The Royal Mail steamer Empress of China (I) was one of the initial trio of 'Empresses' ordered by the Canadian Pacific Line after they were awarded the valuable trans-Pacific mail contract in 1889. In addition to the stringent passage time requirements, the contract also stipulated that the new ships should be made available to the British Admiralty as armed merchant cruisers (A.M.C.'s) with the result that the order went to the experienced A.M.C. builders, the Naval Construction & Armaments Company of Barrow-in-Furness. The three identical sisters were to be of 5,905 tons gross and were to measure 455½ feet in length with a 51 foot beam. Designed with two funnels and three masts, the twin-screw steamers were fitted with triple-expansion engines giving a cruising speed of 16 knots and could carry 600 passengers in three classes Empress of China, the last to be completed, was launched by Lady Stafford Northcote on 25th March 1891 and cleared Liverpool for her maiden voyage to Vancouver, via Suez and Hong Kong, on 15th July the same year. After twenty years of reliable service she was wrecked in thick fog on the Mera Reef, 35 miles from Yokohama, on 27th July 1911; no lives were lost and the followiing year she was refloated and towed into Yokohama for scrapping.