence of Captain E. Griffiths and sixty-seven passengers. The damage to the boat is estimated at $80,000.

The Empress of  France, a day and a half late, caught the worst of it for twenty-four hours Saturday and Sunday. A passengers were trying to snatch what sleep they could about 1.30 o'clock Sunday morning when a huge wave struck her port side. The steamship  was brought almost to a standstill. 

'Iceberg', someone said, but it wasn't. That one wave buried the Empress of France for the moment, and a half more in succession dropped like tons of steel on the heaving vessel. 'It looked as if  that wave was a hundred feet high,' some of the passengers said.

Forty feet of the steel bulkhead between railing and deck on the promenade deck, twenty feet of it on the lower deck, was dented before the Empress of France came through the twenty-four stretch when the gale reached ninety miles an hour.

Two  of the huge cargo booms, kept lashed up when not used to  disgorge the ship's innards when in port, loosened under the battering of wind and wave and started careening around, smashing right and left. The port side book ripped through the number 3 hatch guarding the compartment with the passengers' baggage, and before the Empress of France came wallowing through fifty tons of  water came  through on the baggage. The salt water swirled around underneath, battering many trunks to pieces. Passengers estimated that their baggage was worth $25,000, but did not  know how much of it could be salvaged.

Eleven windows on the promenade deck were broken. One of the library windows was also  sent smashing, and wave after wave was thrown over the library, racing out through the foyer.

There was no panic at any time, captain and passengers said, but all agreed that it was the worst storm they had ever seen.

The  Gazette, 6 February 1926

Wonderful photograph of the storm-tossed Empress of France crunching her way through the ice floes of the North River to get to her pier after the worst storm of her career. Credit: Daily News, 6 February  1926.

Credit: Daily News, 6 February 1926

The battered Empress of France docked at New York on 5 February, two days late, with 48 First, 10 Second and nine Third Class passengers all doubtless relieved to be on terra firma.  Even docking proved a challenge as the slip was jammed with huge ice floes and it took hours for six tugs to get her alongside. Capt. Griffiths told reporters, "I've been at sea for 35 years, but this is the worst I've ever had. It was 17 kinds of hell."

The splendid cover for the 1926 Mediterranean cruise. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Sufficiently patched up and dried out, Empress of France, with 477 passengers, sailed as scheduled from New York at noon on 9 February 1926 on her Mediterranean cruise, the 11,053-mile voyage encompassing Madeira, Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Algiers, Syracuse, Constantinople, Beirut, Haifa, Alexandria, Venice, Naples, Monaco, Cherbourg and ending at Southampton on 13 April.

Ship portrait of Empress of France in her 1926 Mediterranean cruise brochure.Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

Even before her 1926 Mediterranean cruise was finished, CPS announced the first week in April a repeat for 1927.  This would cater to both the U.S. and the U.K. market by sailing from Southampton on 29 January and from New York on 12 February. 

The world girding liner never looked more at home than she did in the shadow of the Citadel of Canada's Ancient Capital. Artist: Norman Wilkinson. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

For 1926, Empress of  France had a rather fuller season on the CPS' premier North Atlantic service than she did the previous world cruise dominated year. Indeed, she opened up the 1926 Empress Season with her sailing from Southampton on 1 May.

The Empress of France, the 'blue ribbon' ship of the Canadian Pacific fleet, will be first of the Empress class to come up the St. Lawrence in the 1926 season of navigation. This ship left Southampton via Cherbourg in the evening of May 1, and is due to arrive at Quebec on Saturday.

With the honor of having the speed record on the service between England an Canada the France has become one of the most popular ships of the Atlantic, and has credited her name with many honors. Having twice carried across the Atlantic the heir to the throne, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, she continues to be foremost ship in the service of carrying notables to and from Canada. 

The Gazette, 4 May 1926

It was a lucky beginning as the Empress was only ship to dock at Quebec on 9 May 1926  as fog had delayed the inbound Regina, Montcalm, Ausonia and Athenia by a day.  She landed 722 passengers from Southampton and Cherbourg at 4:00 p.m. Among her Third Class passengers, bound for the Dutch colony at New Hamburg, Ont., was "party of twelve persons, fair-haired and blue-eyed, straight from Holland…" (The Gazette).  She sailed eastbound on the 12th for Southampton, Cherbourg and Hamburg.

This was the first season that the Empresses introduced Tourist Third Cabin so that, on most sailings, they accommodated First, Second, Tourist Third and Third Classes.  In Empress of France, Tourist Third was initially created out of the better Third Class aft accommodation.  Her first Quebec arrival with Tourist Third Class was on 31 July 1926 and first eastbound crossing was on 4 August. 

Surely there was no more handsome liner on the St. Lawrence than Empress of France. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Enhancing her reputation as the Governor-Generals' flagship, Empress of France numbered among her passengers sailing from Quebec on 29 September 1926  the retiring Governor-General of Canada, Lord Byng, and Lady Byng.  "To the thunder of guns from the ancient citadel and with every vessel in the harbor unloosing siren-blasts, drowning the efforts of the bandsmen of the Royal 22nd Regiment, which strove to match lung-power against steam-power, Canada's departing Governor-General, Lord Byng of Vimy, and Lady Byng, were slowly born out of Quebec harbor this afternoon on the S.S. Empress of  France, their term of service to the Canadian people over. " (The Gazette, 30 September 1926).  

Lord Byng retirement came, it should added, after by his role in a constitutional crisis with Prime Minister Mackenzie King over refusing a request to dissolve Parliament and call elections that would forever change the relationship of governor-generals and the sovereign elected governments of the Dominions. Lord Byng remained highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic and his send-off from Quebec and arrival welcome in Southampton attested to this.  When she came up the Solent on 6 October, Empress of France was dressed overall and the Lord Mayor and Sheriff of Southampton and a horde of reporters were on hand to meet him.  

Capt. Griffiths says farewell to Canada's retiring Governor General Lord Byng on arrival at Southampton 6 October 1926. 

In 1926, Empress of France completed 14 crossings carrying 7,802 passengers (5,781 westbound and 2,021 eastbound). 

1927

One of the most outstanding pieces of ocean liner literature was the 1926-27 CPS World and Mediterranean Cruises book, design by Louis Treviso with artwork by Maurice Logan. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

On 1 February 1927 with Empress of France soon off on her Mediterranean cruise, Empress of Scotland in Singapore on her world cruise and Montroyal leaving Puerto Rico on her West Indies cruise, it seemed a good occasion for Canadian Pacific to announce the 1927-28 programme.  In addition to introducing Empress of Australia to world cruising, Empress of France, too, was off to new horizons with a South American-Africa Cruise. 

The wonderful centerfold of the combined brochure for Empress of France's Mediterranean Cruise February-April 1927 and Empress of Scotland World Cruise. Artist: Maurice Logan. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Empress of France arrived at New York 7 February 1927 after another rough "positioning" crossing from Southampton, but nothing like the previous year. Capt. Griffith told reporters: "For twenty-four hours on Friday and Saturday the wind blew at 80 miles and hour and occasionally 85 miles. The liner was undamaged, however, and, although we were held up by wind and waves, we made very good time after reaching the Atlantic coastline and were able to reach port virtually on time." (Gazette, 8 February 1927). With 436 passengers, she sailed for the Mediterranean on the 12th.

Shortly after noon today the crowded North River of New York will witness the sight, which place only once a year at the start of a cruise, of the Empress of France bearing the Canadian Pacific houseflag, bound for  the ports of the Mediterranean and a 64-day cruise. She will number among her capacity quota of passengers 100 Canadians, the largest group so far to figure on her cosmopolitan passenger list. Commander E. Griffiths, R.N.R., will be in command of the ship, which will touch at the ports of 16 countries before she docks at Southampton on April 16.

The Gazette, 12 February 1927

The itinerary for the 1927 Mediterranean cruise by Empress of France. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Empress of France in Kotor Bay in April 1927. The photo was used in a later brochure for which the white sheer line had been carefully touched out! Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Canadian Pacific's Diamond Jubilee in 1927 was marked by a suitable high point in every aspect of this vast transportation system, not the least was Canadian Pacific Steamships.  The famed Pacific White Empresses were back (their hulls  repainted in the pre-war white at the beginning of the year), Empress of Australia, ex-Tirpitz, added to the St. Lawrence run that season and on 21 March details were released on Empress of France's audacious South American and African Cruise which would last 104 days and call at 20 ports in 16 countries. This would depart New York on 24 January 1928.  Empress of Scotland would perform that winter's long Mediterranean cruise and Empress of Australia the fifth round the world cruise. 

Truly an event of national importance, Canadian Pacific celebrates their Diamond Anniversary. This advertisement highlights the Atlantic steamship service and Allan Line.  Empress of Australia  is featured and will join the Atlantic Empresses in 1927. Credit: Ottawa Journal, 27 February 1927.

Empress of France had the honour of opening CPS's St. Lawrence service that anniversary year and she left Southampton on 30 April 1927 arrived at Quebec on 7 May after what Capt. Griffiths called "a fast crossing, but an uneventful voyage, the weather being beautiful all the way."  She landed 253 First, 248 Tourist Third Cabin and 663 Third Class from Southampton and Cherbourg.  Starting that year, Second Class was done away with in the Empresses or, rather, restyled as Tourist Third Cabin so they reverted to carrying three classes.

The Empress of France will sail  tomorrow on her first eastbound voyage of the season from Quebec to Cherbourg, Southampton and Hamburg. Popularly known as the 'aristocrat of the Atlantic,' the yachtlike Canadian Pacific vessel has both traditions to follow and records to maintain.

The Gazette, 10 May 1927

The ship's first eastbound crossing that season left Quebec on 11 May 1927 for Cherbourg, Southampton and Hamburg with 120 First, 222 Tourist Third Cabin and 120 Third Class.

For 1927 there were three Atlantic Empresses with the arrival of Empress of Australia on the route. Credit: The Gazette, 12 March 1927.

Empress of France arrived Quebec on 6 June  1927 with  675 settlers, among 1,100 arriving in her and Minnedosa. On 23 July she landed 458 new settlers including 56 children and seven infants. 

Canada's first effort an air mail service commenced on 7  September 1927 when Major Tudhope of the Canadian Aerial Service took off from the Canadian Vickers yards at Maisonneuve in a Vickers Vanessa biplane bound for Father Point to meet the inbound Empress of France and then flying them to Montreal. Ship left Southampton on the 3rd.  Of the total of 947 pounds of mail, 500 pounds of First Class post was picked up.  The experiment ended in failure and near tragedy when the plane, with 53 bags aboard, crashed on take off from  Father Point. The pilot and the mails were save but the plane was a write off. 

A rather splendidly evocative painting by Norman Wilkinson "Sunset on the St. Lawrence"  for a Canadian Pacific brochure showing the outbound Empress of France passing the inbound Montroyal (ex-Empress of  Britain). Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

On 12 October 1927 Empress of France sailed from Quebec on her final crossing of the season.  Upon return to Southampton, she would be drydocked and overhauled in preparation for her Cruise of Contrasts to South America and Southampton, sailing from the Hampshire port on 7 January and from New York on the 24th.  "This  afternoon a large number of people were down to bid friends and acquaintances good-bye, as well as to get their last glimpse of the vessel for another six months or so, and the greater number of those who wended their way to the wharf remained until the trim liner had disappeared from view. Around the bend of the St. Lawrence, by the Island of Orleans." (Gazette, 13 October 1927).

Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Canadian Pacific announced  on 13 October 1927 their 1928 St. Lawrence schedule. In addition to introducing the two new "Duchesses", Duchess of Atholl  and Duchess of Bedford in June and July, it was revealed that the Empress ships  would no longer call at Hamburg and serve only Cherbourg to and from Southampton en route to Quebec with 22 voyages total. The Elbe port would have its own service by Montroyal and Montnairn. 

In 1927, Empress of France completed 14 crossings carrying 9,140 passengers (6,012 westbound and 3,128 eastbound). 

In the course of her annual overhaul, Empress of France lost the white sheer line on her  hull as Canadian Pacific changed their livery... again. 

Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Starting in 1928, Empress of France was, attired, as were the other CPS vessels, in an all all-black hull. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

1928

Another Empress of France "event cruise" and another superb brochure to promote it. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. 

As with the 1926-27 brochure, the artwork was by Maurice Logan. Credit:University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

Routing of the South America/Africa Cruise.  The dotted lines indicate the CPS trans-Atlantic routes with return passage on any included in the cruise  fare as the cruise ended at Southampton. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection 

Once again, Empress of France would begin her year with another "event" cruise, and that for 1928 would break new ground, being the  first CPS cruise to call at South American and African ports: Kingston, Port of Spain, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Tristan da Cunha, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Port Sudan, Port Tewfik, Naples, Monte Carlo, Gibraltar, Cherbourg and Southampton.  

Having encountered such stormy seas the last two years on the positioning crossing from Southampton to New York to start the winter cruise, CPS took a novel tack with the South America/Africa cruise by dispatching Empress of France  instead from Southampton direct to Kingston, Jamaica.  This accommodated British passengers for the cruise who were put up in an hotel whilst the Empress went north to embark North American passengers at New York and then back to Kingston. 

Over 200 passengers embarked at Southampton on 7 January 1928 including 100 just taking advantage of being able to sail to the West Indies in so large and fast a ship. Empress of France arrived at New York on the 21st. On the 24th she sailed at noon with 430 passengers. 

Empress of France departs Southampton on 7 January 1928 on the first left of her South American/African cruise to Kingston.  Note the absence of the white sheer line on her hull after her overhaul and White Star's Homeric in the background. 

Of all the ports visited, non elicited as much interest and planning as did that at the island of Tristan da Cunha in the middle of the South Atlantic ocean and one of isolated places on earth.  With just 140 inhabitants, it had no regular steamship service other than the occasion whaling ship and a few freighters and Empress of France would be the first major liner to call there. In view of it being one of the remotest parts of the British Empire, the ship carried  27 large packing  cases filled with supplies, from medical supplies to books and toiletries for the islanders, donated by the Robert Louis Stevenson Chapter of Canada as well as official gifts from King George V and Queen Mary which included 1,500 pounds of flour, 1,110 lbs of sugar, 400 lbs. of tea, 500 lbs. of soap, 500 lbs. of rolled oats and 150 lbs. of tobacco in addition to first aid kits, matches, jams, baking powder, raisins, butter, candies and malted milk.  She was, in fact, the first ship to call at the island in some 11 months when arrived before dawn on 26 February 1928. 

The big story of the cruise was the call at Tristan da Cunha. Left: Empress of France sailing from Southampton and right, unloading some of her special cargo onto a whaler at Tristan. 

Cape Town was reached on 1 March 1928 and on the 13th Empress of France docked at Durban and her passengers were greeted at the gangway by the mayor. Passing up the East Coast of Africa and through Suez, she called at Naples on 14 April for three days.

Empress of France anchored off Zanzibar island. It's safe to assume a destination none of her owners, designers or builders ever expected Alsatian would ever visit. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Back to "civilisation", Empress of France anchored off Monte Carlo. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

As was customary, the next season of winter cruises were announced before the present ones had concluded and by the end of April 1928 it was revealed that Empress of France would reprise her South America/Africa cruise on 22 January 1929  in addition to a world cruise for Empress of Australia and Empress of Scotland off to the Mediterranean. 

By early May 1928 the first advertisements for the just announced 1929 winter cruise programme appeared in the American press including Empress of France second South America/Africa "Cruise of Contrasts" of 104 days from New York 22 January 1929.

It was not until 26 May 1928 that Empress of France made her first Quebec landfall back on the Atlantic run when she disembarked 114 First, 139 Tourist Third and 561 Third Class.  Her first eastbound sailing of the season began on the 30th and she took away 85 First, 224 Tourist Third and 37 Third Class passengers.

A pretty dreary postcard for a pretty boring livery, but not for long... Empress of France was soon to become a White Empress.  Credit: author's collection. 

Having just settled down to her North Atlantic routine, it was announced, in Montreal by CPR President E.W, Beatty on 6 July 1928,  that Empress of France would be transferred temporarily to the trans-Pacific service to enable Empress  of Canada to be sent to Britain for re-engining that autumn. The six-year-old Empress of Canada had never been satisfactory and her double-reduction machinery a constant source  of problems and she would, instead, be fitted with single-reduction geared turbines promising greater speed, economy and more reliability.

Announcement that Empress of France was  coming to the trans-Pacific run in late autumn 1928 to relieve Empress of Canada for re-engining. Credit: The Province, 6 July 1928.

It was planned to dispatch Empress of France to Hong Kong as part of a "world tour" where her passengers would transfer to Empress of Canada for continuation of the voyage to England, via Suez. All this meant Empress of France would not be able to undertake her already planned and promoted second South America/Africa cruise starting 22 January 1929 which would now be done by the new Duchess of Atholl. 

Meanwhile Empress of France continued as the preferred ship of the famous, it being announced on 28 July 1928 that former British Prime  Minister Ramsay MacDonald, and his three daughters,  were among those sailing in the ship that day from  Southampton. "I am just off for a holiday, full of expectations of sun and leisure" he told reporters on departure. On 3 August Empress of France docked at Quebec with "probably the most distinguished  list of passengers to arrive in Canada by one steamer this year. (Gazette).

Former British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and his daughters on arrival at Quebec aboard Empress of France. Credit: Winnipeg Tribune, 7 August 1928

In time for the annual harvest season, four CPS liners… Empress of France, Montcalm, Melita and Marloch landed 3,800 Third Class passengers at Quebec the weekend of 25-26 August  1928. "A total of 1,860 of these harvesters, young, husky and enthusiastic, recruited from all parts of England from the large number offering, and specially selected for their physique, will be rushed by special trains over the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway to the plains of Western Canada where harvesting is in full swing." (Gazette, 23 August 1928). Also arriving in Empress of France was Lt. Governor R.R. Bruce who later commented: "Five hundred of them came over on the Empress  of France with us. They were as fine specimens of men as you could wish to set eyes on. Canada is in the position where she can pick the best England has to come to the Dominion as future citizens. It is a wonderful thing to think we can get the finest of Anglo-Saxon stock to build up our country. I think we should to our best to extend to them a real hand of welcome." Indeed, in 1923 80 per cent of the seasonal harvesters who came over that year settled permanently in the county. 

R.M.S. Empress of France in her 1928 all-black hull. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Her season curtailed by her upcoming redeployment to the Pacific, Empress of France made her final call at Quebec for the year on 14 September 1928 "with a record number of passengers of all kinds." She sailed eastbound five days later "amid the booming of guns from the French gunboat Ville d'Ys, the Empress of France slowly steamed out of  the port of Quebec this afternoon on her last voyage of the season. The Canadian Pacific liner acknowledged the tribute of the Ville d'Ys by  sounding her siren three times, and then disappeared into the distance, to return no more  until  next summer, for she is to go on the transpacific service  this winter, plying between Vancouver and Hong Kong." (Gazette,  21 September 1928).  On her bridge was passenger Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair who was renewing acquaintance with his old 10th Cruiser Squadron flagship Alsatian as well as three of the ship's officers still aboard, Grosset, McCulloch and Grant as well Joe Bennett, the liner's well-known smoking room steward who was the admiral's steward during the war.  Sir Dudley, who was originally booked to return in Empress of Australia, changed his plans in order to  sail  in Empress  of France.

Another superb Norman Wilkinson painting showing Empress of France in the Solent. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

On 10 October 1928 details on the epic "Empress Exchange" were revealed. Empress of Canada would sail from Vancouver on 1 November for Hong Kong and her regular calls in Japan and China and then proceed to Britain via Singapore, Suez and the Mediterranean. At Hong Kong she would rendezvous with Empress of France which had sail out from Britain via the  Mediterranean.  There, the ships would swap their entire officers and crews with one another.  From Hong Kong, Empress of France would proceed to Vancouver to  take up her duties on the Pacific  run for five round  voyages whilst Empress of Canada was due to reach Southampton on 24 December,  thence to Scotland and her builders. As a CPS Pacific mailship, Empress of France would be commanded by Capt. Samuel Robinson, leaving Hong Kong on 28 November and arriving at Vancouver on 15 December.  Her first westbound voyage from Vancouver would be on 22 December.

Back when such things were big news, Empress of France's stint on the Pacific Run was well covered, this feature even including photos of her wartime admirals when as Alsatian, she was the flagship of the 10th Cruiser Squadron. Credit: The Times, 14 November 1928.

Empress of France, which arrived at Southampton on 26 September 1928 from Quebec, underwent a visual metamorphosis into a White Pacific Empress with her hull being painted all-white with a thin blue sheer line as well as receiving her annual overhaul. Whilst on the Pacific route, her accommodation was changed to four classes: First 319 berths), Second (254), Third (52) (the aft cabins) and Asiatic Steerage (666).

Another livery change for Empress of France, this time adopting the white hull with blue sheer line of a Pacific White Empress whilst alongside at Southampton October 1928. Credit: The Province, 24 November 1928. 

Resplendent in all white, Empress of France sailed from Southampton "bound East" on 31 October 1928.  Rather than some elaborate quasi-cruise, CPS arranged this as a crossing, passing Gibraltar  on 3 November, calling Port Said on the 7th, transiting the Suez Canal on the 8th, calling at Bombay 14-15th and on the 25th she arrived at  Hong Kong where she docked at the same pier opposite Empress of Canada. In three days, the two ships swapped crews and loaded and provisioned for the next voyages and on  the 28th Empress of France left  Hong Kong for Vancouver via Shanghai (1 December), Kobe (4) and Yokohama (6th).  

Looking better than at anytime since her days in Allan Line livery, Empress of  France sails from Southampton as a White Empress of the Pacific. Credit: Mariners Museum, Taylor Collection.

Empress of Canada (left) and Empress of France share the same pier at Hong Kong 25-28 November 1928 and exchange crews.  Empress of France is also getting her new white livery touched up. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

Completing a 35,000-mile voyage from Quebec to Vancouver going the "wrong way" around, Empress France arrived at Vancouver on 15 December 1928, after calling at Victoria early that morning, and docked at 2: 15 p.m.  She landed a total of 340 passengers (77 First, 52 Second, 19 Third and 193 Steerage) including Sir George McLaren Brown, CPR European General Manager, and Lady Brown, who had come all the way from Southampton, and Charles MacVeagh, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.  A 3,000-ton cargo included a large consignment of raw silk, tea, rice, hemp and Japanese oranges.  

Empress of France alongside Vancouver's Pier 8 in 1929.  No other line changed liveries as often as Canadian Pacific and in 1928-29 they tinkered with painting the first superstructure deck in the waist of the Pacific Empresses with the same buff as the funnels. Credit: City of Vancouver Archives, Walter Edwin Frost photograph. 

In 1928, Empress of France completed 13 North Atlantic crossings carrying 7,435 passengers (5,155 westbound and 2,280 eastbound) and one U.K.-Vancouver voyage carrying 340 passengers. 

1929

Empress of France was now ready to commence her assignment  on the premier (and oldest) of Canadian Pacific's ocean route and reign as the largest ocean liner on the trans-Pacific route. Her route would take her from Vancouver to Victoria, Yokohama (reached 10 days from B.C. ports), Kobe (13 days), Shanghai (14), Hong Kong (18), Manila (21) and return via Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe, Yokohama, Victoria and Vancouver. Empress France did not call at Nagasaki as did Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia.

It looked awfully nice, but Empress of France's  white livery demanded a lot of work to keep smart. Here she is getting a touch up alongside her Kowloon pier in Hong Kong in January 1929. Credit: https://gwulo.com/

Empress of France's maiden westbound crossing scheduled to depart at noon on 22 December 1928 was delayed to 8:30 a.m. the following day owing to the late arrival of  66 passengers coming from the east.  She got away with a heavy list of more than 700  passengers and full holds, "the Oriental steerage list, largely made up of Chinese returning on holiday to their own country, was particularly heavy. In the first and second classes were many European residents of the Orient returning from furlough aboard, including Sir Cecil Clements, Governor Hong Kong." (Gazette). Empress of France showed her  speed  on the Pacific every bit  as much as the Atlantic and despite being delayed 22 hours in sailing and some "stiff weather" arrived at Yokohama on time, gaining the lost hours in the 4,300 run and also reaching Hong Kong on schedule on 9 January 1929. She also responded to an S.O.S. call from a Japanese freighter damaged in the bad weather and injuring four of her crew. Turning around in the face of the gale, the Empress reached the ship but was unable to lower a  boat  owing to the seas and the freighter's captain advised he was making for the nearest port. 

Sailing from Hong Kong on 13 February 1929, after what Capt. Robinson called an exceptionally quiet crossing  with excellent weather, Empress of France reached Vancouver on 2 March 1929 with a heavy cargo but few passengers: 54 First, 14 Second, 18 Third and 103 Steerage, most who disembarked at Victoria earlier.  

Her next  sailing to the Orient, beginning at noon on 9 March 1929 left Vancouver with more than 400 aboard, half of whom were cabin passengers.  When Empress  of France returned to Vancouver on 27 April she had an exceptionally heavy list of 200 First, 100 Second, 75 Third and 475 Steerage in additional a raw silk consignment valued at almost $4 mn. Mails landed included 1,833 bags for the United States. She also came in with a rather more furtive cargo as  reported on 7 May after customs officers found  83 tins of opium worth more than $7,000 hidden near the ship's funnels. Capt. Robinson said they  "bucked strong head winds and heavy ground swells for several days but our time was not interfered with." 

Empress France sailed from Vancouver at noon 9 May  1929 with 325 passengers and a full cargo and returned from the Orient on 22 June with 805 aboard. 

Canadian Pacific announced on 3 June 1929 that Empress of Canada would resume service in October, scheduled to arrive back in Vancouver on the 14th and sail for the Orient on the 17th. Anticipating her return to her normal duties on the North Atlantic and cruising, CPS also announced Empress of France would undertake a 73-day Mediterranean cruise from New York on 13 February 1930. Uniquely, Empress of Scotland would precede her on the same itinerary 10 days earlier.

Eastbound crossings continued to feature large lists and capacity cargoes for Empress of  France. On 22 June 1929 she came into Victoria and Vancouver with  805 aboard and 3,000 bales of raw silk. Leaving Yokohama on the 13th, she had an excellent crossing, Capt. Robinson telling reporters "I may have seen as good a trip, but never a better one." Her passenger list comprised  166 First, 92 Second, 48 Third and 490 Steerage.

Her fourth voyage got under way from Pier B Vancouver on 4 July 1929 with 430 aboard including transferring "All Red Route" passengers from Empress of Australia and Minnedosa. After another voyage, described by her officers as "pleasant", Empress of  France docked at Vancouver from the Orient at 1:20 p.m. 17 August with 695 passengers and another large consignment  of  raw  silk valued at nearly $5 mn. among 1,750 tons of cargo. 

By later summer, CPS began to promote Empress of France's return to Southampton from Vancouver, sailing 17 October 1929, via San Francisco (sold separately as short coastal cruise), Balboa, Panama Canal and Cristobal. 

With 770 aboard, including the newly appointed Canadian First Minister to Japan, Hon. Herbert M. Marler, Empress of France departed Vancouver on 29 August 1929

On her final arrival from the Orient, Empress of France docked at Victoria and Vancouver on 12 October 1929 after a rough trip "with great waves and heavy ground swells which tossed the giant liner about and made dining-room appearances scarce at  many meals during the nine-day crossing"(Time Colonist). The rough weather was encountered one day out of Yokohama and stayed with her almost to Cape Flattery. She brought in only 374 passengers, 54 First, 54 Second, 80 Third and 185 Steerage, and 3,270 tons of cargo, including $2 mn. in silk  and 1,685 bags of mail. Her passenger list was swelled by one, a baby girl, Frances Alsatian Chung Lung, born at sea between Yokohama and Vancouver. 

Empress of Canada, which had sailed from Scotland via New York and Panama, was due at Vancouver on 17 October and join Empress of France briefly before she sailed for Southampton.  Their captains would again "swap  commands with the Canada's Capt. Griffiths going back to Empress of France and Capt. Robinson returning to the Canada.  Instead, the still unlucky Canada ran aground off Vancouver Island in fog on the 13th. Her 96 passengers were taken off by tender and landed at Victoria, but she ship was seriously damaged. She was refloated after two  days and towed to Esquimalt for drydocking.

Meanwhile, all of Canadian Pacific's plans were thrown out of the window, but at least Empress of France was still in Vancouver. Canadian Pacific cancelled her sailing from Vancouver home via Panama and reprogrammed her to  take Empress of Canada's planned 17 October 1929 westbound voyage to Yokohama and, assuming Empress of Canada could be repaired in time, have the ships meet in Hong Kong to exchange crews and the Empress of France would carry on to Southampton, this time via Suez and the Mediterranean.  Her originally booked passengers were either rebooked via the East Coast or could,  if they wished, take Empress of France to Southampton on her new routing. 

With some fast work, Empress of France was again off for the Orient on the evening of 17 October 1929, sailing for Yokohama with 1,100 passengers, the largest list of the year. 

Faster work, still, had the considerable damage to Empress of Canada repaired by the Yarrows yard at Esquimalt repaired in time to dispatch the vessel to race across the Pacific to catch up with Empress of  France at Hong Kong where they would change crews. She sailed from Victoria on 4 November 1929 and reached Hong Kong on the 15th, only five days later than her original schedule.  In doing so, Empress of Canada set a new Pacific Ocean speed record.  

Another speed record chalked up for the ship... Hong Kong to Liverpool in 22 days.

Empress of France, too, garnered another record  of her own, sailing from Hong Kong to Liverpool in 22 days. She departed the British Crown Colony at noon on 16 November 1929 and reached Liverpool at 4:00 p.m. 8 December, doing the  nearly 10,000-mile run at an average speed of 18.3 knots and 455 nautical miles a day. "This new time tops all former records and adds another laurel to the popular Empress."(Gazette).

Advertising for Empress of France's 1931 Mediterranean cruise.

At the time, it was stated that "the Empress  of  France will be overhauled and repainted black during the next few weeks prior to leaving for New York to make a Mediterranean cruise from that  post February 13."  But it was decided by CPS to, once again, change  liveries or, in the case of Empress of France, keep her all white scheme which would be adopted for Empress of Scotland and Empress of Australia as well and establish the White Empress  image on both oceans. 

Empress of France on the Mersey in November 1929 undergoing a cruise-oriented refit before her Mediterranean cruise.  She will lose the buff paint along the waist of her superstructure, but the White Empress livery will stay and be adopted by her Atlantic fleetmates. Credit: Benidog archives. 

For Empress of France, her overhaul was more than freshening her paint and she received her first truly cruise-oriented refit. This included converting the gymnasium and adding a deckhouse amidships on Boat Deck to  accommodate 14 new cabins including one de luxe one and two staterooms with private bath. The card room next to the smoking room was converted to a new gymnasium.  The Tourist Third lounge was also temporarily converted into a large cruise office with post office, photo shop, cruise director's office and  shore excursion office.  The aft Third Class  lounge was converted into a barber shop and hair dressers for the cruise. 

In 1929, Empress  of France completed 10 North Pacific voyages carrying 4,920 passengers.

1930

Not as elaborate as past CPS brochures, that for Empress  of France's February 1930 Mediterranean Cruise  still featured striking cover artwork but being printed before all the changes prior to the voyage, had photos of her still in black hull and the old deck plan. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Now commanded by Capt. R.N. Stuart, V.C., D.S.O, U.S.N.C., R.N.R., formerly master of Duchess of York, Empress of France sailed from Liverpool at 8:00 p.m. on 29 January 1930, called at Greenock the following afternoon and docked at New York on 6 February with 11 First, 23 Tourist Third and 43 Third Class passengers. 

The first of Atlantic White Empresses, Empress of  France caused quite a sensation so-painted for the period.  Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Blasé as regards shipping, New Yorkers were startled out of their  usual indifference to  arriving steamships yesterday afternoon when the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of France steamed up the North River.

Her dazzling white hull gleaming against the background of grey water, the crack ship of the Quebec service of the Canadian Pacific docked at Pier 62 North River, at 6 p.m., for a week's visit to the metropolis  before sailing on a Mediterranean cruise. 

Coincident with the arrival of the Empress comes the news that E.W. Beatty, chairman of Canadian Pacific Steamships, has authorized the repainting of her sisters in the Quebec de luxe service the same color.

The announced states that the three Empresses in the Quebec-Cherbourg-Southampton service,  the Empresses of  France, Empress of Australia and Empress of Scotland, will be repainted  white at the conclusion of the cruises on which they are now engaged.

White relieved by a riband of blue has been distinctive of Canadian Pacific ships sailing the Pacific ocean for some time, but its adoption as the color for the giant Empresses of the Atlantic makes a radical departure from established  practice. 

The Gazette, 7 February  1930

Using a photo from one of her earlier visits to the port as Pacific mailship, Victoria's Times-Colonist gave Empress of France's sailing from New York as much coverage as if she were still their own. 

Boarding in a drizzly rain, 239 passengers embarked on Empress of France on 13 February 1930, doubtless happy to off to the sunny Mediterranean. As it was, dense fog closed in and they were  kept from sailing until 11:00 p.m. Enjoying what must have been delightfully uncrowded conditions aboard, they visited Funchal, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Algiers, Palma, Messina, Naples, Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Athens, Constantinople, Beirut, Haifa, Port Said, Naples, Monte Carlo, Cherbourg and finally arrived at Southampton on 18 April.  The mileage steamed from New York to Southampton was 11,425, calling at 19 ports and 15 countries. For those not wanting a long layover in Britain at the end of the cruise, onward passage was offered in Empress of Scotland which left Southampton for Quebec on the 23rd. 

On 28 March 1930 Empress of France arrived at Port Said and caught up with fleetmate Empress of Scotland which had been there since the 18th, the two ships on Mediterranean cruises with almost identical itineraries with ten days of the other. 

Empress of France was already scheduled to reprise her long Mediterranean cruise in 1931 before she returned from that for 1930. Credit: Baltimore Sun, 11 May 1930. 

And, of course, there was always the next one and Canadian Pacific announced that Empress of France would perform the eight long Mediterranean cruise, 73 days, starting from New York on 3 February 1931.

But, first, it was finally back to work as a North Atlantic mailship and renew her acquaintance with the St. Lawrence and Quebec after an absence of almost two years. Commanded again by Capt. Griffith, Empress of France sailed from Southampton and Cherbourg on 3 May 1930, she docked at Quebec on the 10th where she landed 87 First, 77 Tourist Third and 374 Third Class passengers.

Quebec, May 10-- With her fresh paint coat of white paint  glistening brilliant in the warm spring sun, the Empress of France made her reappearance here today after an absence of nearly two years, and a large crowd was on hand in honor of the occasion.

Her trim yacht-like lines emphasized more than ever by the spotless paintwork, the big liner slipped quietly into port, her rails lined with eager passenger, on her initial  voyage of the season from Southampton and Cherbourg. 

Gazette, 12 May 1930

She sailed eastbound on 14 May 1930 with 43 First, 126 Tourist Third and 57 Third Class passengers.

Still the Greyhound of the St. Lawrence, Empress of France  set a new record early into the 1930 season.

Empress of France  continued to live up to her reputation as the speed queen of the St. Lawrence.  Leaving Cherbourg at 9:00 p.m. on 24 May 1930, she passed Father Point on the 30th, doing the passage in 5 days 23 hours and 30 minutes and averaging 19 knots. "Capt. Griffith, skipper of the speedster expressed himself pleased with his vessel's performance and remarked that her on the on the eastbound journey last  voyage had been even better for the Empress of France, averaging 19.5 knots for the 2,716 between Father Point and Cherbourg, had covered this distance in five days, 18 hours and 42 minutes, giving the liner the time of twelve days and twelve minutes actual steaming time from Cherbourg to Father Point and return. The France's skipper pointed out that this was the time over the long route, via Cape Race, for had she gone round  Belle  Isle Strait the time would have been considerably reduced." (The Victoria Daily Times, 2 June 1930). 

Close to the first anniversary of the Stock Market "Crash" in America, the ensuing Depression in that country spread  through much of the world.  Among the many repercussions was the withdrawal of Canada's longstanding programme of assisting certain classes of immigrant to the country and that, of course, resulted in a substantial and lasting reduction in Third Class carryings from and to the Dominion. Westbound Third Class figures were down by 25,258. On 22 September 1930 it was reported that White Star had cancelled 10 voyages going into the end of the season, Cunard had deleted three and while no announcement had been yet made by Canadian Pacific, it was thought that Empress of France's November sailing would be scrubbed. Empress of Scotland's final voyage departed Quebec on 30 September although it had been anticipated she would be replaced by the magnificent Empress of Britain which was to make her maiden voyage at the beginning of the next season. 

Sure enough, Empress of France bid an early adieu to Canada on 8 October 1930, departing with 48 First, 93 Tourist Third and 226 Third Class passengers. "The Empress of France sailed from Quebec this afternoon on her final voyage of the season with a large number of passengers aboard. After making the fastest crossing between Cherbourg and Quebec for the past five year, during which she nearly equally her epochal trip of 1924, the 'White Empress' quietly cast off her ropes and was warped out into the middle of the St. Lawrence sharp at 3:30, her schedule sailing time, and rapidly disappeared from sight around the bend of the Island of Orleans."  (Gazette, 9 October 1930).

After a shortened trans-Atlantic season amid the growing Depression, Canadian Pacific pulled out the stops when it came to promoting Empress of  France's Mediterranean Cruise that coming February 1931.

In 1930, Empress of France completed 17 crossings carrying 6,991 passengers (3,596 westbound and 3,395 eastbound). 

Surely a highlight of the main brochure for the 1931 Mediterranean Cruise was this splendid portrait of Empress of France by Fred J. Hoertz. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. 

1931

For Empress of France, the early end to her trans-Atlantic season meant an enforced layup in Southampton before departing on 20 January 1931 for New York and then off on her Mediterranean cruise  on 3 February. 

One of two brochures for the 1931 Mediterranean Cruise, this featured this wonderful cover. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. 

The itinerary for the 1931 73-day Mediterranean cruise had some new calls and familiar favourites, calling first at Funchal, then proceeding to  Cadiz, Gibraltar, Algiers, Palma, Valetta, Messina, Naples, Venice, Dubrovnik, Athens, Constantinople, Beirut, Haifa, Port Said, Naples, Monte Carlo, Cherbourg and Southampton, in all 19 ports in 17 countries and covering 11,540 miles New York to Southampton.  The cruise ended at Southampton on 8 April where passengers not wishing to remain longer in Great Britain, could sail in Duchess of Richmond on the 10th to Montreal. 

Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. 

Empress of France (Capt. J. Turnbull), which left Southampton on 20 January 1931 arrived at New York at 9:39 a.m. with 31 First, 39 Tourist and 28 Third Class passengers. Starting that year the ponderous "Tourist Third Cabin" designation was changed to simply "Tourist". She docked just before Duchess of York arrived, the second time two CPS ships had been at adjoining piers at New York, Empress of France and Duchess  of Bedford being the first the previous.

Credit: The Victoria Daily Times, 28 January 1931.

When Empress of France sailed from New York on 3 February 1931, she had 386 aboard which was a very good list indeed for the time and in excess of the 350 set as the capacity for the voyage. According to the Victoria Daily Times on the day she arrived at Madeira: "The Empress of France sailed from New York last Tuesday and only two days of cold weather were met in the Atlantic before the ship ran into blue sea and smiling skies which still continued when the ship steamed into this quaint harbor and dropped anchor to-day."

The cover for the passenger list for the Mediterranean cruise. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. . 

According to the Victoria Daily Times on the day she arrived at Madeira: "The Empress of France sailed from New York last Tuesday and only two days of cold weather were met in the Atlantic before the ship ran into blue sea and smiling skies which still continued when the ship steamed into this quaint harbor and dropped anchor to-day."

On 4 February 1931 Canadian Pacific announced the summer St. Lawrence programme with Duchess of Atholl scheduled to be the first into Montreal on 24 April and Empress of France the first into Quebec on 25 April, sailing eastbound three days later.  Of course the most anticipated Quebec  arrival was that of the magnificent new 42,500-grt Empress of Britain on 22 June. For the new ship, a new berth was built at Wolfe's Cove which would be used by all CPS ships.

On 21 February 1931 Empress of France had a very near miss at Malta when in a terrific gale, with the lowest barometer reading ever recorded there".  When leaving, she dragged her anchors and came within a few feet from crashing with the British battleship Ramilies.  According to the ship's news bulletin: "During our leaving, three hours before scheduled, tow lines parted causing anchors to drag and foul a warship buoy so that one of our anchors had to be unattached.  We must consider ourselves fortunate in leaving undamaged and all out members safely on board."

Home from what would her her final cruise. Credit: Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 23 April 1931.

On 23 April the Gazette reported Empress of France was making "an exceptionally fast crossing" on her first voyage of the season. Arriving on late on the next day, she landed her 142 First, 119 Tourist and 162 Third and "completed one of the finest trips from Southampton in the memory of  many passengers." Her first eastbound sailing that season took away 52 First, 170 Tourist and 252 Third Class, the later swelled by those taking advantage of a 25 percent on roundtrip tickets to Britain and 33.3 percent to the Continent. 

On her next eastbound sailing on 23 May 1931 it was announced that Empress of France would be the first CPS  ship to pass the new inbound Empress of Britain at sea on her maiden voyage and that passengers "will  probably catch a glimpse of the five-day flyer than they are about a day and a half from Cherbourg, or five days out of Quebec." (Gazette).  Before the cast off, Capt. James Turnbull was presented with the traditional gold handled silk umbrella by the President of the Quebec Harbor Commission given to the master of the first ship to arrive in the port that season. Empress of France departed with 90 First, 172 Tourist and 202 Third Class aboard. 

Empress of France became the second CPS  liner to dock at the new Wolfe's Cove pier at Quebec on 10 June 1931 with 32 First, 48 Tourist and 108 Third Class passengers. "Commander J. Turnbull, R.N.R., reported a quiet and uneventful trip across the Atlantic, stating that the only exciting moment was when passengers discussed the possibility of their sighting the gigantic Empress of Britain, which sailed from Quebec for Southampton last Saturday. Only a faint glimpse of the Britain was obtained, passengers who eagerly lined the deck getting a look at her on the horizon around 6 o'clock on Monday morning. " (Gazette, 11 June 1931).

Empress of France outbound in the Solent. On 2 September 1931 she made her final commercial sailing from Southampton. Credit: University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection. 

When she left Southampton and Cherbourg on 2 September, Empress of France numbered among her 149 First, 257 Tourist and 80 Third Class passengers, Larry Gains, heavyweight champion of the British Empire, en route to a match with Jack Renault in Toronto. The Empress made what would prove  her final arrival at Quebec on the 8th.  She sailed eastbound on the 12th with 71 First, 52 Tourist and 115 Third Class passengers: "Seadogs and mining engineers, clerics and violinists, all rubbed shoulders on the Empress of France, of the Canadian Pacific fleet when she sailed from Quebec this afternoon for Cherbourg and Southampton, under command of Captain J. Turnbull, R.N.R. Earl Jellicoe, hero of Jutland and one of the outstanding figures in the world war, represented the sea dogs, for he is returning home after a crowded visit to Canada." (Gazette, 14 September 1931). On the 19th Empress of France called at Cherbourg at 1:00 a.m. and arrived at Southampton at 1:00 p.m.  With no other assignment forthcoming, Empress of France, after destoring, sailed to Govan to a lay-up berth in Fairfield's once busy fitting out basin.

A dreary Depression scene: Fairfields fitting-out basin occupied by Blue Funnel's Anchises (left) and Empress of France (right) languishing before their  final trips to the breakers. Credit: dalmadan.com

It was on 5 October 1931 that the inevitable occurred when Canadian Pacific announced that Empress of France, Metagama, Melita and Minnedosa were all to be withdrawn from service and the Empress "not expected not to find employment till next summer." This was reinforced when two days later CPS announced their 1932 St. Lawrence programme with Empress of France scheduled to make four voyages to Quebec. 

In 1931, Empress of France completed 12 crossings carrying 4,722 passengers (2,032 westbound and 2,690 eastbound). 

1932

The Liverpool Echo of 28 January 1932 reported Canadian Pacific would augment their Liverpool to Canada service with Empress of France making one round voyage on departing 15 June, followed  by the news on 8 April that she would make four eight-day cruises between  New York and Quebec.  

However, it was announced on 15 April 1932 that Empress of France would remain in lay-up for the summer and not return to service as planned.  She had already been replaced on the annual Mediterranean cruise by Empress of Australia which, in turn,  had been relieved of her traditional world cruise duties by the new Empress  of Britain. "No word has been published regarding the future activities of the Empress of France. She is probably for sale if a purchaser could be found."  (Times Colonist, 15 April 1932). 

1934

 

It is particularly gratifying that the work of demolition of this ship is to be retained in this country, since the three other large British liners sold for scrap during  the past two year (s.s. Baltic, Lapland and Albertic) were all bought by Japanese shipbreakers and broken up in Japan.

Actually there had been keen competition from Japanese buyers for the Empress of France, but owing to her turbine machinery, and for other technical reasons, the cost of delivering her in Japan would have brought the total to  well over 50,000 which would have been prohibitive. The work of demolition will provide employment for  some hundreds of men.

Nottingham Evening Post, 2 October 1934

Eventually, on 5 September 1934 Empress of France was put  on the sales list. On 2 October it was reported that Empress of France had been sold for £34,000 to Messrs. Arnott Young and Company of Glasgow and would be broken up in Dalmuir where, of of course, she had been launched 21 years previously. The former Alsatian arrived there on 24 October.

On 25 October 1934 a reception was held aboard Empress of France now berthed at Messrs. Beardmore's basin, Dalmuir.  After another invitation only reception the following day, the ship will be opened to public  inspection on Saturday and Sunday for a 1 s. entry fee, the proceeds going to charity.  The sum of  163 was donated to the Western Infirmary, Glasgow.  "The sale of the furniture and fittings will begin next week. The ship is extensively furnished throughout in handsome Austrian and American figured oak, and the furnishings are of a luxurious standard.

The Glasgow Herald, 26 October 1934

The lingering death of a great ship: advsertisements in the Glasgow Herald for public tours, then the sale of  Empress of France's  fittings, furnishings and salvaged machinery.  

1935

LINER ABLAZE AT GLASGOW NOW BEING DISMANTLED 

Spark Falls in Tank of Oil 

The Empress of France, the former luxury liner which is being demolished at Dalmuir, Glasgow, was set on fire to-day when a spark from an oxy-acetylene burner landed in a tank containing 50 tons of oil. A huge sheet of flame shot up from the tank, and soon the deck was a blazing mass. The men engaged in dismantling the snip made gallant efforts to extinguish the outbreak, and were themselves imperilled. Eventually the outbreak was got under Clydebank Fire Brigade. 

The liner, which was of 27,000 tons gross, is lying in the basin of William Beardmore & Co., Ltd., Dalmuir. Twenty men are the demolition party on board. They had been working for several weeks, and had cut away five decks, A, B, C, D and E.

 To day the men were working G deck with their cutting and burning apparatus.

The oil tank which was affected is on this deck in the aft boiler-room, and measures 60 square feet. In the tank there were 50 tons of sump oil, which was no longer deemed suitable for fuel.

Apparently one of the men was cutting through metal plate close to the tank when a spark from the burner landed on the oil. 

There was on immediate roar of flame from the tank, and the workman shouted to his mate for assistance. His mate at once got pails and ran to fill them with water, while others in the party proceeded take all possible precaution against the fire spreading other parts of the ship. 

Their efforts were retarded by large volumes of black smoke which rose from the tank and obscured their vision. In the meantime a telephone call was sent to Clydebank Fire Brigade. 

After an hour, they were able to extinguish the blaze.

 The parts of the ship close to the tank were almost red-hot, and some of those on board had their hands scorched. 

One of the men who was in the squad on board, said that the biggest fear was of an explosion. " The tank certainly contained enough oil to make things unpleasant for all, and it was fortunate that it was open so that the fire was not confined. Had the tank been closed, the ship and those on board might have been blown up. 

Later in the day the work of dismantling the ship was resumed. 

Dundee Evening Telegraph, 3 May 1935

That was the last press mention of Empress of France, the lingering remnants of which were cut up by that summer. For a ship that had garnered more than her share of newspaper clippings in her career, it was surely the most telling and eloquent statement that the first White Empress of the Atlantic was well and truly gone.  

Thus of these two splendid ships the Calgarian had a working life of about four years, the Alsatian of 18 only, to be scrapped at the age of 21. This is by no means a long span for a ship of her type. Her comparatively early withdrawal seems to have been due to three causes: The slump years, the fact that her company had somewhat overbuilt, and that even by 1930 standards her direct turbines were obsolete and uneconomical. The ship however had served Canada well and will long be remembered at both ends of her route as one of the grandest vessels that ever used the St. Lawrence or the Mersey.

J.H. Isherwood, Sea Breezes, April 1957

R.M.S. Empress of France 1919-1931

            No. of North  Atlantic Crossings: 192              Passengers Carried:  119,157

            No. of North Pacific Crossings: 10                   Passengers Carried: 4,920

            No. of UK-Vancouver Crossings: 2                   Passengers Carried:   1,440

            No. of cruises: 8                                                  Passengers Carried: 3,515                                                   

R.M.S. Empress of France outbound from Southampton in 1931.  

R.M.S. ALSATIAN 

R.M.S. CALGARIAN 

Built by William Beardmore & Co., Dalmuir, yard no. 509 (Alsatian)

Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Govan, yard no. 487 (Calgarian) 

Gross tonnage        18,485 (Alsatian)

                                  17,521 (Calgarian)

Length: (o.a.)        600 ft. (Alsatian)

                                590 ft. (Calgarian)

Beam:                     72.2 ft. (Alsatian) 

                                70.2 ft. (Calgarian) 

Machinery:        quadruple screw direct drive Parsons turbines, six double end and four single                                     ended boilers, 200 psi. 21,400 shp                                  

Speed:                    18.5 knots service

                                20.48 knots trials (Alsatian)

                                21.6 knots trials (Calgarian)

Passengers             263 First Class 506 Second Class 976 Third Class  (Alsatian)

                                200 First Class 450 Second Class 1,000 Third Class (Calgarian)

                                287 First Class 504 Second Class 848 Third Class (Empress of France)

                                319 First Class 254 Second Class 52 Third Cl. 666 Steerage (trans-Pacific)

                                331 First Class 384 Tourist Third Cl. 352 Third Cl. (post-1930)

Officers & Crew   500 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Armed Merchant Cruises, Their Epic Story, Kenneth Poolman, 1985

The Canadian Fast Mail on the North Atlantic, 1851-1915, Edward F. Bush, Dalhousie Review

The Pacific Empresses, Robert D. Turner, 1981

Warshipbuilding on the Clyde, 1889-1939: A Financial Study, Hugh Bowie Peebles, 1986 (Thesis)

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https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

https://www.dalmadan.com/?p=4836

https://www.gettyimages.com/

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https://www.hathitrust.org/

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https://www.iwm.org.uk/

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A special note of appreciation for the University of British Columbia's outstanding Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection of Canadian Pacific material. 

Additions/Corrections/Contributions welcomed

contact the author at posted_at_sea@hotmail.com

© Peter C. Kohler