EMPRESS OF CANADA OF 1961

Built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Shipbuilders) Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne .  Yard No. 171

Official Number: 302597    Signal Letters: G H L A

Gross Tonnage: 27,284,  Nett: 14,240.    Length: 650ft,  Breadth: 86·9ft.

Owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. (Canadian Pacific Steamships – Managers)

6 steam turbines, double-reduction gearing to twin screws.  Speed: 20 knots

The keel of the third new post-war Canadian Pacific ‘Empress’ was laid in January 1959 at Vickers-Armstrongs’ yard at Newcastle upon Tyne . Seventeen months later the new ship was launched by Mrs Diefenbaker, the wife of the Candian Prime Minister, on 10^th May, 1960, and named Empress of Canada. In February 1961 the vessel was moved into the dry dock at Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson’s yard at Wallsend, and a month later, on 7^th March 1961, she left for trials in the Firth of Clyde.

            The Empress of Canada carried out her speed trials over the Arran Mile on Saturday 10^th March and achieved 23 knots, which was two knots above her designed service speed. After her trials were successfully completed, the new ‘Empress’ returned to the Tyne for final adjustments by her builders, and arrived at Liverpool for the first time on 27^th March, 1961. She remained there for a month and was open for inspection by the shipping press and the travel trade. The new Empress of Canada was enthusiastically received with one correspondent writing: ‘The new vessel matches in speed, grace and luxurious passenger accommodation everything that is best in British shipbuilding’.

            The ship was the first Canadian Pacific liner to be equipped with a bulbous bow, which, it was said, would aid in reducing pitching. She had Denny-Brown stabilisers and full air-conditioning. In first class there was accommodation for 192 passengers, and 856 could be carried in tourist class. Another correspondent wrote: “The Empress of Canada is undoubtedly the ship whose general décor, furnishings and accommodation are something which we have been waiting for in a big liner for some time”. Over 70% of the tourist-class cabins had private toilets, a vast improvement over other ships on the Canadian service. There was 262,000 cubic feet of cargo space and a crew of 510 was required to man the ship when she was fully booked.

            The Empress of Canada left Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 24^th April 1961.

The London train, pulled appropriately by the engine ‘Empress of Canada’, arrived at Riverside Station with over 400 passengers including the author Nicholas Monsarrat. Promptly at 6.47pm came the moment for which the thousands of spectators on the landing stage and the waterfront, the millions watching on television, and the 800 passengers on board, had been waiting for. Slowly at first, as though shy to leave, but then growing bolder with a churn of white water at her stern, the new Empress moved gracefully down the Mersey as the tugs drew back. She was saluted by an armada of tugs, dredgers, liners, freighters and ferry boats as she slid down the river into the mist after the most impressive send-off Liverpool had seen for many years. The new ship immediately ran into severe gales. She proved herself to be a fine seaboat and arrived at Quebec on 1^st May.

            With a fleet of three modern passenger liners, Canadian Pacific was in an ideal position to offer extensive winter cruises. As flagship, the Empress of Canada operated the prestige cruises out of New York . She left Liverpool on 12^th December 1961 and made her maiden arrival at New York a week later on 19^th December. There was no elaborate welcome for her as the city was shrouded in dense freezing fog.

            In 1962 the three Canadian Pacific ‘Empresses’ made a total of 33 round voyages between Liverpool and Montreal . The Empress of Canada was more extensively employed in cruising in the winter and spring of 1963 and in addition to her Caribbean cruises  from New York, she sailed on a 60-day, 24 port Mediterranean cruise on 20^th February.

            After performing flawlessly for over two years, the Empress of Canada suffered some engine trouble in September 1963 and was 30 hours late in arriving at Liverpool . Her next voyage was hit by a strike of longshoremen in Canada and after arriving off Quebec on 8^th October she was not permitted to berth. After two days at anchor she sailed for Halifax , NS to discharge her passengers and cargo.

            The 1966 strike of the National Union of Seamen affected the Empress of Canada when she arrived back at Liverpool on 20^th May, and she was strikebound until the end of the dispute on 1^st July, sailing again for Montreal on 4^th July.

            The Empress of Canada was involved in a couple of mishaps in 1967. On the 8^th February she ran aground at San Juan , Puerto Rico , but fortunately suffered no damage and on 4^th May she struck a whale which became impaled on her bow. Her captain ordered ‘full astern’ on the engines and the whale was dislodged.

            At the end of 1968 the Empress of Canada suffered the indignity of being painted in Canadian Pacific’s new ‘corporate logo’ which was fully described in the chapter dealing with the Empress of England.

            Faced with dwindling passenger numbers on the North Atlantic, Canadian Pacific extended the Empress of Canada ’s New York based Caribbean cruising programme into the summer of 1969, when she operated a total of thirteen cruises. The ‘Empress’ was back in Liverpool on 10^th June and sailed on one round voyage to Montreal . Following that she undertook a cruise to Norway and the North Cape , and this was followed by four more trans-Atlantic round voyages on the Canadian route.

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