May 29th 1959 Voyage To Montreal

A Memory of Liverpool.

Our family emigrated to Canada on the Empress of England in 1959. We left Liverpool on May 29th and arrived in Montreal June 6th or 7th. I was a month short of my 12th birthday and I remember thinking on the first day onboard how smooth it was. That impression lasted until we reached the western side of Ireland after which I was seasick for 6 days. Our cabin was forward and we could feel the bow of the ship slamming back down into the ocean as it rode the heavy seas. The trip up the St. Lawrence was such a welcome change. I remember seeing icebergs while at sea. I think I still have some items from the ship, a pocket knife with the ships's image on it, some drink stir sticks and possibly a pennant. I also have our trunks used to transport our possessions. One of them has the Canadian Pacific identification stickers on it with our names, voyage date, destination and room number: A-31. I would love to have a passenger list if anyone ever finds one.

Contact Contributor

Added 17 September 2013

#242673

Comments & Feedback

Hello Peter. I found your post really interesting. I wish you had gone over a year later! I have been trying to find out what happened to my mother when she left the family home in 1960 never to be seen or heard of again. I tried lots of times to trace her when I was older but even with the Salvation Army's help came up with nothing. With technology and speaking to people I believe she left UK with either an American or Canadian. I found the name Hayes and that she was a female, but with no other information other than she booked through a London travel agent on the passenger list of the Empress of France leaving Liverpool on 6th August 1960 for Montreal. She was actually born in Birkenhead and met my dad there in about 1942 when he was there with RAF. Her name was Beryl or Betty Mottershead. My dad's name was Charlie Hayes and he had no idea where she went. She is more that likely passed away by now but it still leaves a big void in my life not knowing where she spent the rest of her life. As you know it is hard to get information in Canada from UK but unless I can get the ingoing information of where she went I can find out nothing more. If I could prove she was dead It would be possible but I need to know where to search to find that information. Very frustrating. I hope you are well and happy in Canada. I live in Jersey in the Channel Islands now.

By Sheila Haynes (Was Hayes) on Mon Mar 28th 2016, at 3:05 pm

Contact User

Report