A large and impressive dockyard model in its original mahogany case and stand. Highly detailed throughout with many gold and silver plated fittings.
History of the Vessel:
The ship was built as the SS DUCHESS OF BEDFORD by John Brown yards, Clydebank, Scotland in 1928. She was one of four "Duchess" ships of the Canadian Pacific Railway on liner service from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal via Belfast and Greenock. Records show she also stopped in St John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia on some of these voyages.
From the late 1880s until after World War II, Canadian Pacific was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships, carrying many immigrants from Europe to Canada over this period along with mail and freight.
At 20,448 tons the ship could carry 1,570 passengers and 510 crew. She set new standards for comfort with hot and cold running water for all classes of service, something not reliably available in British homes at the time.
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, the ship was commandeered by the Admiralty as a troopship and went on to transport over 179,000 personnel and cover more than 400,000 miles in war service. Sometimes called "the most bombed ship still afloat", DUCHESS of BEDFORD was a very lucky ship and one of Canadian Pacific's few survivors of the war. Highlights of her service include the evacuation of Singapore in 1941/1942. Later in the summer of 1942, two days out of Liverpool and in heavy seas, the ship spotted a German U-boat 400 yards astern. DUCHESS' Captain Busk-Wood turned the liner and fired several times, sinking the enemy vessel. She may be best known for her important role in Operation Torch, transporting troops from Scotland to Algeria including the first American troops to attack Axis held North Africa. Here again she would contribute to the fight, firing on and downing an enemy aircraft.
Due to the Canadian Pacific's fleet loss of several ships in WWII they chose to only restart the Liverpool-Montreal route for liner service. DUCHESS OF BEDFORD was one of two of the company's "Duchess" ships to survive but she would need work in order to take civilian passengers again. The ship went through a complete refit in 1947 emerging with the new name EMPRESS OF FRANCE and a gleaming white hull that the line would give to all of its "Empress" vessels. More spacious post-war she would only offer accommodation for 700 passengers split between first and tourist class services. She would do 310 roundtrip voyages between Canada and the UK before being taken out of service in 1960.
We believe this is the original dockyard model and it was updated at the same time as the actual ship in 1947.
