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Empress of Japan was built for the
Canadian Pacific Line to be operated on
the Pacific run between Canada and the
Far East. She set out on her maiden
voyage from Liverpool - Quebec June 14th
1930. Empress of
Japan then departed Quebec,
transited the Panama Canal and crossed
the Pacific to Hong Kong. Her first
voyage from Yokohama - Vancouver was
completed in a record breaking 8 days, 6
hours and 27 minutes. After nine years on
that run, the British Admiralty
requisitioned Empress of
Japan to serve as a troopship
during World War Two. The Japanese
attacks on Pearl Harbor December 7th 1941
led to her name being changed to
Empress of Scotland.
She was returned to her owners May 3rd
1948 after successfully transporting
troops throughout the world and
completing her repatriation duties.
Empress of Scotland set out on
her first post war voyage from Liverpool
- Quebec May 5th 1950. She was then
operated between the Liverpool -
Greenock, Quebec and Montreal run in
summer and cruises out of New York - West
Indies in winter. The completion of the
Canadian Pacific Lines Empress
of England in 1957 led to
Empress of Scotland
being sold to the newly formed Hamburg
Atlantic Line. An extensive refit by the
new owners saw her three funnels replaced
by two shorter thicker funnels and her
bow reshaped into a more modern design.
With that work complete, she was operated
on the Cuxhaven - New York run from July
21st 1958 under the name
Hanseatic. The Hamburg Atlantic
Line operated Hanseatic between
that route in summer and cruising in
winter until a fire broke out in her
engine room at New York September 7th
1966. After being towed from New York -
Hamburg for repairs, an inspection of the
damage showed her to be beyond repair.
This led to Hanseatic being
dismantled at Eisen & Metall AG of
Hamburg in 1967.
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