WettCoast
Voyager 
Posts: 7,344 
Member is Online
|
Post by WettCoast on Jul 17, 2007 18:56:03 GMT -8
Princesses Elizabeth & Joan were sisters, the night boats that left either Victoria or Vancouver at midnight and arrived at the opposite port roughly seven hours later. I understand that you could have breakfast on board before disembarking at 8 or 8:30 am. Was travel more civilized in those days?
My parents took the midnight boat to Vancouver on their wedding night - New Year's Eve 1943-44.
|
|
FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,942
|
Post by FNS on Jul 8, 2008 10:58:59 GMT -8
The overnight sailing was actually on the Vancouver - Victoria route. I believe that normally took about four hours, but they stretched it out on the midnight sailings. For years in the sixties and into the seventies, the Princess of Vancouver had a 2am departure from Vancouver that arrived in Nanaimo at 4:45. The sisters SS PRINCESS ELIZABETH and the SS PRINCESS JOAN were the primary night ships on the Vancouver - Victoria run as they had a large amount of staterooms aboard. |
|
|
|
Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 8, 2008 11:41:09 GMT -8
The overnight sailing was actually on the Vancouver - Victoria route. I believe that normally took about four hours, but they stretched it out on the midnight sailings. For years in the sixties and into the seventies, the Princess of Vancouver had a 2am departure from Vancouver that arrived in Nanaimo at 4:45. The sisters SS PRINCESS ELIZABETH and the SS PRINCESS JOAN were the primary night ships on the Vancouver - Victoria run as they had a large amount of staterooms aboard. 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.htmI'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? |
|
FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,942
|
Post by FNS on Jul 8, 2008 12:25:22 GMT -8
The sisters SS PRINCESS ELIZABETH and the SS PRINCESS JOAN were the primary night ships on the Vancouver - Victoria run as they had a large amount of staterooms aboard. 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.htmI'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!  |
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,095
|
Post by Neil on Jul 8, 2008 14:09:55 GMT -8
Princess Story by Hacking & Lamb, pages 309-310, details how the 'Joan and 'Elizabeth would have been found in Nanaimo in the early-mid '50s, as well as in Port Angeles.
|
|
|
|
Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 8, 2008 14:29:11 GMT -8
Princess Story by Hacking & Lamb, pages 309-310, details how the ' Joan and ' Elizabeth would have been found in Nanaimo in the early-mid '50s, as well as in Port Angeles. Thanks Neil, for that research. .....and since 'Joan would have occasionally been at Nanaimo in the 1950's (after the war), that explains why there's a VW-Beetle-like car in the "Steamer at the old wharf" painting. |
|
WettCoast
Voyager
Posts: 7,344
Member is Online
|
Post by WettCoast on Jul 10, 2008 21:10:52 GMT -8
While the Joan & Elizabeth served mainly as the night boats on the Van - Vic route, during the day time they were assigned to other duties, including runs to Nanaimo , Seattle, and even Pt Angeles, especially during the summers when all vessels in the fleet were running pretty much flat out.
|
|
WettCoast
Voyager
Posts: 7,344
Member is Online
|
Post by WettCoast on Jan 30, 2009 22:08:27 GMT -8
Its time to play 'old steam ship fun Friday'... Tonight's installment is again from Victoria Harbour in the 1950's...  Princesses Elizabeth & Elaine - Victoria, 1950's [BC Govt Dept of Travel Industry - DOT collection] The Elizabeth, along with the P Joan, were the 'Night Boats'. Each night (most nights?) at about mid-night, during the years from 1930 until about 1960, one left Vancouver heading for Victoria, while the other did the opposite. They took about 6 and a half hours to make the trip, going via Boundary Pass so as to avoid the tight maneuvers in Active Pass that might wake the passengers. Once you got to your destination you could remain aboard and have a leisurely breakfast before dis-embarking. You might say that passengers (the 1st class ones anyways) enjoyed a 'level of travel experience' unlike anything we see these days. My parents took the mid night boat from Victoria to Vancouver on their wedding night on New Year's Eve 1943-44. No, I was not conceived that night - I joined the human race about 10 years later. You can imagine though that more than a few conceptions did take place on these boats, perhaps even a few 'coastal pocket liner geeks' began their life journey's on these boats. This scan is of two photos that my brother David painstakingly hand spliced together. I have not been able to completely remove the evidence of the splice. In the background you can see what was once most commonly the Nanaimo boat, the P Elaine. You can also see the old Bapco Paint plant where the Laurel Point Inn stands today. |
|
|
|
Post by Low Light Mike on Jan 31, 2009 7:22:06 GMT -8
Regarding the night-boats 'Elizabeth and 'Joan: - They also saw duty for day trips between Nanaimo and Vancouver. Or at least they did in the creative-eye of painter E.J. Hughes in his "Steamer at the dock" piece (which I see every day in the hall outside my office). Regarding the night boat service of the BCCSS: - It was all very fine as a passenger, unless you happened to be of Japanese ethnicity. Even in the 1950's. I'm not sure how or why certain ethnicities were seen to be unfit for renting a stateroom or using the dining room, but I'm sure that the BCCSS managers of the day had their specific reasons based on logic and fact, right?  Robert Turner mentioned the class-prejudices of Orientals and 1st Nations a bit in his "Those beautiful coastal liners" book. It's easy for us to get caught up in admiring the ship's beauty, but to forget that racial segregation was alive & well on those beautiful ships..... After hearing my Mom's story of her first ride on the 2nd 'Patricia, where she was travelling with a friend who happened to be of Japanese ethnicity (and who therefore wasn't allowed to use the dining room, in the late 1950's), my view of the grand elegance of the CP ships has been tainted. But just in that narrow way. But yeah, the ships are amazingly beautiful. Thanks for this latest picture of the Elizabeth. |
|
FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,942
|
Post by FNS on Apr 24, 2010 0:54:02 GMT -8
Here's a neat photo from the web. This is of the PRINCESS ELIZABETH arriving in Seattle in the 1950s. You can also see the KALAKALA in Colman Dock.  Photo by Dept. of Commerce & Economic Development, Olympia, WA Photo source: www.vintageseattle.org/2009/11/05/congrats-sir-its-all-yours/ We zoom in closer to the PRINCESS ELIZABETH arriving Pier 64.  This was the PRINCESS ELIZABETH. Her port Main Deck hatch was open to receive the side ramp.  This was the Pier 64-65 complex. Pier 64's tenant was Canadian Pacific. Pier 65 was used by someone else. That's the Lenora Street overpass. Docking activity occurred at both the south side as well as the west side. Ships of the CPR always used their port side to make fast here. In her later CPR years, the PRINCESS MARGUERITE II used the west side. My family and I spent one July 4th evening in the early 1970s on the Lenora Street overpass to see the fireworks as well as the unloading activity of the MAGGIE. It would be around 1972 when the PRINCESS MARGUERITE received an upper car deck. An elevator was installed at Pier 64. Only one car at a time could use this to enter or exit the upper deck. I believe this all depended on the tides as the main ramp may have been used for the upper deck on low tides. Even though the PRINCESS MARGUERITE used Pier 48 on her first landing and evening Open Ship in her BC Steamships era in 1975, she continued to use Pier 64's west side until the late 1970s when she moved to the south side of Pier 69. Pier 64 has been gone for some time now...  ...As well as the PRINCESS ELIZABETH. Here she was, under the watchful eyes of photographer Joe Williamson, departing Pier 64 at 1600, February 25, 1959, for Victoria for her last time. Until 1989, the PRINCESS MARGUERITE maintained her summer sailings between Seattle and Victoria, taking only 1980 off. She's gone as well. Changes can be hard to take sometimes. But, life goes on. |
|
FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,942
|
Post by FNS on Nov 8, 2011 15:49:42 GMT -8
|
|
FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,942
|
Post by FNS on Nov 8, 2011 16:14:22 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by Variable Pitch on Dec 21, 2011 11:49:44 GMT -8
Gowen, Sutton RPPC circa 1938-1950 in the First Narrows....  |
|
|
|
Post by EGfleet on Dec 24, 2013 6:49:37 GMT -8
Another recent find--nice shot of the Princess Joan. It was hard to take a bad photograph of either the Joan or Elizabeth.   |
|
mrdot
Voyager
Mr. DOT
Posts: 1,252
|
Post by mrdot on Dec 24, 2013 10:39:14 GMT -8
:)Princess Joan in her Victoria inner harbour berth is my favorite screen saver and I sketched her at this location on many occasions in my youth! not the best looking of the Princesses, but very photogenic, and one of the best to sketch! mrdot  |
|
|
|
Post by EGfleet on Nov 6, 2015 9:27:29 GMT -8
Hmm, I thought I had shared this already. The lovely Princess Elizabeth, about 1958. Color slide.  |
|
WettCoast
Voyager
Posts: 7,344
Member is Online
|
Post by WettCoast on Nov 6, 2015 9:47:51 GMT -8
Hmm, I thought I had shared this already. The lovely Princess Elizabeth, about 1958. Color slide. Lovely... Is this in Victoria Harbour? |
|
|
|
Post by Starsteward on Nov 8, 2015 9:12:14 GMT -8
Hmm, I thought I had shared this already. The lovely Princess Elizabeth, about 1958. Color slide. Lovely... Is this in Victoria Harbour? Aye matey, I believe it is. In the upper left corner of the slide, one can see a crane which was part of the V.M.D. complex. Back in the day, the V.M.D. complex occupied a few parcels of land to the east of their main operation. |
|
|
|
Post by EGfleet on Mar 5, 2016 6:16:30 GMT -8
A large format negative, dated 1948 on the envelope it came it. I've always been fond of these two, and I'm finding that for some reason, there seem to have been more pictures taken of the Joan than the Elizabeth.
|
|
mrdot
Voyager
Mr. DOT
Posts: 1,252
|
Post by mrdot on Mar 5, 2016 16:14:38 GMT -8
Evergreen fleet's post of Princess Elizabeth docked at the onetime CPR,s coast ferry docks in the old inner harbour of Victoria, brings back a flood of memories of the way it was when I was young! mr.dot.
|
|
|
|
Post by EGfleet on Aug 17, 2017 13:21:44 GMT -8
The who is easy--it's the Princess Elizabeth. It's the where I am wondering. I thought perhaps Port Angeles, as it looks like Ediz Hook is in the background.  |
|
WettCoast
Voyager
Posts: 7,344
Member is Online
|
Post by WettCoast on May 11, 2019 20:43:56 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by Starsteward on May 13, 2019 7:50:43 GMT -8
Was there no 'dining' facilities onboard either of those 'Princesses'? I see the space for a bar but maybe I wasn't seeing the big picture correctly. Whenever I see photos of those grand old ships I often wonder if, in our madcap world of today, we could ever see a return of such a service. With or without car carrying functions, but why not take a moment and reflect on a time when the world and our daily schedules turned at a much more leisurely pace? |
|
tom98250
Deckhand
Life doesn't get better than this...
Posts: 85
|
Post by tom98250 on May 13, 2019 10:28:53 GMT -8
The who is easy--it's the Princess Elizabeth. It's the where I am wondering. I thought perhaps Port Angeles, as it looks like Ediz Hook is in the background. Definitely Port Angeles; this is the old Canadian Pacific dock, where City Pier is located today. |
|
|
|
Post by northwesterner on May 13, 2019 17:40:41 GMT -8
Was there no 'dining' facilities onboard either of those 'Princesses'? I see the space for a bar but maybe I wasn't seeing the big picture correctly. Whenever I see photos of those grand old ships I often wonder if, in our madcap world of today, we could ever see a return of such a service. With or without car carrying functions, but why not take a moment and reflect on a time when the world and our daily schedules turned at a much more leisurely pace? Yeah, this is pretty great stuff. I'm surprised there isn't a dining room, for those who would like dinner before sailing. But if they left late enough, maybe the assumption was you would have eaten before boarding. I want to know about the "standee berths" in the bow. Were these just open plan bunk beds? |
|
