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A ROYAL TRIBUTE
'Sir Edward Beatty, Canadian Pacific Railway Co., OTTAWA, Ontario,. Montreal October 29th, 1940
"I have been asked by the King and Queen to convey to you and the directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway their sincere sympathy in the loss of that fine ship the Empress of Britain, in which Their Majesties had such a pleasant voyage from Canada last year."
(Signed) E. W. BEATTY.
"Rt. Hon. Earl of Athlone, Government House, Ottawa, Ontario.
"I shall be very glad if you will be good enough to express to Their Majesties our directors' And my own deep appreciation of their kind message of sympathy in the loss of the Empress of Britain. She was a beautiful ship, of which all Canadians were very proud. In my judgment, she was one of the finest examples of the skill of the Clyde shipbuilders and she ended ier life gloriously in the service of the nation." .
(Signed) ATHLONE
Tributes to the great Canadian ship came fast upon the news of her loss :-
The Prime Minister of Canada, the RT. HON. W. L. MACKENZIE KING, P.C. said: "She will long be remembered by Canadians as a brave ship who did her duty in peace and war. "Canadians have heard with profound regret of the loss of the Empress of Britain, and with pride of the heroic conduct of her officers and men. For many years she carried the name and fame of Canada with high honour into most of the world's great ports. When war broke out she was assigned to the sterner tasks of war, and in those tasks played a memorable part. "To the relatives of the heroic seamen who lost their lives when their ship sank in the Atlantic, I send the deepest sympathy of the people of Canada."
SIR EDWARD BEATTY, G.B.E., K.C., LL.D., Chairman and President Canadian Pacific Railway, issued the following statement: "News of the loss of the Empress of Britain will come to the great army of people who have travelled aboard her very much as would that of the loss of a personal friend, while all Canadians will hear with a feeling of deep regret that the gallant ship which for nine years proudly represented Canada in all the world's great ports has met her fate at the hands of the enemy.
"The Empress of Britain was designed and built to help maintain for the St. Lawrence gateway to Canada a position of high importance among the world's ocean ports, and splendidly she accomplished that duty. She had many proud moments in her all too short career. Those who saw her first entry into Quebec harbor will not forget the tremendous demonstration that greeted her. That was an event second only in interest to the day the ship bore Their Majesties the King and Queen from Halifax on their way home.
"To the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company her loss brings an especially keen regret. We were proud of her beauty and of her consistently fine performance and we had reason also to be gratified by the fact that, while her building might have been termed a bold experiment, it was seen to be thoroughly justified very early in her career. The ship has met her end gallantly in the service of the country, as have many others, but when the war is finished and won, still others equally as fine will be built to take their places and carry on the work of maintaining our British supremacy, on the seas.
"Of the loss of forty-five of her crew one can only speak with sorrow, which may be somewhat mitigated by pride in the fact that they went to their death with their faces bravely turned towards their duty as is the manner of British seamen. To their relatives and friends will go the country's heartfelt sympathy."
LESLIE HOWARD, actor, during his talk in the B.B.C. radio series "Britain Speaks," November 4. "Those of us who knew that magnificent British ship will not forget her easily. She was unique of her class, great in size yet not a monster, modern in line but in no way freakish, powerful and sturdy but of a graceful symmetry, solid and steady in action yet flexible in movement to the waves that bare her. She was a real ship of the sea, fashioned by a race of shipbuilders, her name, appearance and significance known and respected all over the world which she had circled so many times. She will not be forgotten. Indeed it is safe to guess that one day she will live again, for surely Canada will recreate for her a daughter, in her own name and something like her own image, a daughter perhaps even more beautiful than the mother."
THE NEW YORK TIMES, October 29. "No ship ever fitted her name more truly than the Empress of Britain. She was, indeed, an empress, with pride and grace and dignity in every inch of her. She had millions of devoted subjects, in many countries ... Her white paint was a coat of ermine that set her apart from the throng ... it was always an event in our own harbor when the great white Empress came in ... She carried thousands of troops from the free Dominions to the Old Country; she played her part in keeping England free. She now lies blackened and twisted on the ocean bottom, the largest of all ships that have gone down in this war; but she lived up to the traditions of her flag to the very end, for the Admiralty has praised 'the resolute and efficient handling' of her anti-aircraft guns in her death struggle. The memory of this fine ship will survive until a new Empress of Britain inherits her name."
G. Ward Price in THE DAILY MAIL, LONDON, October 29. "When shall we again see such an ocean luxury as was revealed to us on your memorable maiden voyage."
FAIRPLAY, WEEKLY SHIPPING JOURNAL, LONDON, November 7. "The Empress of Britain was one of the liners of the British mercantile marine we could ill afford to lose. She was considered by many good judges to be one of the most satisfactory ships ever turned out from Messrs. John Brown's yard at Clydebank, which is, perhaps, as high praise as can be given to any vessel ... That such a fine vessel should come to an end by being bombed, and that all the foresight of the Company who ordered the ship, the skill of the designers, the honest craft of the workmen who fashioned her, and the ability and experience of the crew who ran her, should be wasted by this destruction, is perhaps, a negligible matter when viewed in the light of the other devastation which has been caused by Hitler and his satellites, but the effect is cumulative, and we may hope that the reckoning will take account of every item."
THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, October 29. "Canadians ... will regret very deeply the destruction of the magnificent Empress of Britain, because she was the pride of the Canadian service, because she was symbolic of the growing greatness of the Dominion and reflected that greatness wherever she went."
THE MONTREAL DAILY STAR, October 29. "The extent to which the tragic fate of the Empress of Britain has stirred the imagination and evoked the eloquent tributes of many neutral admirers is at once a tribute to the vessel herself and to the officers and men of her crew. She was in very truth Canada's ambassador-at-large, known and admired throughout the Seven Seas... "The gallantry of her captain and his officers and men was as we should have expected -- true to the highest traditions of the British mercantile marine... This is our abiding solace. British ships and British seamen never fail us. Ships may be sunk and men may die in the cause of freedom, but so long as the Empire endures others will replace them to carry the Flag and keep the Faith throughout the years."
THE DAILY COLONIST, VICTORIA, B.C., October 29. "This is the largest individual loss of tonnage yet inflicted at sea in warfare. The Empress ranked among the ten greatest vessels in the world's merchant marine ... In the time of her career afloat she became probably better known than any other passenger liner, because of the great number of those who, at one time or another, travelled aboard her."
THE LEADER-POST, REGINA, SASK., October, 28. "Thousands of prairie people will feel the loss of the Empress of Britain."
VICTORIA DAILY TIMES, VICTORIA, B.C. October 28. "When the history of the war comes to be written it will be found that this Canadian ship, like the grim grey warriors which have convoyed precious argosies over the same route ever since the war began, will be credited with an important chapter in the Commonwealth's service."
THE GLOBE AND MML, TORONTO, October 29. ". . The loss is tempered by the gallant behavior of the crew, who maintained the highest traditions of the sea for bravery and coolness. Captain Sapsworth stuck to the bridge, a target of Nazi machine-guns, until it was crumbling in flames. The fight put up in defense is one of which Britishers can be proud."
THE CHRONICLE-TELEGRAPH, QUEBEC, October 28. "This was the home port of the Empress and Quebecers have regarded her as being as much part of themselves as the Citadel or the Legislative Buildings... While the destruction of the Empress in action has caused a profoundly painful impression here, for her own sake and for that of her officers and crew, no one could have wished for her a better end. Having been the personal yacht of Their Majesties and flagship of Canada's merchant marine, how much more fitting that she should find a watery grave in the service of her country than that she should be broken up for scrap metal, the fate that would normally have overtaken her."
THE CITIZEN, OTTAWA, October 29. "Canada's finest ocean liner, the Canadian Pacific Empress of Britain, and one of the most formidable warships of the Canadian navy, H.M.C.S. Margaree were casualties of fierce naval fighting on the North Atlantic front last week. The ships were the least important casualties, however . . . On the Empress of Britain there were 643 persons. British warships were happily able to rescue 598, but the loss of 45 of the liner's crew is another grievous addition to the list of casualties in the merchant service."
THE DAILY GLEANER, FREDERICTON, October 28. "The Empress of Britain was one of the world's greatest ships. She was emblematic of the advance of Canada in seaborne commerce and in commercial organization. War has taken her, but many ships are left and the shipyards are turning out others as fast as the riveting machines can vibrate."
THE KINGSTON WHIG-STANDARD, KINGSTON, ONT., October 28. "The sinking of the Empress of Britain removes the pride of Canada's merchant marine. . . "
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR, HAMILTON, ONT., October 29. "Loss of the Empress of Britain ... brings a pang of sorrow to the people of Canada... for wherever she went she carried something of Canada with her... A fortunate circumstance is, however, that most of those aboard are reported to have been saved. This is war, and the lovely Empress was playing her part valiantly in the grim struggle."
THE HALIFAX MAIL, October 29. "The loss of the Empress of Britain is one of the bitterest tragedies of this war. The destruction of this beautiful ship-the 'White Empress' is another foul crime to be charged to the black account of Barbarism... Of all the big liners, the Empress of Britain was, by common consent, the most delightful to the eye of the naval architect... we like best to remember her, in all her compact beauty, as she moved majestically out of this port at the conclusion of the Royal Visit."
THE HALIFAX CHRONICLE, October 30. "In this province the people will feel particularly keenly the loss of such a fine ship. Nova Scotians love and appreciate ships. They know something of the beauty of line and proportions, and the functional excellence of great modern liners. And Empress of Britain was one of these... Nova Scotians all their lives will remember her as she steamed so majestically out of Halifax harbor, in the rich warm light of a beautiful June evening, bearing the King and Queen home to Britain after a tour of Canada and the United States. She was a liner fit for a king and a queen. "
THE WINNIPEG TRIBUNE, October 28. "The loss of the Empress of Britain touches Canadians deeply. She was the pride of the Canadian merchant marine and there was no finer sight in the world than the lordly ship on the broad St. Lawrence, steaming out to the highways of the world. But she served in war as proudly as in her ten years of peace. There are tales of her service as a troopship, carrying men of the Empire from the ends of the earth, to be told when the foul menace to humanity is overcome, and men in ships can plow the sea once more as harbingers of good will, joining continents in the pursuit of peace."
(from original CP publicity material)
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