West Coast Steamships - general thread

[WettCoast]

The following is quoted from the link provided by Mr F. Horn above...

"The sinking of the S.S. VALENCIA off the west coast of Vancouver Island in 1906 caused the death of 136 passengers and crew,” said Lunney. “I am honoured to highlight the historic importance of the worst maritime disaster on the west coast of North America.

I am glad that they are doing this, but their information is not quite correct. The sinking of CP's Princess Sophia on 25 October 1918 ranks as the worst maritime disaster on the west coast of North America, with 343 lives lost.

The Valencia disaster, may, however, have been the worst disaster to have occurred in Canadian west coast waters.

www.knowledgenetwork.ca/themes/clips/99934_hi.html

Note that the complete NFB video on the loss of the P. Sophia will be aired on the Knowledge Network on Wed., 16 July 2008 at 9:00 pm.

vancouver.ca/commsvcs/nonmarketoperations/mountainview/history/sophia.htm

[FNS]

Jul 8, 2008 12:25:22 GMT -8 FNS said:

Jul 8, 2008 11:41:09 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

re Princess Joan:
- I've got an E.J.Hughes print of "Steamer at the old wharf" hanging outside my office at work.

(here's a link to a site that shows the print, as a puzzle. ;D..)
www.grandrivertoys.com/Pages/products/Steamer_at_the_Old_Wharf_Nanaimo.htm

I've studied the artist's rendition of the ship in that print, and compared it to the various pictures in Turner's book "Pacific Princesses". I've concluded that the ship in the print is the Princess Joan.

But the print depicts the ship at a wharf in Nanaimo. So I'm wondering if this is artistic license on Hughes' part, or if the 'Joan actually called at Nanaimo sometime during her career.

Does anyone have any insight?

Would be very interesting to see her log books, if they do exist these days.

Just bought the puzzle!

I have just received the puzzle today! Chocolate Express delivered this to my door. Box is superb. Pieces are in a plastic bag. I'm gonna work on this while watching the MLB All Star Game tonight. Will let you know how this turns out!

[Mill Bay]

I felt this was somewhat relevant to BC's historic steamships...
it's more also just a tribute to BC's rich nautical history.

Also, some of you should recognize the name of T.W. Paterson.


B.C.'s 'Grand old man of seafaring'

T.W. Paterson
Special to The Citizen


Wednesday, May 07, 2008


When commercial sealing in British Columbian, Alaskan and Russian seas became a decades-long industry, and a source of international tension, the man who was responsible for it all remained aloof, preferring to trade along the Island's west coast.

In 1869 Capt. James Christensen sailed the schooner Surprise as far north as Metlakatla with a cargo of supplies for Father William Duncan's Anglican mission. As it turned out, the schooner was becalmed throughout much of her northbound voyage and again when returning to Victoria, taking no fewer than three months to complete the trip. When, finally, Christensen and company did step ashore in Victoria, it was to be told that they'd been given up as lost.

Ironically, the Surprise had encountered shipwreck, but that of the American schooner Thomas Woodward, Christensen bringing the survivors down from Oyster Bay.

It was that same year that he experienced his most horrifying adventure when he informed the authorities of the wreck of the British barque John Bright off Hesquiat with the loss of all on board. As if this were not tragedy enough, the incident mushroomed into major controversy when local natives were accused of having murdered 10 survivors. Full details of the leading role that James Christensen played in this historic affair must wait for another day, but, briefly:

When informed of the wreck Christensen, having ridden out the same gale nearby, rushed to the scene, to become convinced, through the villagers' behaviour, that something more than shipwreck had occurred. When his plea for an official investigation fell upon deaf ears in Victoria, he returned to Hesquiat where he found the mutilated remains of 10 persons. Subsequently, seven Hesquiats were tried for murder, two being sentenced to death. Returned to Hesquiat, they were hanged on a gallows erected at the scene of the wreck. All this despite the villagers having maintained throughout, and for years afterward, that the bodies of those drowned in the wreck had been mangled in the surface, that the accused men had been convicted on perjured testimony of rival tribesmen, and that faulty interpretation of testimony had been given during questioning.

As it had been through Christensen's personal efforts that the crime was uncovered, fears were expressed for his life among some the west coast tribes. But the years passed without his being molested although, in his old age, he said that he'd often marvelled that the Hesquiats had never sought revenge. In 1876, he accepted an appointment as pilot -- as much for his wife's peace of mind as for his own, he said. One of his last duties as master of a trading schooner was to carry the materials for the construction of Cape Beale lighthouse (built, incidentally, by Hayward & Jenkinson -- Victoria's enterprising undertakers).

Christensen served in this demanding capacity for three years, safely guiding ships of all types and sizes into B.C. ports, a duty that included his "sailing full-rigged ships through the Narrows into Vancouver Harbour." He then turned to steamships and tugboats, commanding the venerable Hudson's Bay Co. steamer Beaver for 10 years and the large steam tug Lorne before returning to the pilotage until enforced retirement at the age of 80 years.

His one personal day of shame came in November 1891 when the fine collier San Pedro, under his direction, crashed onto Victoria's Brotchie Ledge in perfect weather. Despite repeated attempts and enormous sums of money, the ship couldn't be saved and Capt. Christensen accepted full blame for the mishap. Although he and the ship's master were censured at an inquiry, the incident doesn't seem to have harmed his career as he didn't retire as an active pilot for another 30 years.

Within three years of the San Pedro affair, tragedy again struck this pioneering mariner when his son, Capt. James Christensen Jr. lost his life in the sinking of the tug Estelle with all hands off Cape Mudge. Son Andy Christensen followed in the senior Christensen's footsteps, joining the pilotage.

Upon retirement Capt. Christensen lived with his daughter, Mrs. W.C. McLachlan, in Victoria's James Bay.

There, with his ever-ready and reputedly foul smelling cigar, and a hearty hello, he enjoyed peace on shore and regaled visitors with his tales of the distant days when he founded British Columbia's sealing industry that, more than once, almost led to hostilities between the world's greatest powers.

For more from T.W. Paterson, go online and visit: www.cowichanchronicles.com

© Cowichan Valley Citizen 2008

[Low Light Mike]

This mural of the Valencia is at Alberni Harbour Quay, right next to the entrance to Lady Rose Marine Services.

I took this photo today:


The placement of the mural and the real-life foreground makes it look like she is heading for the rocks, and for a very dangerous fire hydrant.

ps: for context on the mural location, there's a Bamfield rescue lifeboat right next to the mural. That's a legacy from the Valencia tragedy.

[Low Light Mike]

Photo links from BC Archives.
- originally posted in an April 2006 post by Retro.
================

Ferry Leaving Wharf at Crofton
www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/www2i/.visual/img_med/dir_78/e_02620.gif

[lmtengs]

A replica of the SS Beaver in Victoria. The Beaver was instrumental to the growth of the Cariboo Gold Rush back in the late 19th Century, as she carried eager gold-seekers across from Victoria to New Westminster, where they would hop another steamship to Yale, and the start of the Cariboo Wagon Road.

[Low Light Mike]

Historical signboard on Sidney's waterfront walkway.
- seen on May 1, 2011.

[EGfleet]

May 14, 2011 8:41:30 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Historical signboard on Sidney's waterfront walkway.
- seen on May 1, 2011.

Is it me or are they calling the City of Angeles the "City of Anacortes?"

[mrdot]

:)thank you to cdn. viking for his very evocative submission of material on the ghost ships of Royston, it's been a few years since I used to visit the area when crewing QPR at Kelsey Bay, and how the years have flown by since! There is a lot of history here and many other sites on the island and up Powell River way and all up and down the coast! :)mrdot.

[Low Light Mike]

I visited the Royal BC Museum in Victoria today, and it was the first time that I've been there as an adult and as a more-learned ferry-nerd.

So this time, I took time to look for ferry & ship memorabilia. I found some in the 20th-Century BC exhibit. I also saw a very small Union Steamship exhibit.

But at the base of the HMS Discovery room, I found my gold-mine: a hallway exhibit of steamship and navy memorabilia and photos. Included are the ship-bell of both the CP Princess Victoria and the CN Prince David.

I spent lots of time taking photos (this was near the end of the visit, and after a few minutes of my fussing over taking photos, my wife uttered the words "I'll be down in the gift-shop...."). I'll post the photos in the next few weeks or so.

[Low Light Mike]

Seen at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria:

An employee? pass from the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, from 1901.

[Low Light Mike]

At the Royal BC Museum in Victoria:

- the treasure trove of memorabilia:




A photo of the Islander, which was briefly in the CP BC Coast Service fleet before her sinking.

[FNS]

Sept 19, 2011 9:57:22 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

At the Royal BC Museum in Victoria:

- the treasure trove of memorabilia:

The ship model at the top is of the PRINCESS LOUISE. The one at the bottom is of the PRINCESS KATHLEEN (post WW2 modified with crew quarters added aft of the wheelhouse for Alaska cruising).

[piglet]

This may seem an odd question but under who's control is the breakwater at Royston? I maybe down that way and don't want to "step on any toes" if I am there.

[lmtengs]

The Royston Breakwater is publicly owned. It's managed by the Comox Valley Historical Society (not sure if that's its name, but you know what I mean).

Going there won't step on any toes.

The beach is publicly accessible from the bottom of Royston Road, where you just walk along the beach a few hundred feet.

[piglet]

Thank you, I just wouldn't want to do something that would curtail others ability to access an area of interest.

[timelapse]

Before BC Ferries and the Black ball ferry from 1949

[Ferryman]

The SS Master, docked in Ganges Harbour, Salt Spring Island for the Wooden Workboat Festival September 24th, 2011









For more info of the SS Master, please see:

www.ssmaster.org/

[Low Light Mike]

From photo displays near the Maritime Heritage Centre in Port Alberni


The 2nd Uchuck boat




A display of 4 ships

[lancer]

To add to the list of local shipping companies, there were:

Gulf Lines Ltd., which operated a fleet of former Royal Canadian Navy vessels, after WWII, to Powell River and Stuart Island. They are probably best remembered for the loss of their "Gulf Stream" on Dinner Rock, shortly after leaving Powell River in 1947.

Marine Express Lines - this was another post-WWII operator, which used a former US Navy subchaser, renamed "Jervis Express", for its fast service between Vancouver, Egmont and the many logging camps in Jervis Inlet.

Davidson Marine Freight Ltd., another post-WWII operator which started about 1949. They also used two former US Navy subchasers or Royal Canadian Navy Fairmiles, renamed "Sechelt Narrows" and "Seymour Narrows", for cargo service.

Finally, in 1953 these three companies merged into Tidewater Shipping, which was then acquired by Union Steamships in 1956.

[Low Light Mike]

I saw the Canadian Princess Resort in Ucluelet yesterday, from the marina floats across from her.

- The ship itself is the ex William J. Stewart, a hydrographic ship.




Views at slightly different angles:








Pardon the poor stitch:

[dave2]

Can anyone identify this ferry? Victoria, date unknown, though that may be a WW 2 era gun turret.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151105862790873&set=o.312703430332&type=1&theater

[Mike]

Jul 21, 2012 18:35:13 GMT -8 dave2 said:

Can anyone identify this ferry? Victoria, date unknown, though that may be a WW 2 era gun turret.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151105862790873&set=o.312703430332&type=1&theater

That would be the Malahat.

[dave2]

Thanks for the quick answer... how did I miss that? I must have scanned down the left column, Chinook, City of Sacramento, Quillayute.. and the rest.. The Black Ball fleet bought by BC in 1961... didn't notice the Malahat on that list. Thanks again. www.evergreenfleet.com/forgotten.html

[Low Light Mike]

Gulf Stream sinking display, at Powell River Museum
- this steamer grounded on Dinner Rock and sank, in October 1947.