CP's Princess of Nanaimo - photos & discussion

[KE7JFF]

I love old stuff like this!

Per an acquaintance that is long retired US Customs, The border crossing requirements were representative of what issues were facing the US/Canada border at the time which was more things than people; so documentation of the person was looser but there was more scrutinizing of cargo and personal effects, but that started to change slowly after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

For the Portland CP office at 207 American Bank Building, that is still there, though I wonder who is in Suite 207 now...

[trainguru]

Does anybody have Photos of the Princess of Nanimo, as the Henry Osborne?

[trainguru]

Anybody have Deck Plans and/or Interior Photos of the Princess of Nanaimo, in service on the West Coast, or as Princess of Acadia on the Bay of Fundy?

[Low Light Mike]

Nanaimo Historical Society has monthly meetings where a guest speaker presents on a topic that is relevant to Nanaimo's history.

Their upcoming November 9th meeting (Bowen Park meeting room, 7pm) features a talk on passenger ships and ferries serving Nanaimo in the era up to 1961. Some old guy will be mumbling about E&N Steamships, Canadian Pacific Navigation, CP'S BC Coast Steamship Service, and Black Ball Ferries.

Here's the talk synopsis:

From paddle-wheelers on a route between Nanaimo and Victoria in the early 1880s, to the Black Ball Ferries Kahloke and Chinook about to be bought-out by BC Ferries in 1961, this 80 year period takes us from antiquated early passenger ships, through the rise, golden age and decline of the elegant Canadian Pacific steamships, to the new era of fast utilitarian drive-on / drive-off automobile ferries.

Including period photos, this talk focuses on the various ships that served Nanaimo during this time period in scheduled passenger ship and auto ferry service, the companies who ran them, and their schedules.

This is an interesting transportation period, with various earlier companies morphing into what became the Canadian Pacific BC Coast Steamship Service. Also, the Black Ball Ferries story is compelling in how they set up shop in BC for only a brief 10 year period, but forever changed the game for ferry service in coastal BC.

The talk presenter fashioned a Princess of Nanaimo 1958 photo from the Steven J. Pickens collection (sounds like a great name for an author of history and mystery books) and used that photo as the cover poster for the upcoming talk.

Do you think that some of the script colours for the cover poster were deliberately chosen to match the "CP Buff" of the ship's funnel? hmmmm.

NHS Nov 9 2023 title photo NEW by Mike Bonkowski, on Flickr

[WettCoast]

Oct 26, 2023 18:09:03 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Nanaimo Historical Society has monthly meetings where a guest speaker presents on a topic that is relevant to Nanaimo's history.

Their upcoming November 9th meeting (Bowen Park meeting room, 7pm) features a talk on passenger ships and ferries serving Nanaimo in the era up to 1961. Some old guy will be mumbling about E&N Steamships, Canadian Pacific Navigation, CP'S BC Coast Steamship Service, and Black Ball Ferries.

Here's the talk synopsis:

From paddle-wheelers on a route between Nanaimo and Victoria in the early 1880s, to the Black Ball Ferries Kahloke and Chinook about to be bought-out by BC Ferries in 1961, this 80 year period takes us from antiquated early passenger ships, through the rise, golden age and decline of the elegant Canadian Pacific steamships, to the new era of fast utilitarian drive-on / drive-off automobile ferries.

Including period photos, this talk focuses on the various ships that served Nanaimo during this time period in scheduled passenger ship and auto ferry service, the companies who ran them, and their schedules.

This is an interesting transportation period, with various earlier companies morphing into what became the Canadian Pacific BC Coast Steamship Service. Also, the Black Ball Ferries story is compelling in how they set up shop in BC for only a brief 10 year period, but forever changed the game for ferry service in coastal BC.

The talk presenter fashioned a Princess of Nanaimo 1958 photo from the Steven J. Pickens collection (sounds like a great name for an author of history and mystery books) and used that photo as the cover poster for the upcoming talk.

Do you think that some of the script colours for the cover poster were deliberately chosen to match the "CP Buff" of the ship's funnel? hmmmm.

NHS Nov 9 2023 title photo NEW by Mike Bonkowski, on Flickr

 

Another 'old guy' will be in attendance, Mike.

[Starsteward]

Oct 26, 2023 20:54:07 GMT -8 WettCoast said:

Oct 26, 2023 18:09:03 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Nanaimo Historical Society has monthly meetings where a guest speaker presents on a topic that is relevant to Nanaimo's history.

Their upcoming November 9th meeting (Bowen Park meeting room, 7pm) features a talk on passenger ships and ferries serving Nanaimo in the era up to 1961. Some old guy will be mumbling about E&N Steamships, Canadian Pacific Navigation, CP'S BC Coast Steamship Service, and Black Ball Ferries.

Here's the talk synopsis:
The talk presenter fashioned a Princess of Nanaimo 1958 photo from the Steven J. Pickens collection (sounds like a great name for an author of history and mystery books) and used that photo as the cover poster for the upcoming talk.

Do you think that some of the script colours for the cover poster were deliberately chosen to match the "CP Buff" of the ship's funnel? hmmmm.

NHS Nov 9 2023 title photo NEW by Mike Bonkowski, on Flickr

 

Another 'old guy' will be in attendance, Mike.

    Would love to be there but the 9th is a family birthday event.
    The 'Chinook',  come 'Sechelt Queen' was the very first BC Ferry I set foot on, many moons ago.
    The unfortunate grounding of the 'Queen of Prince Rupert' led me to a relatively brief stint on the 'Princess of Vancouver'.
    How the shipping/passenger world has changed over time, and I'm not totally sure, if all is for the better. The 'better' is subjective and does create much
    discussion.
    Good Luck with the event Mike and enjoy the audience.
    
       

[Low Light Mike]

Here is a Video of an old guy talking about old ships from an old era, in front of old people who also are interested in old ships from an old era.

Photos and ephemera shown in this presentation are courtesy of the collection of author, historian and awesome-human Steven J. Pickens.



Yes, the photo chosen by that group for their YouTube thumbnail is neither from the era of my talk, nor the routes of my talk.
That's ok.