Lot Essay
The liner Empress of Australia was built in Stettin for the Hamburg-Amerika Line and launched on 20 December 1913. Originally named Tirpitz, but for the outbreak of the Great War she would have been the finest ship on their South America service and it was rumoured that the Kaiser had earmarked her for a triumphal world cruise once Germany had won the War. Whatever the truth of this, she was seized as war reparations by the allies and, in 1921, was sold to the Canadian Pacific Line and named initially Empress of China.
Rechristened Empress of Australia in 1922, she commenced her regular Pacific sailings that July and remained on that route until 1926 during which time she was instrumental in saving many lives during the Yokohama earthquake in September 1923. Transferred to the North Atlantic run in June 1927, she carried first the Prince of Wales and then King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their respective state visits to Canada in 1927 and 1939. Used as a troop transport throughout the Second World War, she was deemed too old to return to passenger traffic in 1945 so continued her trooping role as a "hired transport" until 1952 when she was withdrawn and broken up.
Rechristened Empress of Australia in 1922, she commenced her regular Pacific sailings that July and remained on that route until 1926 during which time she was instrumental in saving many lives during the Yokohama earthquake in September 1923. Transferred to the North Atlantic run in June 1927, she carried first the Prince of Wales and then King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their respective state visits to Canada in 1927 and 1939. Used as a troop transport throughout the Second World War, she was deemed too old to return to passenger traffic in 1945 so continued her trooping role as a "hired transport" until 1952 when she was withdrawn and broken up.