The turbine liner Alsatian, with the once-familiar red, white and black funnels of the Allan Line, in an advertisement in the Commercial year book of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce & Manufactures in 1915. At the time, the shipping line had offices in Bothwell Street.
Founded in 1819 by Alexander Allan, the Allan Line provided the first regular service between the Clyde and Canada. It was said that Allan Line ships carried more young Scots emigrants to Canada than any other line: an estimated 2.3 million people emigrated from Scotland between 1825 and 1938, many of them leaving from the Clyde for Canada. The Allan Line was acquired by Canadian Pacific in 1917.
The 18,481 tons Alsatian was built by William Beardmore & Co at Dalmuir and launched in 1913. At the time she was the largest liner sailing between Britain and Canada. The ship served as an armed merchant cruiser during the First World War, and after an overhaul in 1919 was renamed Empress of France. She returned to service in September 1919 and set three Canadian service speed records in the 1920s and (in July 1921) the record for the fastest Liverpool-Quebec-Liverpool round trip. She was scrapped at Dalmuir in 1934.
Reference: Mitchell Library, G 381
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
advertisements, Allan Line, Alsatian, armed merchant cruisers, Canadian Pacific Line, emigrants, emigration, Empress of France, First World War, funnels, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, passenger liners, passenger ships, shipping lines, William Beardmore & Co
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