White Empresses: And Other Canadian Pacific Liners of the 1920s & 30s

Canadian Pacific Steamships was a worldwide travel network that included great passenger ships. Their highpoint for that arm might have been in the Twenties & Thirties. First, they had a superb transpacific service, Vancouver to and from the Orient, with four splendid ships providing twice-monthly service. It all hinted of far-off, exotic travel–grand salons, midnight sailings from Shanghai and an Asiatic steerage below decks. On the Atlantic, Canadian Pacific provided a fine service, largely between Liverpool and the St Lawrence, to Quebec City and Montreal. This culminated with the debut, in 1931, of one of the finest liners of the twentieth century, the giant ‘Empress of Britain’. An exquisite ship both inside and out, she made luxurious world cruises in winter–like a big yacht! The stories of these ships on both oceans is told in this new book. Some were scrapped prematurely, others casualties of war and still others restored and reactivated for Canadian Pacific liner services in the late Forties and into the Fifties. Altogether, it is a fascinating group of ships, well deserving of another review.