18 May 2007
Steamship Legacy Survives
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Richard Mackenzie, Collections and Exhibitions coordinator of
the Maritime Museum, puts the model Maquina into a case that will be part of the POSH exhibition.
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Victoria Vancouver Island - When gold prospectors and
enterprising pioneers were struggling to establish themselves on B.C.'s West Coast in the 1800s and early 1900s, words like
"luxury" and "extravagance" weren't used very often to describe their living conditions. Yet despite the many
hardships that settlers endured, some surprisingly elegant hallmarks of "civilized society" gradually appeared.
The Maritime Museum of British Columbia will unveil a new exhibition 25 May 2007 that examines the role that steamships
played in the everyday lives of coastal residents, as well as the increasing number of tourists who travelled here to explore the
region's natural beauty.
P.O.S.H.: The Romance and Reality of Steamship Travel on the West Coast features many artifacts from the period - everything from
the original ship whistle from the S.S. Princess Victoria to rare photographs depicting life on board.
In an age when tall-masted sailing ships still ruled the high seas, steam-powered vessels didn't appear on
the Pacific Coast until the arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company's S.S. Beaver in 1836. Although several companies operated small
freighters between the "triangle" ports of Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle, most residents and businesses relied on a few
major companies to ship cargo to hundreds of isolated settlements, farms, canneries, sawmills and bush camps scattered along the coast.
The Union Steamship Company started up in 1887 and primarily served the remote fishing and mining communities of the Inside Passage. A
similar service, offered by the marine arm of Canadian National Railways, followed in 1911.
Perhaps the best-known of the steamship companies was the Canadian Pacific Railway's B.C. Coast Service, whose
Princess-class ships began sailing the waters off Vancouver Island in 1901. The ships featured plush carpets and
handcrafted woodwork, as well as fine china and silver-plated cutlery in the dining rooms. The elegant interiors were
based on original designs by architect Francis Rattenbury, who was under contract to the CPR at the time.
"Of course, his background was doing grand staircases and hotels," explains Richard Mackenzie, collections and exhibitions
co-ordinator with the Maritime Museum of B.C. "That opulence was built into the first vessel and all the other
vessels took their cue from the interior of S.S. Princess Victoria. She became the prototype."
Railroads often built their own hotels in prime locations (such as the Empress) to accommodate their train passengers, and steamships
were seen as an extension of that business. The companies offered a variety of sea excursions for more adventurous travellers and even
established picnic areas and campsites along the way.
The growing tourist trade was a big part of the steamship business, but the cargo and mail they carried up and down the B.C. coast
served as a crucial lifeline for pioneers trying to carve out a life in the wilderness.
"I don't think settlement would have been possible without the steamships," says Mackenzie. "Before there were any
highways - before there were any roads at all - everything was transported by ship."
Although the continent's telegraph network was expanding rapidly, isolated villages still relied on the mail deliveries for news of the
outside world (and on crew gossip to find out what was happening in other ports of call).
"With any community of any size, you'd have most people coming down to meet the boat," says Mackenzie. "They'd hear the
whistle and they could tell by the sound which vessel was coming in."
Cargo destined for very small settlements was sometimes "packed to float." The goods were sealed in a watertight barrel and
simply thrown overboard with a flag attached, accompanied by a few blasts on the ship whistle. It was up to the people on shore to row
out and retrieve their order before it was swept away by the current.
The heyday of the steamship era lasted until the 1940s. After the Second World War, says Mackenzie, everything changed. With the
introduction of float planes and a huge boost in highway construction, the steamship business gradually faded away. The last Union
vessel sailed in 1959, as it and other ships gave way to the new BC Ferries fleet.
One of the objectives of the P.O.S.H. exhibition is to educate the public about B.C.'s rich maritime history and how the coast was
developed.
"We want people to realize that the building of this province was due in no small part to steamships," says Mackenzie.
"Many communities are still dependent on the ferry service, including the whole of Vancouver
Island."
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