Empress of China was built by Naval Construction & Armament Co. (now absorbed into Vickers Armstrongs) at
Barrow, England. The keel was laid in 1890; and she was launched on 25 March 1891. The ship was designed to provide accommodation for 770 passengers (120 first class, 50 second class and 600 steerage). Much of what would have been construed as ordinary, even unremarkable during this period was an inextricable part of the ship's history. In the conventional course of trans-Pacific traffic, the ship was sometimes held in quarantine, as when it was discovered that a passenger from Hong Kong to
Yokohama showed signs of smallpox, and the vessel was held in Yokohama port until the incubation period for the disease had passed. The cargo holds of the
Empress would have been routinely examined in the normal course of harbor-master's business in Hong Kong, Yokohama or Vancouver. Amongst the celebrities sailing on
Empress of China was
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. On 25 August 1893, the Archduke boarded the ocean liner at Yokohama for a voyage across the Pacific to Vancouver.
William Lyon Mackenzie King, who eventually became the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian History, "saw over" the ship on Friday, 22 November 1901 as part of his visit to Vancouver as deputy minister of the newly formed Department of Labour. On 27 July 1911
Empress of China encountered rough seas and thick fog 65 miles south of
Tokyo Bay. She struck a submerged rock off the
Nojimazaki Lighthouse while trying to round the southern tip of the
Bōsō Peninsula inbound for Yokohama. Submerged rocks extend about a mile from the coast in an area of the bay which is known for its dangerous currents. This accident occurred very close to where another ship foundered on the rocks in 1907. The Japanese cruisers and were dispatched to assist in removing mail, baggage, and passengers. The ship was abandoned with no loss of life. A year later, the
Empress was re-floated; and in October 1912, she was towed into Yokohama where she was dismantled and scrapped. • The second
SS Empress of China was a 16,992-ton vessel launched in 1907 from Gestemunde, Germany as the SS
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm for the
Norddeutscher Lloyd Line (NDL). The ship was purchased in 1921 by Canadian Pacific and then immediately, the ship was renamed
Empress of China for a short time. Later in that same year, the ship was renamed yet again as the
Empress of India. Subsequent names for this vessel were: the SS
Montlaurier (1922); and SS
Montnairn (1925). The ship was scrapped 1929. Then next year, in 1922, the ship was renamed
Empress of Australia after re-fitting at
Clydebank. The ship was ultimately scrapped in 1952. ==See also==