For 1927-28, Canadian Pacific elected to use the Empress of Australia for its world cruise. This may be because the Empress of Scotland was getting old; it was eight years older than the Australia and would be scrapped in 1931, while the Australia continued to serve the Canadian Pacific for another two decades. It could also have been that the Australia was a little smaller, since — as will be shown below — despite being smaller it had more than enough space to meet the demand.
Click image to view and download a 53.6-MB PDF of this booklet from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
The cover art for this 92-page booklet describing the cruise wraps around to the back, but the art covers only about 5 percent of the back cover so I’m only showing the front. This is the same artwork used on the Ceylon pages in the 1926-27 booklet, expect the art is flipped so that most of the image is on the righthand side. The blank area, of course, was for text in that booklet, but the area was left blank on the back cover of this one. Nothing in this booklet suggests that the cover art was by Maurice Logan, which is further evidence that this and the other interior art in the 1926-27 booklet was by Greenwood or Gillespie.
Click image to view and download a 9.7-MB PDF of this booklet from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
Cruise fares started at $1,800, or about US$31,000 in today’s money. However, as the above booklet of deck plans and fares shows, only about 26 rooms were available for that fare, and other rooms could cost much more. The most expensive accommodations were two-person, three-room suites (plus bath) that cost $12,500 per person, or roughly $430,000 per suite today.
By my count, the cruise offered 280 rooms or suites with 479 beds. Parents could get a discount for children between the ages of 5 and 10 if those children stayed in the same room or suite as their parents, but there probably were not many of these. Servants could also get a discount if they slept and ate “in special accommodation set apart for their use,” and those rooms aren’t included in the above totals.
Click image to view and download a 8.1-MB PDF of this booklet from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
The above passenger list names 365 members plus six servants, so the cruise was about three-quarters full. According to the list, the voyage included two earls, a baron, and a knight. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery was Reginald Herbert (1880-1960), who gained the hereditary title on the death of his father in 1913. His wife, Lady Beatrice, accompanied him on the trip and her maid accompanied her.
The Earl of Rosslyn, who apparently went on this trip alone, was James St. Clair-Erskine (1890-1939). He was a notorious gambler whose addiction led him into bankruptcy, so it is hard to imagine that he could afford this cruise. He was married to his third wife at the time, but she wasn’t particularly wealthy and in any case they were estranged due to his gambling habit and infidelity.
The baron, who was French and whose title was heriditary, was Édouard Morel de Foucaucourt (1867-1929). He was accompanied by his wife, Baroness Louise de Foucaucourt.
The knight was listed as Elly Kadoolie, but really was Eleazer Kadoorie, a financier whose work building Hong Kong businesses led King George V to make him a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire just six months before this cruise. He was accompanied by his son, Lawrence, who was made a non-hereditary baron in 1981 for his philanthropic work in Hong Kong. Sadly, the elder Kadoorie was in Singapore when it was captured by the Japanese and died in a prison camp in 1944.
Click image to view and download a 10.2-MB PDF of this booklet from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
This booklet is the daily log of travel, listing noontime positions, miles of travel per day, arrival and departure times, and a brief description of ports. It also lists the names of all of the on-board staff, from 43 boiler room attendants to five photographers and the 10-piece orchestra. A total of 524 people crewed the ship, or more than 1.4 workers for every paying passenger.
Click image to view and download a 189-MB PDF of this photo book from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
Unlike the photo book from the 1925-26 cruise presented here a few days ago, this one doesn’t have the name of a specific passenger embossed on the front. Most or all of the photos in the book must have been taken by the five official photographers on the cruise. While many include cruise members in the photos, CP slipped in at least four stock photos that were also in the 1925-26 book.
Click image to view and download a 1.0-MB PDF of this menu from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
The Chung collection’s only menu from this cruise is this delightful beverage list of spirits, liqueurs, cocktails, ales, and tobaccos. The painting is signed “A.E. Bestall”, which refers to English painter and illustrator Alfred Bestall (1892-1986). He later became famous for drawing the Rupert Bear comic strip from 1935 to 1965.
Click image to view and download a 778-KB PDF of this brochure from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
“Information for Passengers” provides a few words of advice about clothing, baggage, vaccinations, and similar topics.
Click image to view and download a 1.7-MB PDF of this brochure from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.
Finally, this brochure informs passengers how they can stay in touch with people at home and by what dates such people need to mail item to particular ports.