Suez Canal, 1941

The Suez voyage of April to September of 1941 from Liverpool to Suez and return.

When re-fitting was completed at Liverpool in April of 1941, the EMPRESS OF ASIA embarked approximately 2,000 soldiers of a Yorkshire Regiment of the British Army known as the Green Howards.

The EMPRESS OF ASIA sailed from Liverpool on April 24th, 1941 bound for Suez via the Cape of Good Hope.  Suez was reached in early July after stops at Freetown, Capetown, Durban, and Aden.  The Green Howards were disembarked at Suez and joined the African campaign of the British Army.

The EMPRESS OF ASIA sailed from Suez bound for Durban with approximately 1,000 Italian Prisoners of War.  Also on board were approximately 300 civilian and military evacuees.  Included were British Naval, Air Force, and Army personnel assigned to redeployment as well as about seventy Norwegian Volunteers and a small number of servicemen from the Free French, Belgian and Dutch military. Some civilian evacuees, including women and children, from the Greece and Crete campaigns were also on board.

Prince Phillip of Greece, then a member of the Royal Navy, served as a midshipman on the EMPRESS OF ASIA as he traveled to Durban.

Other notable passengers were two British Brigadier-Generals, G.S. Brunskill and E.A. Miness.  Two American businessmen were also on board, Alexander Jacobs of Chicago and Victor Hughs of Queens.

At Durban the Prisoners of War were disembarked and the ship continued to New York by way of Trinidad.  After completion of some repairs the ship sailed from New York bound for Halifax.  At Halifax approximately 2,000 Canadian troops were embarked for transport to Britain.  On September 16^th, 1941 the EMPRESS OF ASIA left Halifax bound for Liverpool as part of a large convoy.  The troops were disembarked at Liverpool and the further repairs and refitting were undertaken in preparation for the next voyage. 

The following table contains the names of the crewmembers that served aboard the EMPRESS OF ASIA during the voyage of April to September of 1941 from Liverpool to Suez and return.