[Mike Cecil]

Tony,

Try finding a copy of 'The Winston Specials' about the WS class convoys. It has excellent shipping information, and provides reasons why certain ships were used, trooping levels, and so on. A most useful reference.

Also, if you are into wartime merchant shipping, Jordan's 'Merchant Fleets 1939' is a must, and for wartime shipping losses 'Lloyds War Losses' Volumes 1 & 2, though hard to find, are invaluable.

I think you'll find that the first convoy from Australia, coded US1 was actually 11 ships - it did not contain either Aquitania or Empress of Britain, both of which were first used for ANZAC trooping as part of convoy US3 in May. In January, both Empress of Britain and Aquitania were busy with convoying Canadian troops in convoy TC3 from Halifax, Canada, to the Clyde (they had also participated in TC1 in December).

The first ANZAC troops to leave for overseas were the Advance Party, which left in mid-December aboard Strathallan.

Jordan lists the following for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (owners), shipping managed by Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd out of their London, UK, office:

Passenger vessels North Atlantic:
various 'Duchess' and 'Mont' prefix names plus
Empresses of: Australia, Britain

Passenger vessels, North Pacific:
Empresses of Asia, Canada, Japan, Russia.

Empress of Japan was renamed Empress of Scotland in late 1942, for obvious reasons!
Empress of Ireland was sunk in May 1914
Empress of Australia was originally launched as the Admiral Von Tirpitz, later changed to Tirpitz, and then the Empress of China before becoming the Empress of Australia.

The company also operated cargo vessels, all with names beginning with 'Beaver', eg 'Beaverbrae', 'Beaverburn', etc

I cannot find any wartime reference to Empress of Bermuda at all: it is not listed under that name in Jordan, so maybe it was renamed in the same way that the Empress of Japan was? Do you know if it had a different name at time of launch?

Regards

Mike C