EMPRESS OF ENGLAND OF 1957

Built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne .  Yard No.155

Official Number:  187544    Signal Letters:  G V S U

Gross Tonnage: 25,585;  Nett:  13,725.   Length: 640ft,  Breadth: 85·4ft.

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

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

            Lady Eden, the wife of the Prime Minister, launched the Empress of England on 9^th May 1956. Speaking after the launch, Lady Eden said: “This must be a day of satisfaction and pride for Canadian Pacific. War brought the almost complete annihilation of the ‘Empress’ class of ships and I believe it is true that no other line suffered as heavily as yours. We in Britain will never forget the brave part your ships played in the dark years. They brought your soldiers to these shores and they helped to keep this island supplied. They made resistance possible.”

Mr A.C. MacDonald, the managing director of Canadian Pacific Steamships, said that tenders for a third new ‘Empress’ would be sought later in the year.

            A strike that would shut down all British shipyards was due to start at noon on 16^th March 1957, the day the new ship was due to sail for her sea trials. In the event the Empress of England left the Tyne with just half an hour to spare, so avoiding being caught up in the unrest. She sailed to the Firth of Clyde for speed trials on the Arran Mile and then spent some time at Glasgow before arriving at Liverpool on 26^th March.

            The new ‘Empress’ was to all intents and purposes an exact sister to the slightly older Empress of Britain. She sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal on 18^th April 1957 with a full complement of 158 first-class and 900 tourist-class passengers.

            Both the new Canadian Pacific liners carried a full crew of 464. They both had 380,650 cubic feet of cargo space, of which 80,000 cubic feet was refrigerated. As with Cunard’s Saxonia-class, this massive capacity was never full utilised, given the strict time-table of the passenger schedule.

            As was the case with the Empress of Britain, both first and tourist-class passengers shared the ship’s principal public room, the ‘Empress Room’. The ship was fully air-conditioned and all the tourist class cabins on ‘A’Deck were equipped with private showers and toilets – two decided advantages over the Cunard sisters. Denny-Brown stabilisers were fitted, which, it was claimed, could reduce an 18-degree roll to one of less than 6 degrees.

            With the entry into service of the Empress of England, Canadian Pacific operated four passenger liners on the North Atlantic in 1957. The new ship had some engine problems on her second voyage, resulting in her being two days late arriving back at Liverpool . On 29^th August 1957 she was in collision with the ore carrier Sept Îles at Quebec .

            The new Empress of England was sent cruising to the Caribbean from New York between 15^th January and 28^th March 1958, but she was back on the Canadian service on 18^th April. The Empress of Britain had been left to maintain a winter service from Liverpool to St John , New Brunswick .

            From 1958, a call at Greenock was introduced into the sailing schedules for both the Empress of England and the Empress of Britain.

            The Empress of England ’s winter cruising programme from New York was highly successful and she was joined by the Empress of Britain in January 1960.

            In the summer of 1960 strike action severely disrupted Canadian Pacific sailings from Liverpool . The Empress of England had two voyages cancelled at the height of the season – in July and August – as a result of members of the National Union of Seamen refusing to sail unless their demands for higher basic pay and a shorter working week were met. Many intending passengers were forced to fly the Atlantic , and it was not until 10^th September 1960 that the Empress of England resumed service. With a full complement of passengers, the Empress was short of crew and, although she was delayed for twelve hours at Greenock whilst additional stewards were signed-on, it was still not enough provide the traditional Canadian Pacific service. Each passenger was given a letter from the Company pointing out the difficulties. The letter stated: ‘The entire ship’s company will do all they can to give you service and assistance during the voyage, but because of the shortage of staff, meals may have to be curtailed and personal service may not always be as readily available as on a normal voyage.’

Whilst the Empress of England was in Montreal a series of fires broke out in five passenger cabins and arson was suspected.

In January 1962 the Empress of England operated Canadian Pacific’s first cruises out of Liverpool since before the War.

The Empress of England was overhauled as usual at Liverpool at the end of 1962 and in severe gales on 17^th December the liner broke adrift after ripping a mooring bollard out of the quay. Members of the skeleton crew on board fought to save her from extensive damage as she swung round on her bow moorings. As the Empress swung across the dock basin her sirens sounded a warning and the tugs Aysgarth and Hazelgarth went to her assistance. The chief officer, Mr Wylie, ordered the stern anchor to be dropped.

The liner struck the knuckle between the entrance to Hornby lock and the Gladstone river entrance, causing a twenty-foot gash in her side, just forward of the bridge. The Empress of England was made fast in the position in which she had come to rest, blocking both the Hornby lock and the river entrance, and trapping the tug Aysgarth in the lock chamber. After ‘jamming’ the Gladstone dock system for twelve hours, the Empress was pulled off the knuckle and edged into No.1 branch dock.

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