RMS Empress of Japan (1890)
Empress of Japan | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Canada | |
| Name | Empress of Japan |
| Owner | Canadian Pacific Steamship Company |
| Port of registry | Canada |
| Builder | Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Launched | 13 December 1890 by Lady Alice Stanley |
| Out of service | 1922 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1926 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 5,905 tons |
| Length | 456 ft (139 m) |
| Beam | 51 ft (16 m) |
| Propulsion | twin propellers |
| Speed | 16 knots |
| Capacity |
|
RMS Empress of Japan, also known as the "Queen of the Pacific", was an ocean liner built in 1890–1891 by Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow-in-Furness, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP). This ship – the first of two CP vessels to be named Empress of Japan – regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until 1922. During the First World War she served as armed merchant cruiser, becoming HMS Empress of Japan for the period that she was a commissioned ship of the Royal Navy.
Over the course of her career, Empress of Japan traversed 4 million kilometres (2.5 million miles). She made 315 Pacific crossings.
In 1891, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the British government reached agreement on a contract for subsidized mail service between Britain and Hong Kong via Canada; and the route began to be serviced by three specially designed ocean liners. Each of these three vessels was given an Imperial name.
Empress of Japan and her two running mates – RMS Empress of China and the RMS Empress of India – created a flexible foundation for the CPR trans-Pacific fleet which would ply this route for the next half century.