Princess Louise (sidewheeler)
Encyclopedia
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Princess Louise was a sidewheel steamboat built in 1869. From 1869 to 1879 this ship was named the Olympia. In 1879 the name was changed to Princess Louise, after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
, a daughter of Queen Victoria who was married to Marquess of Lorne
(1845-1914), Governor General of Canada
from 1878 to 1883. Princess Louise was the last sidewheeler to be operated commercially on the coast of British Columbia.
. The ship was 180 feet (54.9 m) long, with a beam of 30 feet (9.1 m) and depth of hold of 12.5 feet (3.8 m). The hull was built of seasoned white oak
.
Power was suppled by single-cylinder walking beam type steam engine
, manufactured by John Roach & Sons
. The cylinder was 46 inches (1,168.4 mm) in diameter and had a stroke of 11 feet (132 inches). The engine generated 350 horsepower
. Overall size of the vessel was 971 gross tons, and, as of 1874, 493 registered tons. The ship had an auxiliary sailing rig as a brig
. The official United States steamboat registry number was 19297.
Construction of Olympia was supervised by Capt. James Bolger, who commanded the vessel in the 75 day delivery voyage around Cape Horn
. Olympia arrived in San Francisco
on November 19, 1869. Continuing north, Olympia arrived at the city of Olympia on December 3, 1869.
and on a semi-weekly route between Olympia
and Port Townsend, Washington Territory.
Nash, who was to take over the mail contract on July 1, 1870, prepared by purchasing and reconstructing the half-completed sidewheeler Tacoma.
To do this, Nash secured the financial backing of two successful businessmen from Portland, Oregon
, Edwin A. and Louis A. Starr. When the rebuilding of the Tacoma was complete, the vessel was renamed Alida, and the Starrs were in full ownership of the vessel. They also assumed Nash's interest in the mail contract. Nash took over running a smaller vessel, the Varuna, in alliance the Starrs. Once Edwin Starr acquired his master's license, the Starr brothers bought another steamer, the Isabel, which was somewhat larger than the Alida, and was considered one of the most seaworthy vessels on the coast.
, was constructed at the Gates and Colyer shipyard in San Francisco, and launched on May 18, 1871. Capt. Dan Morrison brought the North Pacific into the Strait of Juan de Fuca
on June 23, 1871. For a few days after that, North Pacific was engage in trial trips. Meanwhile, Finch, in command of Olympia was preparing for a race to show the public which steamboat was superior. Finch went so far as to have the coal lumps on Olympia sorted into uniform sizes.
On June 27, 1871, Olympia and North Pacific were both at Victoria, with Olympia scheduled to depart for Port Townsend in the morning, with North Pacific making the same run in the afternoon. Intending to challenge North Pacific that day, Finch delayed departure of Olympia but kept steam up in the boiler. Word spread around Victoria, which tended to favor Olympia, that a race was impending, and bets were made favoring Olympia at 10 to 1 over North Pacific. The Starrs meanwhile tried to lower expectations by telling people that their ship was not yet ready for racing.
When North Pacific cast off lines, Olympia did likewise, and followed North Pacific out of Victoria harbor. As North Pacific made a south-easterly course for Point Wilson
, 36 miles (57.9 km) of open water away from Victoria, Olympias firemen
poured on the coals, causing clouds of black smoke to spew out of the ship's smokestack. Olympia, the heavier, oak-built vessel, was favored over the long open stretch, whereas North Pacific was thought to be able to better in the narrower waters near Point Wilson.
The resulting race between the two vessels, each of which was almost new, and represented the highest point of technical achievement for the time, was long remembered by the people on board the ships and alongside the wharves of Victoria and Port Townsend. Over most of the run, the two steamers ran almost side by side at maximum speed. But as the neared Point Wilson, North Pacific drew ahead, reaching Port Townsend in 2 hours and 41 minutes, 13 minutes and four miles (6 km) ahead of Olympia.
Finch and Wright soon composed their differences with the Starrs, who bought the Finch and Wright dock and warehouse in Olympia. In addition, in a typical anti-competitive agreement of the time, paid Finch and Wright a subsidy to keep the Olympia off the Victoria route. Finch and Wright then withdrew Olympia to California.
Olympia was based in California for the next seven years and managed to collect another subsidy from a California rival in return for staying out of competition. During this time Olympia made a voyage to Hawaii.
, and was then under the ownership of George S. Wright. At that time, the Hudson's Bay Company
(HBC) was engaged in a competitive struggle with John Irving
, who had recently purchased the former Gold Rush steamer Wilson G. Hunt. To beat the Hunt, the Hudson's Bay Company
HBC bought Olympia from Wright for $75,000.Turner, Pacific Princess, at pages 4 through 7. The ship was reregistered in Canada and assigned Canadian registry #72682.
HBC operated Olympia under the ship's original name until May 1879, when it changed the name to Princess Louise, after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
(1848-1939), a daughter of Queen Victoria, who was married to Marquess of Lorne
(1845-1914), Governor General of Canada
from 1878 to 1883. In the summer of 1879, competition between Princess Louise and the Hunt drove rates down on the routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland. In August 1879 Princess Louise ran an excursion around Vancouver Island, which was possibly the first such cruise to take place.
In 1880, HBC and Irving settled the rate war. In a monopolistic arrangement which became known as the “'arf and 'arf agreement”, HBC ships would carry passengers to and from New Westminster, where they would transfer to an Irving-owned stternwheeler for the trip up river to the head of navigation at Yale
. This was a suitable arrangement for the Princess Louise because as a sidewheeler the ship required improved docking facilities that were not available upriver from New Westminister.
In the late summer of 1880, when word reached Victoria that the steamship Otter
had wrecked five miles (8 km) out of Bella Bella
on August 19, 1880, Princess Louise was sent to the scene with the Lloyds agent and HBC officials on board in an attempt to salvage the Otter. This proved to be not possible, and Princess Louise was forced to return to Victoria with as much cargo as could be salvaged from the Otter.
In May 1881, the Canadian Pacific was anxiously recruiting as many laborers as it could for the difficult work of completing the transcontinental rail line down the valley of the Fraser River. Princess Louise transported the first group of laborers, who had been recruited from San Francisco and from China
to New Westminster on March 25, 1881.
Princess Louise began its first trip for the new company on March 13, 1883, steaming under Capt. William McCulloch, from Victoria, to Alert Bay
, Prince Rupert
, Metlakatla
, Port Simpson, the Skeena River
, Wrangell, Alaska
and way ports along the route. On May 4, 1883, the new company announced that Princess Louise would be put on a regular route from Victoria to Burrard Inlet
and Port Moody, British Columbia
.
Also in 1883, Princess Louise was refitted with new boilers, manufactured by Albion Iron Works of Victoria. Other overhaul work was completed and the ship was returned to service before the beginning of 1884. In October 1887, the mayor of Vancouver, which then was the second largest city in British Columbia next to Victoria, tried to discourage visitors to Vancouver Island by denouncing the Princess Louise as unseaworth. John Irving felt this went too far, and he threatened to sue the mayor for libel. He also banned the mayor from travel on any of the company's ships.
From 1886 to 1890, Princess Louise was operated on northern routes, serving among other communities the many cannery ports in coastal British Columbia. In 1898, Princess Louise was used like many other ships on the west coast to carry gold seekers to the Klondike goldfields.
On August 16, 1890, the Princess Louise developed a serious leak which forced the ship to return to Victoria. The Louise was replaced on the route by the Islander
.
In 1895 the Princess Louise was estimated to be worth $35,000.
In September 1898, the Princess Louise returned to Victoria carrying 8,100 cases of canned salmon from Alert Bay, but on this trip there had been a fatal accident. Three of the crew had fallen overboard when they were leaning on a railing posing for a photograph. They were washed beneath the sidewheel and never seen again./
purchased the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company and all its ships, including the Princess Louise. The name of the Princess Louise inspired the Canadian Pacific to name a new series of coastal liners as “Princesses”. In 1901, Capt. James W. Troup reported that Princess Louise was in poor mechanical condition, with worn out boilers and engines badly in need of repair. Because the hull was still in good condition, and capable of being operated in the often-dangerous waters of the Strait of Georgia
, Troup recommended that the engines be replaced. This however was not done. Even so, the CPR did use Princess Louise in the winter to replace the sternwheeler R.P. Rithet
on the route from Victoria to New Westminster and points on the lower Fraser River. In the summers, the Princess Louise was a secondary vessel on northern routes to Rivers Inlet
, Port Simpson, British Columbia, and the Queen Charlotte Islands
. Ships on this route departed Victoria twice a month, on the 1st and the 15th at 11:00 p.m., and stopped in Vancouver the next day on the way north.
at Woodfibre, British Columbia
. The unpowered vessel is also reported to have sunk a considerable distance away from Woodfibre, at Port Alice, British Columbia
in 1919 on northern Vancouver Island
.
|}
Princess Louise was a sidewheel steamboat built in 1869. From 1869 to 1879 this ship was named the Olympia. In 1879 the name was changed to Princess Louise, after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
, a daughter of Queen Victoria who was married to Marquess of Lorne
John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll
John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, VD, PC , usually better known by the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne, by which he was known between 1847 and 1900, was a British nobleman and was the fourth Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883...
(1845-1914), Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
from 1878 to 1883. Princess Louise was the last sidewheeler to be operated commercially on the coast of British Columbia.
Design and construction
Olympia was built in 1869 in New York City by John English and Sons to the order of George S. Wright, a pioneer steamboat man on Puget SoundPuget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
. The ship was 180 feet (54.9 m) long, with a beam of 30 feet (9.1 m) and depth of hold of 12.5 feet (3.8 m). The hull was built of seasoned white oak
White oak
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...
.
Power was suppled by single-cylinder walking beam type steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, manufactured by John Roach & Sons
John Roach & Sons
John Roach & Sons was a major 19th-century American shipbuilding and manufacturing firm founded in 1864 by Irish-American immigrant John Roach. Between 1871 and 1885, the company was the largest shipbuilding firm in the United States, building more iron ships than its next two major competitors...
. The cylinder was 46 inches (1,168.4 mm) in diameter and had a stroke of 11 feet (132 inches). The engine generated 350 horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
. Overall size of the vessel was 971 gross tons, and, as of 1874, 493 registered tons. The ship had an auxiliary sailing rig as a brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
. The official United States steamboat registry number was 19297.
Construction of Olympia was supervised by Capt. James Bolger, who commanded the vessel in the 75 day delivery voyage around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
. Olympia arrived in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on November 19, 1869. Continuing north, Olympia arrived at the city of Olympia on December 3, 1869.
Operations
On December 7, 1869, Olympia was employed on the Olympia-Victoria route for the first time, running under the ownership of the Finch and Wright partnership. Olympia was a replacement for the older and slower Eliza Anderson, a vessel once so profitable that it became known as the "floating gold mine", which the partnership then used as a reserve boat. In April 1870, the partnership suffered a business reverse when the mail contract was lost to Capt. J.T. Nash, who had submitted an annual bid of $12,000 to carry mail on weekly runs to Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
and on a semi-weekly route between Olympia
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
and Port Townsend, Washington Territory.
Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend is a city in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately north-northwest of Seattle . The population was 9,113 at the 2010 census an increase of 9.3% over the 2000 census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County...
Nash, who was to take over the mail contract on July 1, 1870, prepared by purchasing and reconstructing the half-completed sidewheeler Tacoma.
To do this, Nash secured the financial backing of two successful businessmen from Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Edwin A. and Louis A. Starr. When the rebuilding of the Tacoma was complete, the vessel was renamed Alida, and the Starrs were in full ownership of the vessel. They also assumed Nash's interest in the mail contract. Nash took over running a smaller vessel, the Varuna, in alliance the Starrs. Once Edwin Starr acquired his master's license, the Starr brothers bought another steamer, the Isabel, which was somewhat larger than the Alida, and was considered one of the most seaworthy vessels on the coast.
1871 steamboat race
To meet the challenge of the Starrs, the Wright and Finch partnership brought out Eliza Anderson as their primary vessel and undercut the Starrs on passenger fares and freight rates. Isabel proved to be a speedier vessel than the Anderson and so Wright and Finch substituted Olympia in the competition against the Starrs. The Starrs however responded by commissioning Joseph Gates, a well-regarded engineer on Columbia river steamboats, to design and build a steamer which would run faster and cheaper than Olympia. This vessel, which was named the North PacificNorth Pacific (sidewheeler)
North Pacific was an early steamboat operating in Puget Sound, on the Columbia River, and in British Columbia and Alaska. The vessel's nickname was "the White Schooner" which was not based on the vessel's rig, but rather on speed, as "to schoon" in nautical parlance originally meant to go...
, was constructed at the Gates and Colyer shipyard in San Francisco, and launched on May 18, 1871. Capt. Dan Morrison brought the North Pacific into the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...
on June 23, 1871. For a few days after that, North Pacific was engage in trial trips. Meanwhile, Finch, in command of Olympia was preparing for a race to show the public which steamboat was superior. Finch went so far as to have the coal lumps on Olympia sorted into uniform sizes.
On June 27, 1871, Olympia and North Pacific were both at Victoria, with Olympia scheduled to depart for Port Townsend in the morning, with North Pacific making the same run in the afternoon. Intending to challenge North Pacific that day, Finch delayed departure of Olympia but kept steam up in the boiler. Word spread around Victoria, which tended to favor Olympia, that a race was impending, and bets were made favoring Olympia at 10 to 1 over North Pacific. The Starrs meanwhile tried to lower expectations by telling people that their ship was not yet ready for racing.
When North Pacific cast off lines, Olympia did likewise, and followed North Pacific out of Victoria harbor. As North Pacific made a south-easterly course for Point Wilson
Point Wilson
Point Wilson is at the end of the Quimper Peninsula, a northeast extension of the Olympic Peninsula and the northeastern most point of Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately two miles north of the Port Townsend business district....
, 36 miles (57.9 km) of open water away from Victoria, Olympias firemen
Fireman
Fireman may refer to::* Firefighter, person who extinguishes fires and rescues people from harms way.* Fire Safety Officer, a senior ranking firefighter or Fire Safety Inspector in the UK...
poured on the coals, causing clouds of black smoke to spew out of the ship's smokestack. Olympia, the heavier, oak-built vessel, was favored over the long open stretch, whereas North Pacific was thought to be able to better in the narrower waters near Point Wilson.
The resulting race between the two vessels, each of which was almost new, and represented the highest point of technical achievement for the time, was long remembered by the people on board the ships and alongside the wharves of Victoria and Port Townsend. Over most of the run, the two steamers ran almost side by side at maximum speed. But as the neared Point Wilson, North Pacific drew ahead, reaching Port Townsend in 2 hours and 41 minutes, 13 minutes and four miles (6 km) ahead of Olympia.
Finch and Wright soon composed their differences with the Starrs, who bought the Finch and Wright dock and warehouse in Olympia. In addition, in a typical anti-competitive agreement of the time, paid Finch and Wright a subsidy to keep the Olympia off the Victoria route. Finch and Wright then withdrew Olympia to California.
Olympia was based in California for the next seven years and managed to collect another subsidy from a California rival in return for staying out of competition. During this time Olympia made a voyage to Hawaii.
Canadian service
By 1878, the Starrs had paid $50,000 to the Olympias owners, and they decided to terminate the subsidy. Olympia was then returned to Puget SoundPuget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
, and was then under the ownership of George S. Wright. At that time, the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
(HBC) was engaged in a competitive struggle with John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
, who had recently purchased the former Gold Rush steamer Wilson G. Hunt. To beat the Hunt, the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
HBC bought Olympia from Wright for $75,000.Turner, Pacific Princess, at pages 4 through 7. The ship was reregistered in Canada and assigned Canadian registry #72682.
HBC operated Olympia under the ship's original name until May 1879, when it changed the name to Princess Louise, after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
(1848-1939), a daughter of Queen Victoria, who was married to Marquess of Lorne
John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll
John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, VD, PC , usually better known by the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne, by which he was known between 1847 and 1900, was a British nobleman and was the fourth Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883...
(1845-1914), Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
from 1878 to 1883. In the summer of 1879, competition between Princess Louise and the Hunt drove rates down on the routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland. In August 1879 Princess Louise ran an excursion around Vancouver Island, which was possibly the first such cruise to take place.
In 1880, HBC and Irving settled the rate war. In a monopolistic arrangement which became known as the “'arf and 'arf agreement”, HBC ships would carry passengers to and from New Westminster, where they would transfer to an Irving-owned stternwheeler for the trip up river to the head of navigation at Yale
Yale, British Columbia
Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was founded in 1848 by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Yale by Ovid Allard, the appointed manager of the new post, who named it after his superior, James Murray Yale, then Chief Factor of the Columbia District...
. This was a suitable arrangement for the Princess Louise because as a sidewheeler the ship required improved docking facilities that were not available upriver from New Westminister.
In the late summer of 1880, when word reached Victoria that the steamship Otter
Otter (steamship)
The Otter was the second steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America, following its sister ship and twin, the much more famous Beaver...
had wrecked five miles (8 km) out of Bella Bella
Bella Bella, British Columbia
Bella Bella, also known as Waglisla, is an unincorporated community and Indian Reserve community located within Bella Bella Indian Reserve No. 1 on the east coast of Campbell Island in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. Bella Bella is located north of Port Hardy, on Vancouver...
on August 19, 1880, Princess Louise was sent to the scene with the Lloyds agent and HBC officials on board in an attempt to salvage the Otter. This proved to be not possible, and Princess Louise was forced to return to Victoria with as much cargo as could be salvaged from the Otter.
In May 1881, the Canadian Pacific was anxiously recruiting as many laborers as it could for the difficult work of completing the transcontinental rail line down the valley of the Fraser River. Princess Louise transported the first group of laborers, who had been recruited from San Francisco and from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to New Westminster on March 25, 1881.
Transfer of ownership
In 1883, the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company was incorporated. Although the stated capital was $500,000, divided into 5,000 shares valued at $100 each, the actual paid-up capital was only $336,000, divided in 3,360 shares at $100 per share. Most of the shares were controlled indirectly by John Irving, but the Hudson's Bay Company was also allocated a total 1,150 shares. This was in return for transferring ownership of three HBC steamships, including the Princess Louise to the new company, with 750 shares specifically allocated to the Princess Louise.Princess Louise began its first trip for the new company on March 13, 1883, steaming under Capt. William McCulloch, from Victoria, to Alert Bay
Alert Bay, British Columbia
Alert Bay is a village on Cormorant Island, British Columbia, Canada. According to the 2006 census, 556 people live within the village.-Population:Slightly more than half of the village's 556 residents are First Nations people...
, Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and home to some 12,815 people .-History:...
, Metlakatla
Metlakatla, British Columbia
Metlakatla, British Columbia, is a small community that is one of the seven Tsimshian village communities in British Columbia, Canada. It is situated at Metlakatla Pass near Prince Rupert, British Columbia...
, Port Simpson, the Skeena River
Skeena River
The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the...
, Wrangell, Alaska
Wrangell, Alaska
Wrangell is a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 2,308.Its Tlingit name is Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw . The Tlingit people residing in the Wrangell area, who were there centuries before Europeans, call themselves the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan after the nearby Stikine...
and way ports along the route. On May 4, 1883, the new company announced that Princess Louise would be put on a regular route from Victoria to Burrard Inlet
Burrard Inlet
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal fjord in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the low-lying Burrard Peninsula from the slopes of the North Shore Mountains, home to the communities of West...
and Port Moody, British Columbia
Port Moody, British Columbia
Port Moody is a small, crescent-shaped city in Metro Vancouver, located at the east end of Burrard Inlet in British Columbia, Canada. Port Moody is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south, and Burnaby on the west. The villages of Belcarra and Anmore, along with...
.
Also in 1883, Princess Louise was refitted with new boilers, manufactured by Albion Iron Works of Victoria. Other overhaul work was completed and the ship was returned to service before the beginning of 1884. In October 1887, the mayor of Vancouver, which then was the second largest city in British Columbia next to Victoria, tried to discourage visitors to Vancouver Island by denouncing the Princess Louise as unseaworth. John Irving felt this went too far, and he threatened to sue the mayor for libel. He also banned the mayor from travel on any of the company's ships.
From 1886 to 1890, Princess Louise was operated on northern routes, serving among other communities the many cannery ports in coastal British Columbia. In 1898, Princess Louise was used like many other ships on the west coast to carry gold seekers to the Klondike goldfields.
On August 16, 1890, the Princess Louise developed a serious leak which forced the ship to return to Victoria. The Louise was replaced on the route by the Islander
SS Islander
The SS Islander was a 1519 ton, steel hull, schooner-rigged twin-screw steamer, built in Scotland in 1888, and owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Steam Navigation Company....
.
In 1895 the Princess Louise was estimated to be worth $35,000.
In September 1898, the Princess Louise returned to Victoria carrying 8,100 cases of canned salmon from Alert Bay, but on this trip there had been a fatal accident. Three of the crew had fallen overboard when they were leaning on a railing posing for a photograph. They were washed beneath the sidewheel and never seen again./
Canadian Pacific Railway
In 1901, the Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
purchased the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company and all its ships, including the Princess Louise. The name of the Princess Louise inspired the Canadian Pacific to name a new series of coastal liners as “Princesses”. In 1901, Capt. James W. Troup reported that Princess Louise was in poor mechanical condition, with worn out boilers and engines badly in need of repair. Because the hull was still in good condition, and capable of being operated in the often-dangerous waters of the Strait of Georgia
Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...
, Troup recommended that the engines be replaced. This however was not done. Even so, the CPR did use Princess Louise in the winter to replace the sternwheeler R.P. Rithet
R.P. Rithet (sternwheeler)
R.P. Rithet was a sternwheel steamer that operated in British Columbia from 1882 to 1917. The common name for this vessel was the Rithet. After 1909 this vessel was known as the Baramba.-Design and Construction:...
on the route from Victoria to New Westminster and points on the lower Fraser River. In the summers, the Princess Louise was a secondary vessel on northern routes to Rivers Inlet
Rivers Inlet
Rivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, its entrance from the Dean Channel near that fjord's mouth, about southwest of the community of Bella Coola and about north of the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the western entrance of the...
, Port Simpson, British Columbia, and the Queen Charlotte Islands
Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
. Ships on this route departed Victoria twice a month, on the 1st and the 15th at 11:00 p.m., and stopped in Vancouver the next day on the way north.
Disposition
In November 1906 Princess Louise was sold to Marpole McDonald of Victoria, who removed the machinery and converted the vessel to a barge. In 1908 McDonald sold the barge to Vancouver Dredging and Salvage Company. In 1916, the barge was sold again to Britannia Mining and Smelting Company, which in turn, in 1917, sold the barge to Whalen Pulp and Paper Co., which in the same year beached the hull on Howe SoundHowe Sound
Howe Sound is a roughly triangular sound, actually a network of fjords situated immediately northwest of Vancouver.-Geography:Howe Sound's mouth at the Strait of Georgia is situated between West Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast. The sound is triangular shaped, open on its southeast towards the...
at Woodfibre, British Columbia
Woodfibre, British Columbia
Woodfibre, originally Britannia West, was a pulp mill and at one time a small town, on the west side of upper Howe Sound near Squamish, British Columbia. The mill closed in March 2006.-History:...
. The unpowered vessel is also reported to have sunk a considerable distance away from Woodfibre, at Port Alice, British Columbia
Port Alice, British Columbia
Port Alice is a small, quiet, town of approx. 821 located off on Neroutsos Inlet, northwest of Port McNeill, on Vancouver Island, originally built by Whalen Pulp and Paper Mills of Vancouver. The community is known for its natural beauty, pulp mill, and salt water fishing.-History:It was named...
in 1919 on northern Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
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