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Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was
the first Hamburg Amerika Line ship to
take the title ‘largest ship in the
world’. She took that honor from
the White Star Line’s 23,876-ton
Baltic that entered service in
1904. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria
set out on her maiden voyage from Hamburg
- Dover, Cherbourg and New York May 10th
1906. After only eight years on that run,
the outbreak of World War One forced the
Hamburg Amerika Line to lay her up at
Hamburg. The US military seized
Kaiserin Auguste
Victoria at the end of the war to
be used in the repatriation of American
servicemen. At that time, the Treaty of
Versailles announced German merchant
ships would be awarded to the victorious
nations as compensation for ships lost
during the war. This led to Kaiserin
Auguste Victoria being handed over to
the British Cunard line after the
completion of her repatriation duties in
1920.
Cunard delayed having the ship
refurbished, as they had no plans to use
her in the rebuilding of their fleet. On
May 13th 1921, Cunard sold Kaiserin
Auguste Victoria to the Canadian
Pacific Line. After being renamed
Empress of Scotland
and undergoing an extensive refit, she
set out on her first voyage for the
Canadian Pacific Line from Liverpool -
New York January 22nd 1922. She was then
operated on her intended route between
Quebec, Southampton, Cherbourg and
Hamburg. With Empress of Scotland
running at a loss by the 1930s, the
Canadian Pacific Line made arrangements
to auction her fixtures and fittings
before selling the remains for scrap.
Before the auction could be completed at
Blyth/Northeast England, a fire broke out
in Empress of
Scotland’s passenger decks.
The fire spread throughout the ship at
such an alarming rate she had to be
scuttled at her berth. The operation to
scrap the burned out hulk of
Empress of Scotland
took from December 1930 until October
1931.
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