Today we have the last menu used on the April 27-May 3 voyage of the Empress of France and the first menu used on the May 24-May 31 voyage of the Empress of Scotland. Steamship arrival times were probably a bit more unpredictable than train times, so Canadian Pacific timetables specify departures from Montreal at 11:00 am and from Liverpool at 6:30 pm, but don’t specify arrival times.

Click image to download an 855-KB PDF of this menu.

The arrival of the Empress of France in Liverpool was late enough that the crew planned for and served “dinner au revoir” that evening. I count just over 40 items on the menu, a few more than on the previous night’s menu. The menu featured the Empress of France itself on the cover, a cover image we’ve seen before on a 1956 menu that was used on the same ship.

Click image to download am 829-KB PDF of this menu.

At first glance, this May 24 menu appears to have the same cover illustration as the previous one. But a close look reveals that this steamship has three stacks compared with two on the previous one. Zooming in to the name on the bow reveals that the ship is the Empress of Scotland, which, not coincidentally, was the ship on board which the menu was used.

Due to the similarities between the two paintings, it is pretty obvious that the same artist did both. A light color pattern near the lower right of the Empress of Scotland painting is the artist’s signature, which I believe is Oswald Pennington. Like the Empress of France menu, I’ve only see the Empress of Scotland on a steamship menu.