RMS Empress of Ireland - Construction

Construction

The Empress of Ireland was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Govan near Glasgow in Scotland. The 14,191-ton vessel was a fixed price contract of £375,000 and was to be delivered to C.P.R. 18 months from the date the contract was signed. The keel was laid for hull number 443 at Fairfield's berth number 4 next to her sister ship, the Empress of Britain which was also under construction on 10 April 1905. The new Empress had a length of 570 ft (170 m), and her beam was 66 ft (20 m). The ship had twin funnels, two masts, two propellers and an average speed of 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h). Providing accommodation for 310 first-class passengers and for 470 second-class passengers, there was also room for up to 758 third-class passengers (but was only allowed to carry 714). This meant that she had an overall capacity of 1,580.

The Empress was launched on 26 January 1906, and on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, she proved herself as both reliable and fast. In 1909 the Empress struck a sunken vessel or an unknown submerged rock at the northern end of the St. Lawrence.

At some point during her career, the Empress of Ireland underwent minor renovations to relieve her superstructure of its enclosed forward promenade decks.

The vessel—along with her sister ship Empress of Britain—was commissioned by Canadian Pacific for the northern trans-Atlantic route between Quebec and England. The transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and its fleet of ocean liners were part of the company's self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Transportation System".