This page documents the visits of the Canadia Pacific liner, the RMS Empress of France, to Hong Kong. If you can add any visits I've missed, or make any corrections, please leave a comment below.
She started life as the SS Alsatian, launched in 1914. In 1919 she was bought by Canadian Pacific, and renamed to Empress of France. She was scrapped in 1934. (For more details see the ship's page on Wikipedia.)
She mainly sailed on the Atlantic route between Britain and Canada, but made several visits to Hong Kong:
March 1923: Visited as part of a round-the-world tour. The ship was chartered by a New York tour operator for the trip. The newspaper said it was to be the ship's last chartered tour, as Canadian Pacific would run future trips themselves.
March 1925: Visited on a round-the-world tour that began in New York. The newspaper noted that the next year's round-the-world cruise would be on the Empress of Scotland.
November 1928 - November 1929: The Empress of France replaced the Empress of Canada on the Pacific service, becoming a regular visitor to Hong Kong. There are mentions of visitors arriving in Hong Kong on the Empress of France in January and July 1929. The Empress of Canada resumed service, but in October 1929 it ran aground and the Empress of France took over the service again, sailing from Hong Kong on November 16. I believe that was the last time she visited Hong Kong, though...
October 1930 ?: Page 9 of the Hong Kong Daily Press, 1930-10-21 mentions: "Mr. T. V. Soong, Finance Minister, is proceeding to Canton on board the Empress of France, leaving Shanghai on the 21st inst. [...]". Did the ship also visit Hong Kong?
Sources:
- Searched local newspapers on MMIS for phrase "Empress of France". (9 results)
- The NewspaperSG website is also a good resource