CN Ships???

[Anonymous]

I recently saw pictures of some Passenger ships in canada With CN painted on them and in CN colors. I remember reading that at one time the ROYAL CANADIAN PACIFIC AND NATIONAL once had ship fleets and you could go around the world onn the CN. What happened to these ships????

[Overmod]

The CP, I believe, had both more ships and better ships than the CN (which might well be related to the way the CN was originally formed).

Aside from ferries and other 'incidental' services, the CN ran a fleet of ships to the West Indies. I have found incidental evidence they went to "British Guinea" (West Africa), South America, and "Austral." and had 39 freighters and 8 combination freight/passenger ships (although no indication of when)

[morseman]

re CN freighters to the West Indies. In the early 50's the unions on these ships were demanding more mony and benefits than the CN said they could afford. CN claimed they were making marginal profits ot these routes and refused to budge on the unions damands. Talks went on for a long time and finally CN told the unions that if they didn't give up on some of their demands they would sell off their fleet and employees would be left high and dry. The unions thought CN was bluffing and didn't budge. Sure enough CN sold off it's fleet of the West Indies ships (not sure if this was the same for Australia, South America, etc.) This info was supplied to be by a ship's carpenter who worked on these ships and was my neighbor in Dorval, Quebec.

[morseman]

further to my previous msge re CN ships. The CP had quite a fleet of passenger liners Called the Empress fleet - Empress of Japan, Empress of Canada, Empress of Ireland, etc. The Empress of Ireland struck another ship, the Norwegian ship - The Storstad in the Gulf of St.Lawrence on May 20, 1914 and sunk within 14 minutes killing 1014 people.. another CP ship, the Lusitania wes torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915. It sank within 20 minutes and 1,198 people died. With the advent of the airlines, Canadian Pacific graduallly got rid of its liners.

[espeefoamer]

Wow, I never knew the Lusitania was a CP ship. I thought she was a Cunard liner .You learn something new every day!

[morseman]

TO: ESPE FOAMER Sorry my error YES it was a Cunard I should have realized my mistake when it wasn't listed as an Empress. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[passengerfan]

First CN ships were old Grand Trunk liners named for Princes operated Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver to Prince Rupert. Operated in Caribbean during winter months were handsome three stackers and operated in direct competition to CPR ships on west coast. At that time the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway terminated in Prince Rupert and the ships provided service to the large cities to the south.
The CN also owned a tug and barges to transport Railroad cars to and from Vancouver Island.
When the CN took over operation of the Newfoundland Railway they acquired a fleet of coastal steamers that served the ports along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. Once knew a doctor that worked these ships and was the only medico's many of these people in the remote ports ever saw. CN also operated the train ferries between North Sydney and Port Aux Basque, Newfoundland and a larger summer ferry between North Sydney and another Newfoundland port city. The CN also provided ferry service to Prince Edward Island from the mainland as well carrying trains as well as passengers. Several of these ferries operated in the Caribbean in the winter months.

[passengerfan]

CPR had the EMPRESS Liners that operated services to Europe from Canadian Ports and on the west coast from Vancouver to the Orient . The Orient service ended with the beginning of WW II and was never resurectted after the war. The EMPRESS liners to Europe were resurected following the war and new ships EMPRESS OF ENGLAND, EMPRESS OF CANADA and one other the name escapes me were built in the 1950's When transatlantic services ende one of these ships sold to Shaw Savill for service to Australia from Englend. The other two were purchased by Carnival Cruises and operated in the caribbean until new ships replaced them. On the west coast CPR also operated the PRINCESS liners between Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver, as well as Vancouver services to Nanaimo and even the inside passage to Alaska. Passenger freighters operated to the remote ports on the west coast of Vancouver Island. One east coast PRINCESS Liner operated between St. John New Brunswick and Nova Scotia connecting the Dominion Atlantic Railway with parent CPR. Was lucky enough to grow up at a time when able to ride many of the west coast CPR steamers and the CN ferries to Newfoundland and CPR Princess liner connecting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. As much enjoyment as the trains was provided by the CPR liners .

[Anonymous]

The former CP Princess of Acadia still runs under Canadian federal government ownership (with the same name) between Saint John, New Brunswick and Digby, Nova Scotia carrying people and automobiles, but no longer carrying rail cars.
The 1950's built CP Empress of Canada became Carnival's M.S. Mardi Gras, and her sister ship Empress of Britain became Carnival's M.S. Carnival in 1970. Both ships were subsequently transferred to Carnival Corporation's low-rent budget subsidiary Premier Cruise lines in the 1990's as the first of "The Big Red Ships" and had their hulls painted a bright fire engine red. Shaw Savill got the 3rd sistership, the last CP Empress of Ireland. I do not know her current name or disposition, although it would not surprise me if yet another Carnival Corp. subsidiary wound up with her, as well.

[Hugh Jampton]

I can't but help think of "The Love Boat"

[morseman]

I've been on the Princess ships many times Vancouver to Victoris in the old days when they used to travel from downtown Vancouver near the CPR station right to Downtown Victoria inner harbour. Itwas quite a sight coming into Victoria harbour with the Legislative (Parliament) building innediately in front and the majestic CPR Empress hotel on one side, and in front of the hotel would be several red London double decker tour busses. Gone are the good old days & now one has to travel by bus or car quite a bit up the coast from Vancouver, then take the Government ferry and land quite a bit up the coast from Victoria.

[Anonymous]

Canadian National also now owns 8 Great Lakes freighters.

Arthur M. Anderson
Cason J. Callaway
Edgar B. Speer
Edwin H. Gott
John G. Munson
Philip R. Clarke
Roger Blough
Barge Presque Isle