Oceans Of Fate: Peace and Peril Aboard the Steamship Empress of Asia By Dan Black
Reviewed by Heather McBriarty
In the halcyon years before the “Great War” ocean travel was the only way to see the world. Gone was the age of sail, and in was the age of fast, powerful steamships, crossing oceans in days rather than weeks or months. Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built a fleet of Empress ships to carry passengers from Canada to ports around the world, including the Empress of Asia. Launched in 1913, and elegantly outfitted for luxury travel, she soon saw service in the First World War, and finished her days during the Second World War, a scarred and battered shadow of her former glory. In between, she plied the Pacific in the heady years of the Roaring Twenties and through the Depression era, delivering travellers, and precious cargoes of silk and silver. For the first time, author Dan Black has set out a thorough history of one of CPR’s most gracious Empresses in his new book Oceans of Fate: Peace and Peril Aboard the Steamship Empress of Asia.
“I was excited to read this book, as my own grandparents had sailed on the Asia’s sister Empress of Russia, and I was not disappointed in being transported to that era (the 1920s) and beyond.”
I was excited to read this book, as my own grandparents had sailed on the Asia’s sister Empress of Russia, and I was not disappointed in being transported to that era (the 1920s) and beyond. This is a dense book, meticulously researched, and covering a span of 29 years, from the Asia’s launch in 1913 in Scotland, to her two-and-a-half-month maiden voyage around the world to the west coast of Canada, to her tragic demise at the hands of Japanese bombers in 1942. She was a victim of her obsolete coal-fired engines.
But this isn’t just a story of a ship, it is the story of the men and women who sailed on her: the captains and crew, the staff, the passengers. It is a story of cultures mixing and clashing, white Canadians, Americans and Europeans, and the Chinese men who laboured with focus and professionalism in the bowels of the coals stores. Those carried across secretly to labour at the Western Front. It is also a story of men who died in service to both the Empress and to King and country. In this respect, I did get a little bogged down. There are a lot of people mentioned in this book, and at times I struggled to keep them all in mind or figure out what role they played in the narrative. However, theirs are compelling stories, especially that of Walter Oliver, who spent his last 19 years setting down the tales of his time on the Asia on paper, which weave their way through this book to the very end.
Speaking of ending, the last chapters of this book chronicle her final journey through perilous waters. The aging Asia, betrayed by her thick coal smoke and no-longer-swift engines, tried to keep up with a convoy to Singapore, itself under attack from Imperial Japanese forces. It is a tale as heart-stopping as a Ken Follett thriller, and as tragic as a Greek play. The Asia's crew fights to survive not only her bombing and sinking, but then the escape from Singapore as the Japanese move in.
This is not a fast read, but it is a compelling one. There is so much to absorb here, hefty not only in physical weight but also in information, history and social commentary. Black did an enormous amount of work bringing the Asia back to life and this work is a loving tribute to an era, a ship, and the people who trod her decks.
About the Author
Dan Black is the former editor of Legion Magazine, and author or co-author of three previous books, including Harry Livingstone’s Forgotten Men: Canadians and the Chinese Labour Corps in the First World War. He lives near Ottawa.
Book Details
Publisher : Dundurn Press (Feb. 18 2025)
Language : English
Paperback : 456 pages
ISBN-10 : 1459752511
ISBN-13 : 978-1459752511