Empress of India

RMS Empress of India was an ocean liner built in 1890-1891[1] by Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow-in-Furness, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships.[2] This ship would be the first of two CP vessels to be named Empress of India,[3] and on 28 April 1891, she was the very first of many ships named Empress arriving at Vancouver harbor.[4]

Empress of India regularly traversed the trans-Pacific route between the west coast of Canada and the Far East until she was sold to the Maharajah of Gwalior in 1914 and renamed in 1915.[5]

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.[6]

Empress of India and her two running mates—RMS Empress of China and RMS Empress of Japan—created a flexible foundation for the CPR trans-Pacific fleet which would ply this route for the next half century.[5