'R.M.S. Empress of Britain' in Hong Kong, c. 1930s

The 56,000-ton Empress of Britain, built by John Brown at Clydebank and launched in 1930, was renowned for her luxurious fittings; her interior designers included Edmund Dulac and William Heath Robinson. She operated on the transatlantic route to Canada in summer and cruised in the tropics in winter. During the Second World War she was chartered by Admiralty as a troop transport, until she was immobilised by German bombers and sunk by a U-boat in 1941. A single-funnel Empress of Britain was built in 1956.