RMS Empress of Britain (ship, 1906)
 The Empress of Britain in Liverpool (1905)
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The RMS Empress of Britain (I) was an ocean liner on the Canadian Pacific Railway that transported passengers and cargo between Canada and Europe from 1906 to 1930 . During the First World War she served as an auxiliary cruiser and troop transport . In her early years she was one of the fastest ships on the North Atlantic and one of the largest ships on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The ship
The contract to build the Empress of Britain (14,189 GRT) and its sister ship , the RMS Empress of Ireland (14,191 GRT) was awarded in 1903 by Baron Thomas G. Shaughnessy, then President of the Canadian Pacific. The Empress of Britain was launched on November 11, 1905. She was built for the Canadian transport company Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) on slipway No. 5 of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. in Govan near Glasgow on the Clyde . She was the first of three CPR ships to be christened the Empress of Britain . Due to a postal contract between the United Kingdom and CPR that had been concluded decades earlier , the ship was allowed to carry the prefix RMS ( Royal Mail Ship ).
Her structurally identical sister ship was the Empress of Ireland (hull number 443), which was also launched two months after her at Fairfield Shipbuilders, was two GRT larger and sank in 1914 after a ship collision in the St. Lawrence River . The two ships were the fastest passenger ships on the transatlantic route and the largest ships on the Canadian Pacific Railway during their early years of service. Dr. Francis Elgar (1845–1909), one of the most popular ship designers of the turn of the century and professor of marine engineering at the University of Glasgow , designed the blueprints for the two ships.
The 139.84 meters long and 20.02 meters wide Empress of Britain had a twin propeller, two masts and two chimneys. She was powered by quadruple expansion steam engines that developed 18,756 horsepower and allowed a cruising speed of 18 knots. The passenger accommodations were designed for 310 passengers in the first, 470 in the second and 730 in the third class. The ship had watertight bulkheads and was initially equipped with sixteen steel lifeboats and four folding Berthon boats that could hold a total of 940 people. After the sinking of the Titanic , the number of lifeboats was doubled, as was the case with the Empress of Ireland , so that there was now space for 1860 people in 40 boats. The number of life jackets has also been increased.
The furnishings in the cabins and lounges were opulent and varied. The walls were paneled with panels of mahogany , silk wood, black alder, and bird's-eye maple. The first-class dining room on the upper deck extended the entire width of the ship and was 17.7 meters long. In addition to the dining room, smoking room and promenade deck, the equipment of the first class included a music room, a café with 44 seats, an extensive library, a cricket field and a separate dining room for children. There was also a kindergarten on board.
The early years
On 5 May 1906, was Empress of Britain in Liverpool for its maiden voyage from Quebec. On her second Atlantic crossing, she made the journey west in five days, 21 hours and 17 minutes, which earned her builders and her captain, James Anderson Murray, a lot of prestige (Murray was also temporarily captain of the Empress of Ireland ). In 1906 and 1908, she also set speed records on the route to the east.
On April 26, 1912, eleven days after the sinking of the Titanic , the Empress of Britain collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic , but suffered only minor damage. On July 27, 1912, an incident similar to that of her sister ship occurred two years later in the St. Lawrence River near the Fame Point lighthouse, which, however, went off lightly for her. The Empress of Britain , which had over 700 passengers on board, collided with the small coal freighter Helvetia in thick fog . While the Helvetia sank almost instantly, the Empress of Britain was so badly damaged that she had to break off the voyage and return to Québec for repairs. Nobody died in this accident.
During its service life, the ship was quarantined several times after contagious diseases were discovered among the passengers. In addition, there was once a death on board when a passenger died of pneumonia on a crossing to Europe .
During and after the First World War
In 1914, the Empress of Britain was placed under the British Admiralty and converted into an auxiliary cruiser . She was initially assigned to Rear Admiral Archibald Peile Stoddart's squadron in the South Atlantic and later patrolled between Cape Finisterre and Cape Verde . From May 1915 she was used as a troop transport and carried over 100,000 soldiers to India, Egypt and the Dardanelles. On December 12, 1915, she collided with a Greek steamer in the Strait of Gibraltar , whereupon it went down.
On March 23, 1919, the Empress of Britain returned to passenger traffic. After a tour from Liverpool to Saint John , the firing of the boilers was switched from coal to oil and the passenger accommodations were modernized. From January 9, 1920, the ship again served its traditional route Liverpool – Québec.
As Montroyal
In 1924 the ship was renamed Montroyal and the passenger capacity was changed to 600 first class and 800 third class. After the renovation work, it returned on April 19, 1924 on the Liverpool – Quebec route. In 1926, the passenger accommodation was divided up again, so that from then on the Montroyal led the price categories cabin, tourist and third class. In that year she completed eight tours. In 1927 the ship was put on the route Antwerp - Southampton - Cherbourg - Québec. On September 7, 1929, she completed her last voyage. Since entering service, the ship had made 190 Atlantic crossings.
On June 17, 1930, the Montroyal was sold to the Stavanger Shipbreaking Co. for demolition and was broken up in Stavanger . The owners of the Sola Strand Hotel bought the ship's lounge and integrated it into the hotel under the name Montroyal Ballroom. The furnishings in the lounge are still part of the interior of the building that now houses the Norwegian School for Hotel Management.
literature
- George Musk: Canadian Pacific. The Story of the Famous Shipping Line. David & Charles, Newton Abbot et al. 1981, ISBN 0-7153-7968-2 .
- David Zeni: The sinking of the "Empress of Ireland". The forgotten tragedy. Wilhelm Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-15494-0 .