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RMS ''Empress of Britain'' was a transatlantic ocean liner built by Fairfield Shipbuilding at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland in 1905-1906〔The disambiguation date used in this article's title is not the year in which the hull is launched, but rather the year of the vessel's sea trial or maiden voyage.〕 for Canadian Pacific Steamship (CP). This ship -- the first of three CP vessels to be named ''Empress of Britain''〔The second of three ships named SS ''Empress of Britain'' (1931) was built for CP; and the third SS ''Empress of Britain'' (1956) was also built for CP some years later.〕 -- regularly traversed the trans-Atlantic route between Canada and Europe until 1922, with the exception of the war years. == History == ''Empress of Britain'' was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding in their yard at Govan, Glasgow, Scotland.〔Johnston, Ian. "Govan Shipyard" in (''Ships Monthly.'' ) June 1985.〕 She was launched on 11 November 1905.〔Ship List: (Description of ''Empress of Britain'' )〕 The 14,189-ton vessel had a length of 458.8 feet, and her beam was 65.7 feet. The ship had two funnels, two masts, twin propellers and an average speed of 18-knots. The ocean liner provided accommodation for 310 first-class passengers and for 470 second-class passengers. There was also room for 730 third-class passengers.〔 ''Empress of Britain'' left Liverpool on 5 May 1906 on her maiden voyage to Quebec. Thereafter, she was scheduled to sail regularly back and forth on the trans-Atlantic route.〔 In the early days of wireless telegraphy, the call sign established for the ''Empress of Britain'' was "MPB."〔Trevent, Edward. (1911) (''The A B C of Wireless Telegraphy: A Plain Treatise on Hertzian Wave Signalling,'' p. 13. )〕 On her second voyage, ''Empress of Britain'' made the west-bound trip from Mouville to Rimouski in five days, 21 hours, 17 minutes -- a new record,〔Musk, George. (1981). (''Canadian Pacific: The Story of the Famous Shipping Line,'' p. 162. )〕 which was a credit to her Captain, James Anderson Murray, and to her shipbuilders.〔Great Britain Meteorological Office. (1913) (''Report,'' p. 137. )〕 Both ''Empress of Britain'' and her sister ship, the ill-fated RMS ''Empress of Ireland'' were the fastest ships making the trans-Atlantic run at the time. In 1914, ''Empress of Ireland'' sank in the St. Lawrence River with great loss of life.〔 Much of what would have been construed as ordinary, even unremarkable during this period was an inextricable part of the ship's history. In the conventional course of trans-Pacific traffic, the ship was sometimes held in quarantine if a communicative disease was discovered amongst the passengers. Similarly, it would have been expected, for example, that the ship would notify authorities in Halifax that one passenger had died from pneumonia en route to Canada from Europe.〔Dept. of Agriculture, Canada. (1910). (''Report of the Minister of Agriculture for Canada,'' p. 67. )〕 Less than two weeks after disaster struck the RMS ''Titanic'' in the North Atlantic, ''Empress of Britain'' also struck an iceberg on 26 April 1912; but the reported damage was only slight.〔____________. (1913) (''The American Library Annual: 1913,'' p. 143. )〕 On 27 July 1912, ''Empress of Britain'' rammed and sank the British collier ''SS Helvetia'' in fog off Cape Magdelene in the estuary of the St Lawrence River, the same river where her sister met a similar fate.〔("Liner Sinks Collier; Turns Back to Port; Empress of Britain Cuts Helvetia in Two In a Fog on the St. Lawrence," ) ''New York Times''. 29 July 1912.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「RMS Empress of Britain (1905)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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