Ordered by Canadian Pacific in the late 1920s, the 26,000-ton Empress of Japan had a particularly long life of 37 years and sailed under four different names.

The new Empress, designed for the Vancouver-China service, was launched from Fairfield's Govan yard on December 17, 1929.

With three funnels, the after one a dummy, Empress of Japan was a handsome liner. Oil-fired turbines driving twin screws gave her a speed of more than 20 knots.

The liner carried a total of 1,173 passengers in four classes, first, second, third and Asiatic steerage.

This career ended when war broke out in 1939 and Empress made trooping voyages in waters far from her old haunts in the Pacific. After Japan entered the war she was renamed Empress of Scotland.

She survived the war and continued in government service until 1948. Altogether she steamed more than 720,000 miles carrying 258,000 servicemen.

After a major refit, Empress resumed commercial service on the North Atlantic instead of the Pacific.

By 1958 the ship was 27 years old and CP sold her to the Hamburg Atlantic Line who changed her name to simply, Scotland.

Hamburg Atlantic ordered a refit which considerably changed the liner's appearance as she went back into service a two-funnel vessel with two extra decks.

The company also gave her a new name, Hanseatic, and put her on the Cuxhaven to New York run with calls at Le Havre, Southampton and Cobh.

A fire which broke out while the liner was in New York did considerable damage and Hamburg Atlantic decided repairs were not worthwhile. The ship was towed back from America and broken up in Hamburg.