C. P. R. STEAMSHIP “EMPRESS OF JAPAN.”
The distance from Vancouver to Hong Kong is 6,140 nautical miles; the average passage is about twenty-two days. Yokohama is 4,300 knots from Vancouver, and the average passage is from eleven to eleven and a half days; but in August, 1891, the Empress of Japan made the voyage in 9 days, 9 hours, 39 minutes, the shortest time on record, being at the rate of eighteen and a half knots an hour. After a fairly quick railway run across the continent to New York, and close connection with a swift Atlantic greyhound, her mails were delivered in London in the unprecedentedly short time of 20 days, 9 hours from Yokohama. This feat astonished London, and gave rise to speculations of rapid communication with the East hitherto undreamed of. Even with existing facilities, it is now not only possible, but it is easy to go round the world by this route in less than seventy-five days, and to do it in palatial style for less than $1,000!
In connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway a line of steamers commenced a monthly service in 1893 between Vancouver and Australia, calling at Shanghai, Sandwich Islands, Brisbane, Queensland and Sydney, N. S. W. The pioneer ships are the Warrimoo and Miowera, of about 5,000 tons each, which have so far given a very satisfactory service. They receive a small subsidy from the Canadian and Australian Governments as a means of developing trade and commerce between the two countries, and as forging another link in the chain that binds the colonies to the Mother Country. A third steamer, the Aorangi, has recently been added to this line. The distance from Vancouver to Sydney, direct, is 6,832 knots, and the voyage has been made by the Miowera in 19½ days, showing that with a fast Atlantic service and close connections the quickest route from England to Australia will be via Canada.
Still more recently, the unprecedented rush of adventurous gold-seekers to the Klondike has induced the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to inaugurate another line of steamships to ply between Victoria and Vancouver and ports on the northern Pacific coast. Two very fine Clyde-built steamers have been placed on this route, the Tartar and the Athenian, of 4,425 and 3,882 tons, respectively. These vessels are fitted up in first-class style, with excellent accommodation for large numbers of passengers. With the exception of the Empress Line of steamships to Japan and China, they are said to be much the finest steamers on the North Pacific coast.
George Stephen, now Lord MountStephen, was born at Dufftown, Banffshire, Scotland, June 5th, 1829: came to this country in 1850, when he entered into business in Montreal, and was the pioneer of the woollen manufacturers in Canada. He became President of the Bank of Montreal and also of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was completed mainly through his Lordship’s energy. Sir George Stephen, Baronet—so created in January, 1886—was elevated to the British peerage in May, 1891.
Donald A. Smith, now Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, who was associated with Lord MountStephen in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was born at Archieston, Morayshire, August 6th, 1820. He came to Canada in 1839 on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s staff, and eventually became Governor of that corporation. He has represented the city of Montreal in the Dominion Parliament, is President of the Bank of Montreal, and Chancellor of McGill University. He succeeded Sir Charles Tupper as High Commissioner for Canada in London in August, 1896. He received the honour of knighthood from Her Majesty the Queen in May, 1886, and was raised to the peerage on the occasion of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, in 1897. The gifts of both these gentlemen for educational and philanthropic purposes have been upon a princely scale, running up into millions of dollars.
CHAPTER VI.
STEAM IN THE BRITISH NAVY.
The British Navy—Marine Distances—Sunday at Sea—Icebergs and Tidal Waves.