EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND : Share your stories

[Steve Geronazzo]

Hi all,

I just noticed that a couple of members shared their stories concerning the EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND lately. I thought it would be a good idea to have a place where members could add their stories in a single area and that's why I started this thread.

Please feel free to add scans of slides or photos in this post as an attachment. If possible, not larger than 800x600.

Steve Geronazzo 

 

[Mac Mackay]

As a child, spending my summers on the shores of the St.Lawrence River, our family could easily tell when a liner was upbound on the river, even before we could see it. We would suddenly begin to get Morse code coming in over our AM radio! This meant a ship with a very powerful transmitter was nearby.
We would then keep an eye out for an upbound liner, as they frequently came close to the shore with the rising tide. Our favourite was the Empress of Scotland because she was the most elegant, and the last of the three stack ships.
Our cottage had a flag pole and we always saluted the liners, but of course we never received an acknowledgement-our flag was too tiny. On one occassion however the Empress of Scotland had just passed our place and we were once again disappointed that it did not respond to our flag salute, when suddenly it signalled three very long blasts of its most impressive steam whitle. We rushed back out to dip the flag again to acknowledge, but at the same instant the ship sounded its single blast.
We were crushed that the ship was saluting some other lucky person a few miles upstream- but the Empress of Scotland was still our favourite ship.

[Steve Geronazzo]

My father left Italy after the war and arrived in Canada in 1951. Up to just recently, I was sure he had arrived by plane and in Montreal.

He passed away 22 years ago and I have kept all his personal papers in a box. Last year, I was looking for information to build my family tree and after a few hours of sifting through his papers I fell upon his Immigration Identification Card that stated he had arrived September 3rd, 1951 aboard the EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND. That was a big surprise since I was sure he had arrived by plane.

Looking more closely at the card, I noticed that the stamp said 'Quebec, P.Q.' which means he had arrived in Quebec City (... in the Province of Quebec)! So that was my second surprise since I was sure he had arrived in Montreal.

If I find more information I will post it here.

Who would have known that I would later live in Quebec City and become a shipspotter?

Attached are the images of the Immigration Identification Card that belonged to my father.

Steve Geronazzo