This Princess Really Was a Lady — British Columbia Chronicles

The heroine of this year-end Chronicle is of the seagoing variety.

She certainly wasn’t the most attractive of the CPR’s coastal steamships but she’s fondly remembered, most recently in a book, *The Best Loved Boat*. —*Vancouver City Archives*

It shouldn’t come as a real surprise that ships are feminine; even if not truly animate, they do have personalities, as any real mariner will tell you. Here, on the Pacific Coast, we long had the Canadian Pacific’s Princess fleet which ranged from humble working class to true royalty.

Many were admired for their graceful lines, their comfortable passenger accommodation with white linens and polished silverware, and for their dependability in waters that can be lethal when aroused.

**There were 17 coastal Princesses over the decades and many are still remembered with fondness.**

Of them all, the Princess Maquinna truly captured the affections of crew and passengers. So much so, that Ian Kennedy has just written a book about her. Its very title spells it out: The Best Loved Boat.

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Almost 60 years ago, retired Victoria Daily Times editor Archie Wills paid his own tribute to the good ship Princess Maquinna, in a lengthy article in the weekend magazine of The Daily Colonist. Beneath the dramatic headline, Worst Run in the World, he began:

In the days before good roads crisscrossed Vancouver Island and seaplanes darted overhead, the only way the isolated communities on the west coast could be serviced was by small, uncomfortable, yet, sturdy, steamers. Manned by seamen with cast-iron stomachs, this run was regarded by most mariners as the worst in the world.

It had been aptly named The Graveyard of the Pacific. Its centre was marked by the notorious point of land, Cape Beale, whose somewhat magnetic attraction drew many fine sailing ships to their doom.

Victoria, being the centre of all activity in British Columbia in the early days, naturally profited from the development. It was known as the outfitting base for expeditions seeking the wealth of the sandbars in several rivers, the furs from the seal and sea otter colonies off the west coast and the oil, bone and fertilizer from the large whale population. It also had a complete grasp on the salmon canning industry and some families here still live off the handsome profits made them.

While the name of the steamer Princess Maquinna is synonymous with the west coast of Vancouver island, she had several predecessors which pioneered the run and helped carry the mail and provisions to the people who dwell upon the tall trees and the almost continuous rainfall.

The earliest of the steamers I can recall was the bouncing, 116-footer carrying the stately name of Queen City. Her exploits remain firmly entrenched in my memory because her master, Capt. Townsend lived in our neighbourhood, Spring Ridge, and the kids held him in reverence. Whenever Queen City left port, especially in the winter time, there was the nagging thought that that she might not come back.

But, while they referred to her as a “tub,” she survived many strenuous ordeals.

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The Queen City was succeeded by a blunt nose ugly duckling, the iron steamer Tees, which plodded about our waterways at her steady nine knots, for many years, ending up in a salvage fleet. With two whaling stations at Kyuquot and Sechart, along with new canneries, a better sea boat, with more passenger accommodation, was required and the Tees proved suitable, though lacking in anything approaching deluxe.

The Tees was regarded as a wet ship when the weather was bad and one of her crew commented, “she was mostly underwater”. Most of the voyage was made with a beam sea battering the vessel and the main deck shipped water, flooding state rooms and public rooms.

Capt. James W. Troup designed the *Princess Maquinna* to be a real “west coaster”. Her stellar performance over the years didn’t disappoint him. —*Wikipedia*

When business had developed to the extent that the Tees had to be replaced, Capt. J.W. Troup, manager of the CPR's coastal service, designed a ship that would be a real “west coaster”. He called in the captains, officers and seamen who knew the route well and listened to their recommendations, then came up with the practical plans and specifications for the vessel that would be christened Princess Maquinna.

She would be 244 feet long, have a beam of 38 feet and a tonnage of 1,777. She would have 50 staterooms and a speed of 12 knots. She would have little open deck, providing every protection for those who travelled on her. She would also embody some of the fine qualities of the newer Princesses which were being introduced to the midnight run but run between Victoria and Vancouver and on the Triangle Run [Victoria-Vancouver-Seattle—Ed.).

The *Princess Maquinna*’s namesake, Nuu-chah-nulth Chief Maquinna. —*B.C. Archives*

Troup decided on the name, Princess Maquinna, as a tribute to the famous Nootka [Nuu-chah-nulth] Indian tribe and chief, who played an important part in the efforts of Great Britain to take possession of this part of the world from the Spaniards.

(At that time the question was raised as to the existence of princesses in the Indian culture. Perhaps it would be better to stick to the practice of naming all princess vessels after English royalty.)

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Contract for the new ship was awarded to the friendly interest operated by the Bullen Brothers of Victoria, whose yards were in Esquimalt Harbour and later purchased by Yarrows. It was a challenge for the yards as it would be the largest steel vessel built here and might lead to further contracts for CPR ships.

Princess Maquinna was launched early in 1913. Mrs. Fitzherbert Bullen broke the bottle of champagne on her stern, with an impressive gathering looking on. She underwent the customary trials and was handed over to the man who was to be her master for the next 16 years, Capt. Edward Gillam. She departed on her first scheduled trip on July 20 1913.

The *Princess Maquinna* was the largest steel ship built in Victoria at that time. —*Author’s Collection courtesy of Jack Snelling*

With her fair turn of speed she was able to make three trips a month, leaving here on the first, 11th and 21st at 11:00 p.m. Her first part of call was Port Renfrew and if weather conditions were right, she stopped in the open roadstead to place passengers, mail and supplies in a small craft which came out from the shore.

If the weather was too rough to make a transfer a second stop would be made on the southbound trip.

Other calls were made at Bamfield, Christie [Point residential] school, Alberni, Ucluelet, Tofino, Clayoquot, Ahousat, Sidney Island, Quatsino Sound, Holberg and Port Alice, the farthest call on the northbound run. Princess Maquinna then reversed her course and returned to Victoria. There was no Port Alice or Tahsis at that time.

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Passengers welcomed the comforts provided by the Maquinna and while she did not eliminate the chances of being seasick, she proved much more stable when exposed to the beam seas. She was also equipped with the new means of communication, wireless, which had first been experimented with when the Tees was serving the route and posed a mystery which agitated Victoria for some days.

It occurred when the Tees was operating in 1911, just prior to the sinking of the Titanic, when the primitive wireless wrote an indelible record in the annals of world shipping and the aid summoned was responsible for the rescue of many of the supposedly unsinkable vessel’s passengers.

The Tees was in Kyuquot Sound when she lost her propeller and Capt. Gillam dropped anchor. He had the operator of the feeble transmitter send a message to Victoria. Miraculously, it got through, but subsequent efforts to contact Gilliam failed. There was much apprehension as a result and rumour circulated that Tees had been lost.

Fortunately, she was riding safety at anchor but the surrounding high mountains blacked out the transmitter. Ships were ordered to check Kyuquot Sound and there was relief when she was found.

Princess Maquinna was honoured in 1924 when selected to take a party of notables to Nootka for the unveiling of a memorial cairn to the early navigators to this coast. The party was headed by the Hon. Walter Nicol, lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, who performed the official ceremony...

The [original] memorial had suffered badly from the elements and lack of care and the new one, which Governor Nicol would unveil, was more substantial, being seven feet at the base and 11 feet high with a large bronze plaque centred in the side which faced the Pacific, with Friendly Cove in the background.

The description on the plaque, which is visited by many tourists during the year, reads: “Nootka Sound, discovered by Capt. Cook in March, 1778. In June, 1789, Spain took possession and established and maintained a settlement until 1795. The capture British vessels in 1789 almost led to war, which was avoided by the Convention, 1790. Vancouver and Quadra met here in August, 1792, to determine the land to be restored under the Convention."

So ended Spain's effort to take possession of the entire coastline from Mexico to Alaska... Britain took possession of not only Vancouver Island, but pushed its colonizing efforts north, south and east, resulting in the founding of Victoria as our homeland.

Capt. Gillam was called upon in April, 1924, to use his gallant ship as a Royal Yacht. Princess Maquinna was all spit-and-polish when the Marquis of Willingdon and his wife embarked for a cruise around Vancouver Island. The Marquis was then the governor-general of Canada and he expressed a wish to visit remote sections of the country, especially the west coast of the Island.

Hon. Randolph Bruce, lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, and Mayor Herbert Anscomb of Victoria were invited to accompany the Willingdons. Settlers and natives of the Island were thrilled as they shook hands with the distinguished guests. Gilliam poked the nose of the ship of his ship into many tricky waterways, on both the west and east coast of the Island. It was the first time such a voyage had been attempted and fortunately the weather cooperated.

There were many times when the weather dealt harshly with the Maquinna and in another article I told of the gallant attempt made by Gillam to rescue from the breakers the Chilean ship CarelMapu, which eventually was seized by the rocky claws and smashed to pieces with the loss of 19 of her crew.

*Princess Maquinna*’s heroic attempt to save the crew of the foundering Chilean squarerigger *CarelMapu* is a story in itself, but one for another day. —*B.C. Archives*

Maquinna’s charmed life almost ended on Dec. 22, 1935 when a hurricane with winds up to 110 mph, hit the coast, doing tremendous damage ashore, even to lifting the roof off a house in Shoal Bay’s Marine Drive, uprooting trees, blowing out transformers and leaving Victoria lightless and powerless for many hours.

Maquinna left Victoria at her customary hour of 11:00 p.m., well loaded with Christmas supplies and mail for her ports of call, as well as passengers heading to rejoin their families for the festivities. At this time Gillam had retired and her master was popularly known as ‘Red” Thompson. He and another Thomson known as “Black” Thomson, alternated as masters of Maquinna.

Aboard Maquinna as passenger was Rev. A. DeB Owen, who was minister at Church of Our Lord, and was widely known in this city as he did his pastoral visits on a bicycle. He was a supporter of my brother Percy, who was serving on the West Coast as the Shantymen's missionary and he was anxious to look over this tempestuous parish.

He selected this trip as my brother was going to Port Renfrew to marry a young couple. It was one of his normal acts because there were no ministers on the route, a bit too rough for them.

On reaching Port Renfrew the bridal party came aboard and Percy married them in the smoking room at 4:00 in the morning. There was much gaiety as Princess Maquinna backed away from the wharf and began to run to Bamfield, but it was soon evident that the Storm King had made up his mind to have one last fling at tearing the ship apart as she neared the end of her life, and would be replaced by a new vessel.

The wind was so strong and the sea so high that the scheduled stop at Clo-oose was passed up and the course altered for Cape Beale, which brought the sea on her beam. We do not hear much about Cape Beale these days, but when Maquinna was having her problems it was important.

Cape Beale. Many a ship, particularly in the age of sail, came to grief along Vancouver Island’s rock-studded west coast. —*www.pinterest.com*

At the height of the storm Maquinna was in great pain, her woodwork creaking and her stout steel hull groaning as she was tossed violently by the immense seas. Capt. Thompson braced himself in the wheelhouse and nursed his gamely struggling ship through the holocaust. He had to fight it out as there was no place to run for shelter.

In every series of seas, there's always a bad one, which reaches higher than the others, hoping to claim a victim. Thompson had his ship snugly battened down and everyone aboard was warned to have a secure hold. When he saw the big sea coming he blew the whistle as a warning for all hands to brace for the onslaught, which might have Davey Jones's calling card on it.

Then came the real big sea which towered high above Maquinna and Thompson watched it tumble over his ship, tossing her almost on her beam ends. Would she come out of it?

**Slowly, the nose of Maquinna rose to the surface and then the rest of the ship emerged. A quick check of the vessel found that she was still sound and little water had remained on board.**

But the freight deck was a shambles. Christmas presents, which would be ordered by mail, consignments of liquor mixed with turkeys and oranges and other edibles were scattered among the heavier freight which had shifted. All crockery in the galley, had been smashed and anything that wasn't bolted down moved with the role of the ship. The piano broke its mooring and was smashed against the side of the ship.

Thompson had taken the precaution to have the seamen and engine room staff removed from the lower deck, leaving but a single engineer on duty. A check of the passengers revealed some injuries, none serious. Both deB Owen and my brother were wrenched from what they considered safe holds on stanchions and flung across the main lounge. They were bruised and their shoulder joints severely strained.

**That was the storm's last fling and Thompson was relieved when he rounded Cape Bill and reached the haven of Bamfield, where he made sure Maquinna was safely moored, using eight hawsers.**

My brother was greatly impressed with Thompson's reaction to a question asked by a person who came aboard [at] Bamfield. He wanted to know how the Maquinna had survived. Thompson, tucking his stubby pipe in his hand, did not voice an answer but silently raised his head and looked heavenward, as we see so often on TV today when someone who has survived an ordeal, indicates that “the man upstairs" had something to do with it.

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*S.S. Princess Norah*, the *Maquinna*’s successor, came too late. —*Postcard for sale on ebay*

...The Princess Maquinna...wore herself out battling the weather on the worst run in the world, and was replaced by a larger ship, the Princess Norah, almost twice her size. She was 282 feet long and her tonnage was 2,731 tons, and she was noted for having both bow and stern propellers which enabled her to manoeuvre more easily in the narrow passages.

However, she came too late as business on the west coast dropped off. The whaling stations closed and the canneries became obsolete when packers appeared off the fishing ground and lugged the catches direct to the mainland.

After the Second World War roads from Port Alberni to Ucluelet and Tofino and from Campbell River to Gold River made it possible for automobiles to transport people. The seaplane also became popular and there was no passenger business for the Norah. She was sold and used on other routes ending up as a restaurant in Kodiak, Alaska.

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Years before, in 1952, the good ship Princess Maquinna, her boilers worn out by decades of faithful service, was stripped of engines, fittings and superstructure for use as a lowly barge. It was a sad ending but one that had befallen many another noble ship. Maquinna was finally scrapped in 1962.