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RMS ''Empress of Japan'', also known as the "Queen of the Pacific", was an ocean liner built in 1890-1891〔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.〕 by Naval Construction & Armament Co., Barrow, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP).〔Simplon Postcards: ( ''Empress of Japan'', 2 images )〕 This ship -- the first of two CP vessels to be named ''Empress of Japan''〔The second of two ships named SS ''Empress of Japan'' (1930) was built for CP to sail the trans-Pacific route.〕 -- regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until 1922.〔Ship List: ( Description of ''Empress of Japan'' )〕 Over the course of her career, the ''Empress'' traversed 4 million kilometres (2.5 million miles).〔Davis, C. (RMS ''Empress of Japan,'' ) History of Metropolitan Vancouver website.〕 She made 315 Pacific crossings.〔 In 1891, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the British government reached agreement on a contract for subsidized mail service between Britain and Hong Kong via Canada; and the route began to be serviced by three specially designed ocean liners. Each of these three vessels was given an Imperial name.〔Miller, William H. (1984). ''The First Great Ocean Liners in Photographs,'' p. 52.〕 The RMS ''Empress of Japan'' and her two running mates - the RMS ''Empress of China and the RMS ''Empress of India'' - created a flexible foundation for the CPR trans-Pacific fleet which would ply this route for the next half century.〔 ==History== The ''Empress of Japan'' was built by Naval Construction & Armament Co. (now absorbed into Vickers Armstrongs) at Barrow, England. The 5,905-ton vessel had a length of , and her beam was . The white-painted, clipper-bowed ship had two buff-colored funnels with a band of black paint at the top, three lightweight schooner-type masts, and an average speed of 16-knots. This ''Empress'' and her two sister-ship ''Empresses'' were the first vessels in the Pacific to have twin propellers with reioprocating engines.〔Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986). ( ''Transpacific Steam: The Story of Steam Navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941,'' p. 145. )〕 The ship was designed to provide accommodation for 770 passengers (120 first class, 50 second class and 600 steerage).〔 She was launched on 13 December 1890 by Lady Alice Stanley, daughter-in-law of Lord Stanley, who was then the Governor-General of Canada.〔Musk, George. (1981). ( ''Canadian Pacific: The Story of the Famous Shipping Line,'' p. 63. )〕 The ship left Liverpool on 11 April 1891 on her maiden voyage via Suez to Hong Kong and Vancouver, arriving in British Columbia on 2 June. Thereafter, she regularly sailed the route between Canada and the east coast of Asia.〔 In the early days of wireless telegraphy, the call sign established for the ''Empress of Japan'' was "MPJ."〔Trevent, Edward. (1911) (''The A B C of Wireless Telegraphy: A Plain Treatise on Hertzian Wave Signalling,'' p. 13. )〕 It also transported passengers and cargo, notably Japanese tea. This vessel was part of a fleet of ''Empress'' ships, but somehow the ''Empress of Japan'' stood out, in part because she held the speed record for crossing the Pacific for over two decades. Captained by Captain Henry Pybus, the RMS Empress of Japan won blue ribbon for record crossing of the Trans-Pacific crossing of 1897.〔http://stclairvancouver.com/cgi-bin/rez60load.pl?0001/im0001.html〕 The proud ship remained in active trans-Pacific service until 1922; and then she lingered, harbor-bound in Vancouver for several years.〔 The dragon masthead has been preserved at the Seawall in Stanley Park 〔 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 Japan (1890)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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