RMS Empress of Canada (1961)
Encyclopedia

RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

 built in 1961 by Vickers-Armstrongs, Walker-on-Tyne, England for the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. This ship, the third CP vessel to be named Empress of Canada, regularly traversed the transatlantic route between Canada and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 for the next decade. She was distinguished by the prefix RMS
Royal Mail Ship
Royal Mail Ship , usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, a designation which dates back to 1840, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail...

 while in service with Canadian Pacific.

History

The Empress of Canada was an ocean liner planned for the transatlantic route from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 for the Canadian Pacific Line. She was planned to be a sister ship and running mate for the Empress of Britain and Empress of England on the route from Liverpool to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. This was one of the most hazardous routes for a vessel to navigate because of unexpected fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...

.

She was planned to have a gross tonnage
Gross tonnage
Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage...

 of 27,284 tons with a length of 650 ft (198.1 m) along with a beam of 86.5 ft. She was designed to be a twin propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

 vessel capable of reaching an average speed of 21 knots. Her accommodation was planned to have 192 first class passengers and 856 tourist class.

The order for the vessel was signed in 1958 with the Vickers-Armstrong yard in Walker on Tyne
Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne
Walker is a residential suburb and electoral ward just east of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Walker's name is a hybrid of Old English and Viking Norse, "Wall-kjerr", where "kjerr" is Norse for "marshy woodland"...

 in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which had built the Empress of England on the same slip four years previously. Her keel was laid in January 1959, she was launched on May 10, 1960 and entered service in 1961.

Canadian Pacific

On April 24, 1961 she left Liverpool bound for Montreal on her maiden voyage, which proved to be a success. She did her first winter cruise in December of that year, which again proved to be a great success since she was fully air-conditioned
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...

 like her sister vessels.

Time had trouble ahead for the transatlantic route which resulted in famous ships leaving or never sailing again such as the SS United States
SS United States
SS United States is a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 for the United States Lines designed to capture the trans-Atlantic speed record....

 and RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...

. The reason behind this was the increase in air traffic. Because of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 there were huge developments in aviation design which resulted in faster flights across the ocean. As time went on the Empress did fewer and fewer trips across the Atlantic and by 1969 she completed only seven Atlantic voyages and spent the rest of her time in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. In 1968 Canadian Pacific modernised her look, changing their house flag, colour schemes and new funnel design.

After completing 121 voyages for the Canadian Pacific line she was laid up. Captain Leonard H. Johnson OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 was the last CP master of the Empress of Canada. In his career, he had survived the sinking of the Empress of Asia
RMS Empress of Asia
RMS Empress of Asia was an ocean liner built in 1912-1913 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland for Canadian Pacific Steamships...

 en route to Singapore in 1942, leading crewmates to safety; but the changing world caused ship and master to retire at the same time in 1965.

Other ship lines

Plans were made to sell the Empress to the Shaw Savill Line, the same company which had bought her sister the Empress of England, but the sale did not take place.

Instead she was sold and transferred to the Carnival Line
Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Cruise Lines is a British-American owned cruise line, based in Doral, Florida, a suburb of Miami in the United States. Originally an independent company founded in 1972 by Ted Arison, the company is now one of eleven cruise ship brands owned and operated by Carnival Corporation & plc...

 and after a few internal changes and an update on her colour schemes she was put back into service as the Mardi Gras, Carnival's first ship. She sailed for her new owners until 1993, by 1975 joined by her sister the Empress of Britain.

By 1993 Carnival wanted to update their fleet by ordering new tonnage so she was sold to Epirotiki in that year, and was renamed Olympic, Star of Texas, Lucky Star and finally Apollon. For a while she sailed for this line and was later chartered by Direct Cruises for voyages around the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Direct Cruises was purchased by the airline Airtours. Carnival took some interest in the line but later pulled out and in 2000 all voyages planned for the vessel were cancelled and she was returned to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 where she would be laid up for a little while.

In 2001 she was put back in service for three- and four-day cruises out of Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....

 due to late delivery of the Olympic Explorer. She operated alongside the new Olympic Countess before being laid up for good in 2003. She was sold for scrap later the same year, having been in service for 42 years.

External links

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