The Postcard
A Photocolour Series postcard that was printed and published by E. T. W. Dennis & Sons Ltd. of Scarborough. On the back of the card they state:
'Empress of Canada
passing Cloch Lighthouse,
Firth of Clyde.'
The card was posted using a 3d. stamp on Friday the 26th. August 1966 to:
Mr. & Mrs. A. J. Wilson,
44, Front Street,
Acomb,
Yorkshire.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"Set off late yesterday -
Peter not too well.
We got to Ecclefechan
just beyond Gretna
Green. We camped
there the night.
Carried on to Gourock
today - we have booked
B & B.
Just had tea without tea -
I forgot the water! So we
are going looking for a
cuppa.
Weather glorious so far.
Love Grace & Peter,
Ian & Karen."
The RMS Empress of Canada (1960)
The RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner launched in 1960 and completed the following year by Vickers-Armstrong of Newcastle-upon-Tyne for Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd.
The ship regularly traversed the transatlantic route between Liverpool and Canada for the next decade.
Although Canadian Pacific Railways was incorporated in Canada, the Atlantic (and pre-war Pacific) liners were owned and operated by the British-registered subsidiary Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd., and were always British flagged and manned, therefore the Empress of Canada was not the flagship of the Canadian Merchant Marine.
Background to the Empress of Canada
Following the end of World War II, Canadian Pacific Steamships resumed their transatlantic service utilizing the cargo liners Beaverburn and Beaverford, which were joined in 1947-50 by three other ships. A dramatic post-war increase in immigration to Canada prompted the company to order the construction of the Empress of Britain and Empress of England which entered service in 1956-57.
In July 1957 the company commenced planning a replacement for the Empress of Scotland, which would join the Empress of Britain and Empress of England on the transatlantic route from Liverpool to Montreal.
During the months that the St. Lawrence was frozen (typically November to April) the ships sailed from Liverpool To Saint John, New Brunswick.
Design of the The Empress of Canada
The Empress of Canada measured 27,284 tons with a length of 650 feet (198.12 m) and a beam of 86.6 feet (26.40 m). She was 10 feet (3.05 m) longer than her earlier sister ships due to a more curved bow, and she had one foot (0.30 m) more beam. Unlike the earlier CP ships, she had a bulbous bow.
Three Foster Wheeler boilers fed steam to two Pametrada turbines, one for each of her two propellers. The hull was strengthened for ice and fitted with Denny-Brown stabilisers.
Designed for a service speed of 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h), she achieved 23 kn (26 mph; 43 km/h) on her trials.
She had full air-conditioning, with accommodation divided into 192 first class passengers and 856 tourist class. All first class cabins and 70% of tourist class had private facilities.
The indoor pool, cinema and two-floor high Canada Room were shared by both classes. During the cruise seasons, the vessel operated as a one class ship.
Construction of the Empress of Canada
The order for the vessel was announced on the 3rd. January 1958, with the £7.5 million contract being awarded to the Vickers-Armstrong yard on the River Tyne in England. The company had built the Empress of England on the same slip four years previously.
The keel was laid in January 1959, the vessel's name was announced on the 11th. January 1960, and she was launched on the 10th. May 1960 by Olive Diefenbaker, the wife of the Canadian Prime Minister.
On the 7th. March 1961, she departed for her trials in the Firth of Clyde where her performance was checked over a measured mile. Following the vessel's return for correction of some minor defects, she departed for Liverpool on the 25th. March 1961, arriving two days later.
On the 29th. March what was to be the company's last passenger liner was commissioned into Canadian Pacific service at Liverpool. She remained at Liverpool for a month, during which time she was open for inspection by the travel trade and reporters.
The Empress of Canada's Service
On the 24th. April 1961, the Empress of Canada left Liverpool bound for Montreal on her maiden voyage, arriving on the 2nd. May, having become the largest passenger ship to sail up the St. Lawrence River. Among the passengers was the author Nicholas Monsarrat.
The liner departed from Montreal on the 10th. November 1961 at the end of her inaugural transatlantic season bound for Liverpool.
She departed from Liverpool on the 12th. December 1961 on her maiden crossing to New York, arriving on the 19th. December following a delay due to bad weather off the US coast.
After making three West Indies cruises from New York, she departed on the 9th. February 1962 carrying 640 passengers on a 61-day, 31 port voyage of the Mediterranean.
The ship then returned to the transatlantic service for the rest of the year, during which she and her sister Empresses made a total of 33 round voyages between Liverpool and Montreal.
On the 18th. February 1963, the ship departed from New York on her second Mediterranean cruise, which over 61 days called at 28 ports. For this cruise, which offered single-sitting dining, the passenger capacity was limited to 570 guests, with 70 extra catering staff employed to look after them.
The ship's first cruise from Great Britain departed from Liverpool on the 21st. December 1962 and called at Madeira, Tenerife, Sao Vincente, Las Palmas, Casablanca and Tangier, before ending at Southampton on the 7th. January 1963.
She then departed on the 10th. January 1963 for a 28-day cruise of the West Indies. Following her return to Britain at the end of this cruise, the Empress of Canada departed Southampton on the 12th. February 1963 for New York.
From New York she made another Mediterranean cruise which attracted only 369 passengers, which was lower than in previous years, causing her owners to never offer it again.
The ship then returned to the transatlantic service for the rest of the year. While on a voyage from Liverpool in September 1963, mechanical trouble caused the vessel to end her voyage at Quebec on the 18th. September, where all her passengers disembarked.
She then proceeded to Montreal without them, where repairs were undertaken.
Her next voyage from Liverpool was disrupted by a strike of St. Lawrence longshoremen, which prevented her from berthing following her arrival off Quebec on the 8th. October 1963. After two days at anchor she sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she discharged her passengers and cargo.
On the 15th. October 1963 she departed for Liverpool with one First class and five Tourist class passengers, looked after by a crew of 400.
Her last transatlantic crossing from Liverpool was to St. John where she arrived on the 13th. December 1963. She then proceeded to New York from where over the winter of 1963-64 she made six Caribbean cruises. The last of the cruises departed from New York on the 27th. March 1964 with 715 passengers, which was the most she had ever carried up until then.
On her regular transatlantic crossings she continued to carry many immigrants -- 500 of the 1,006 passengers that she landed at Quebec on the 12th. July 1965 were immigrants. A strike had prevented her transporting them all the way to Montreal.
Over the winter season from the 11th. December 1965 to the 19th. March 1966, the ship made eight cruises of up to 15 days in duration.
Her owners had programmed a total of 23 transatlantic sailings for 1966, but a strike by the National Union of Seamen disrupted these plans. This caused her to sit after docking at Liverpool on the 20th. May until the 4th. July when she was finally able to depart for Montreal.
The backlog of passengers due to the strike meant that the 1,087 passengers she carried on this voyage was her highest ever. Over the 1966-67 winter season she made seven cruises.
In 1967 she made a five special Expo-branded sailings from Liverpool to support Expo 67 which was being held in Montreal. Among the passengers on the Expo sailing that arrived in Montreal on the 5th. July 1967 were Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco and their three children.
Her last winter crossing for 1967 departed from Liverpool on the 24th. November 1967 to Quebec, from where she made a coastal cruise to New York from where she provided seven winter cruises, the last being completed on the 23rd. March 1968.
During one of them she ran aground at San Juan, Puerto Rico, but was pulled free with no damage. On the 4th. May 1968 she struck a whale which became impaled on her bow. It was dislodged by going full astern.
In 1968 she made 24 transatlantic sailings followed by 16 cruises, with the season being extended by her sailing from New York on the 3rd. June 1969 direct to Liverpool, from where she made three summer cruises: 14 days to the Scandinavian capitals and the North Cape starting on the 2nd. July, a three-day mini cruise on the 1st. August, and a 15-day Mediterranean trip on the 19th. September, interspersed with the occasional transatlantic service.
In 1968, Canadian Pacific modernised her look, changing their house flag, colour schemes and introducing a new funnel design.
As the 1960's progressed, transatlantic passenger crossings began to dramatically decline due to increased air traffic following developments in aviation design. The decline in profitability on the transatlantic route resulted in a number of famous ships leaving or never sailing again, such as the SS United States and RMS Queen Mary.
As time went on the Empress of Canada completed fewer and fewer trips across the Atlantic each year, and by 1969 she completed only seven Atlantic voyages, compensating by spending the period between the 6th. December and the 25th. May 1970 on an extended cruise season during which she made 11 Caribbean cruises of between nine and 20 days in duration from New York and Port Everglades.
On her last New York departure, she sailed on a four-day mini-cruise to Montreal on the 5th. April 1970, before commencing the first of the 11 Atlantic crossings that she undertook in 1970 during which she maintained an 82% occupancy.
Over the winter of 1970-71 her cruise season lasted from the 7th. December until the 17th. April before she returned to servicing the transatlantic trade.
When one day out of Liverpool heading for Canada there was a blowback in one of her boilers which caused a fire in the boiler room at 8:15 pm on the 22nd. August 1971. It was serious enough for passengers to be assembled by the life boats, but the fire was under control within ten minutes.
On the 9th. November 1971, Canadian Pacific unexpectedly announced that they were immediately withdrawing the Empress of Canada from service, claiming that she was becoming economically unviable.
As well as the decline in transatlantic tourist numbers, immigrant patronage had collapsed -- by 1970, of the 26,500 Britons who had immigrated to Canada in that year, only 4,400 had travelled by sea.
Also contributing to the decision was the devalued US dollar which had reduced the profitably of the cruise voyage as well as continuing labour troubles among her British crew and in Canada.
The previously announced cruises were cancelled, and she departed on the 17th. November 1971 from Montreal on her last North Atlantic crossing to Liverpool with 274 (19 First and 255 Tourist) passengers aboard and 360 crew.
She made her final arrival at Liverpool on the 23rd. November 1971 having completing 121 transatlantic voyages and 82 cruises for the Canadian Pacific line, thus closing for good the Liverpool–Canada link.
She remained at Liverpool until the 14th. December when she sailed with a skeleton crew (of under a 100) for London's Tilbury docks to be laid up pending sale, arriving on the 17th. December 1971.
Carnival Cruise Lines
She was sold in January 1972 to the then-startup Carnival Cruise Lines. After being renamed Mardi Gras on the 14th. February 1972 she underwent a few internal changes and an update of her colour scheme.
Carnival advertised their first ship as "27,000 tons of fun!"
Despite her age, the Empress of Canada was a good choice for the new company as she had been well-maintained, and was in better condition than a number of the vessels offering cruises from Miami.
As the newly-established company was in a very weak financial position, the ship soon departed Miami on the 11th. March 1972 with 530 passengers and 200 crew on board, on her first cruise without any major refurbishments in order to bring in some income.
At that time she was the largest passenger ship using the port of Miami, and fully laden, her draft caused her to run aground as she departed. After twenty-four hours of attempting to free her, the passengers were disembarked. After being refloated and being found to be watertight, the passengers rejoined the ship and the cruise continued. This mishap led to some competitors calling the vessel “Mardi Gras On The Rocks”.
The company's strategy of marketing the activities and entertainment available on board the ship, rather than its destination eventually caught on, so that by 1975 Carnival was making a profit.
In August 1979 she undertook a cruise to Canada, and made her first visit to Montreal in eight years. A second Canadian cruise, and her last in Canadian waters, was undertaken in 1980.
Early in 1982 she was given an extensive refurbishment.
From the end of 1990 onwards she began operating out of Port Canaveral.
Subsequent Shipping Lines
By 1993 Carnival wanted to update their fleet by ordering new tonnage, so she was sold to Epirotiki in that year, and was initially renamed Olympic.
In that same year she was chartered to Gold Star Cruises, based in Galveston, Texas, who renamed her Star of Texas. She departed on the 30th. October 1993 on the first of ten weekly sailings that the company operated each week.
These consisted of four six-hour cruises, and six “night-club” cruises. However the company soon found itself in financial difficulties, and the ship was relocated to Miami, where she provided short cruises under the name Lucky Star.
Gold Star Cruises stopped operating in December 1994, and the ship was laid up in the Bahamas for a short period before sailing to Piraeus, where she arrived on the 10th. May 1995.
In 1995 Epirotiki merged its operations with Sun Line, creating a new company named Royal Olympic Cruise Lines, and the vessel was renamed Apollon. For a while she sailed for this line before being chartered for five years by Direct Cruises for voyages around the United Kingdom.
In preparation the vessel was given a multi-million dollar refurbishment prior to departing from Piraeus for Liverpool. However while en route she had to be diverted to Avonmouth for engine repairs, which meant that it was not until the 30th. May 1998 that she reached Liverpool.
For her charterers the vessel operated cruises from Liverpool, Greenock and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Direct Holidays was purchased by the tour operator Airtours in 1999. Around this time Carnival acquired a share of Airtours. In 2000 all voyages planned for the vessel were cancelled and she was returned to Greece where she was laid up.
In May 2001 the Apollon was put back in service for three- and four-day cruises out of Piraeus. She operated as an accommodation ship in July 2001 for delegates and press attending the G8 summit being held at Genoa.
Retirement and Scrapping of the Former Empress of Canada
By 2003 the aging vessel was in need of a complete refurbishment, so to avoid this expense she was laid up in that same year. Taking advantage of higher prices currently being offered for scrap metal, she was sold for scrap on the 16th. September 2003, having been in service for 42 years.
On the 12th. November the former Empress of Canada departed Piraeus for breaking up at Alang in India, where she arrived on the 4th. December 2003.
The First Photograph of Earth From the Moon
So what else happened on the day that Grace, Peter, Ian and Karen posted the card?
Well, on the 26th. August 1966, NASA released the first photograph of the Earth as seen from the Moon, after Lunar Orbiter 1 transmitted a picture taken three days earlier.
Ground control had decided to turn the orbiter's camera toward the Earth, just as the probe was about to travel toward the far side, in order to show both objects in the same photo.
At the time, the Moon was between its perigee (17th. August) and apogee (31st. August) in relation to Earth, and the first self-portrait of the Earth was taken at a distance of roughly 239,000 miles.
The Beatles
Also on that day, the Number One chart hit record in the UK was 'Yellow Submarine' by the Beatles.
