RMS Empress of India (ship, 1891)
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The RMS Empress of India (I) was an ocean liner of the Canadian Pacific Line put into service in 1891 , which transported passengers, mail and cargo on the Pacific route between Canada and Asia . The ship was sold in 1914 and scrapped in 1923.
history
The Empress of India and her two sister ships Empress of China and Empress of Japan , all three of which entered service in 1891, were the first ships of the Canadian Pacific Railway , which had entered the shipping business in 1884. After the company had only used chartered ships up until then, three newbuildings were commissioned in 1890 from the Naval Construction & Armament Company shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness .
The background to this was a newly concluded contract between the Canadian Pacific Railway and the British government, which provided for the subsidized transport of mail between Great Britain and Hong Kong via Canada. To this end, three new ocean liners were commissioned in Great Britain to serve this service. These three ships formed the basis for the Canadian Pacific Railway's success in merchant shipping. All three had yacht-like contours and a white hull , which made them look very elegant. They were the first ships in the Pacific to be equipped with twin propellers and piston engines.
The 5905 gross registered tons (GRT) steamship was launched as the second of the three sisters on August 30, 1890. It was christened the RMS Empress of India by Lady Louise Egerton . The ship had a clipper -Bug, two chimneys, three poles and two propellers . On board there was space for 50 passengers in the first, 150 in the second and 400 in the third class. The two triple expansion steam engines developed 10,000 PSi and could accelerate the ship to up to 16 knots.
On February 8, 1891, was Empress of India in Liverpool for their maiden voyage to Suez , Hong Kong and Vancouver from. Then she served the route Hong Kong - Shanghai - Nagasaki - Kobe - Yokohama - Vancouver. During this time, the steamer had to be repeatedly quarantined if it was found that the passengers had become infected with smallpox . On August 17, 1903, the Empress of India collided with the 15-year-old Chinese cruiser Huang Tai (2110 t) off Hong Kong , which sank as a result. The Empress of India , which was itself damaged, took on the destroyer's crew. On December 7, 1914, she was sold to the Maharaja of Gwalior and converted into a hospital ship for Indian troops. On January 15, 1915, the ship was renamed Loyalty . In March 1919 it was sold to the Scindia Steam Navigation Company in Bombay and in February 1923 it was sold for demolition in Bombay.
Web links
- Short description in The Ships List (approximately in the middle)