A Large Model of the Canadian Pacific Railway Line 'Empress of France' , Circa 1913

Gift of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1958 to the Seamens Church Institute, New York.

Marine Paintings, Ship Models and Maritime Objects from the Collection of the Seamen's Institute of New York, 15 State Street New York, New York. 

Christie's, New York, February 12, 1985, lot 183

Originally dubbed SS Alsatian when it was built in Glasgow in 1913, the vessel depicted by this model has a storied history as both an ocean liner and an armed merchant cruiser during the First World War. The liner was originally built for the Allan Line, spending most of her time until mid-1914 traversing the Atlantic between Liverpool and Quebec. During the war, she was fitted with weaponry and deployed to patrol the waters around the Shetland Islands. It was only after the war, in 1919, that she received the name printed on the hull of this model, Empress of France. Having been returned to Canadian Pacific Ocean Services, the company managing the combined Allan Line and Canadian Pacific fleets, in 1918, Empress of France resumed the route she had taken before the war, later adjusting her route to travel between Hamburg and Quebec with stops in Cherbourg and Southampton. She took her final voyage in 1931 and was scrapped three years later.

 

This magnificent model, gifted on behalf of Canadian Pacific Railway to the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey in 1958, is exceptionally detailed, including all silver-plated bronze fittings, rigging, masts, lifeboats, life preservers, and wooden decks, as well as its original mahogany case. Beautifully rendered in 1:45 scale and sitting at more than twelve and a half feet long, this model provides an exceptionally rare chance to inspect the features of an ocean liner sailing during the peak of trans-Atlantic travel