Olympian was a large side-wheel inland steamship that operated in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Olympian operated from early 1884 to late 1891 on the Columbia River, Puget Sound, and the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska.
Built for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, then controlled by Henry Villard, Olympian and its near twin were known as “Henry Villard's White Elephants.” In 1895 they were said to have been the “most expensive and at the same time the most useless steamers yet appearing in the Northwest.”
Olympian was tried on several routes but was unable to make a profit on any of them. The steamer was tied up for good in 1892, and remained so until 1906, when it was sold to New York interests. The buyers intended to tow Olympian around South America to New York, rehabilitate it, and run it on Long Island Sound.
Zealandia towed Olympian as far as Possession Bay on the east side of the Straits of Magellan, where Olympian broke loose and washed ashore. Olympian was never removed from the beach, where some remains of the steamer could still be seen in 1980.
This Olympian should not be confused with Olympian (ex Telegraph) a wooden sternwheeler which also served on Puget Sound and on the Columbia River.
Design and construction Olympian and followed designs which had been successful on Long Island Sound and on Chesapeake Bay but which were untested in the Pacific Northwest, where different types of inland and riverine vessels had been developed to meet local conditions.
Construction Olympian was built by Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., of Wilmington, Delaware. The steamer cost $260,000 to build. It was launched on August 21, 1883. The steamer made its formal trial trip on November 27, 1883. On an earlier trial in November 1883, Olympian was found to be able to reach a speed of on only 35 pounds steam.
Olympian was built of iron and plated with steel. The beams forward and aft of the boiler, and one beam in the forward and after holds were also of iron. The other beams and carlins in the hull were of yellow pine, with iron plate knees.
All saloons, cabins, and staterooms were lit by electricity and heated by steam. The grand saloon, which was divided into forward and after cabins by the machinery, was about long. Fifty staterooms, each with two large berths, opened on to the grand saloon. The dining room could accommodate 180 persons.
Dimensions Olympian was long between perpendiculars, and long overall. The beam was exclusive of guards. The depth of hold was . Olympian drew of water when light.
The steamboat measured out at 1419.60 gross tons and 1,083.20 registered tons. In this instance, "ton" is a unit of volume, not of weight. The official merchant vessel registry number was 155055.
Fifty men comprised the Olympian’s crew in May 1884. Captain Thomas F. Wilson was the master of the vessel in May 1884.
Engineering
Olympian was driven by a single “vertical surface” condensing walking beam steam engine, with a cylinder in diameter and a piston stroke of . A small auxiliary steam engine assisted in starting the main engine. The main plant developed 2,100 indicated horsepower on the steamer's formal trial trip, riving the vessel at on 45 pounds steam.
There were two large main coal-fired boilers which generated steam at 45 pounds working pressure for the main engine. Each boiler was about long, in diameter, and weighed about .
Auxiliary machinery and an auxiliary boiler powered the fire pump and the dynamo. The vessel was illuminated throughout by electricity, 250 lights installed by Edison Incandescent Electric Light Co.
The paddle wheels were of the composite-radial type, in diameter, fitted with wooden paddle buckets with an face. Olympian had an auxiliary sailing rig as a two-masted schooner.
Transit to west coast On December 6, 1883, Olympian departed Wilmington bound for Puget Sound. Officers in charge of the vessel on the voyage to the west coast were H.S. Ackley, captain; W.S. Theater, first officer; John Dixon (b.1850), second officer; Andrew Hill, third officer; Puxley, chief engineer; John S. Kidd, first assistant; Barnard, second assistant; Marcey, third assistant; and Mr. Smith, chief steward.
Olympian reached St. Thomas in the West Indies on December 15, 1883. The captain reported that the steamer was running well at . Olympian arrived in Valparaiso, Chile on February 2, 1884. Olympian reached San Francisco on March 3, 1884.
Suitability problems Olympian had difficulty loading coal. Wheelbarrows had to be used at Seattle because the steamer was too big to use the coal chutes. The only alternative was a larger facility in Victoria, but Victoria had difficulty keeping enough coal on hand for Olympian. Talk was that the old steamer Isabel (446 GT), long out of service in Gig Harbor, W.T., would be taken to British Columbia to carry coal to Victoria from mines at Nanaimo, BC mainly to supply Olympian.
Olympian drew much more water than other steamers on the Columbia River, and as a result the large steamer was essentially limited to the run on the lower Columbia from Portland to Astoria.
When Olympian arrived in Puget Sound, no dry dock or other facility existed in Oregon or Washington large enough to accommodate the vessel for repair. Oregon Rwy and Nav. Co. planned to steam the vessel south to San Francisco, California to be placed on a dry dock for repairs, including hull scrapping, caulking, and repainting. This had to be done with careful regard for bad weather, because Olympian had not been built as an ocean-going vessel.
When the time came in March 1885 for Olympian to dry dock in San Francisco, its insurance carriers threatened by telegram to cancel their $260,000 policy on the steamer if the extensions of the main deck, called “guards”, outboard from the edge of actual hull, were not removed before beginning the voyage to San Francisco. Removal and replacement would cost at least $1,000.
By the summer of 1891, there was a gridiron at Olympia, Washington which could accommodate Olympian. This was just a few months before the end of the steamer's active service life.
Puget Sound service 1884-1885
Olympian arrived at Union wharf in Port Townsend, W.T. on the afternoon of Friday, March 7, 1884. The voyage of about had taken 92 days, and allowing for 9 days stopping in various ports en route, the steamer would have averaged about per day.
Two OR&N officials, Superintendent Frank T. Dodge, and Captain C.E. Clancy, of its Puget Sound division, inspected the vessel upon its arrival and found it sound. According to the Tacoma Ledger, thirteen stowaways arrived on the Olympian. Most of them boarded the steamer at Valparaiso.
Tacoma-Victoria run Olympian was expected to be able to make the 140 mile run between Tacoma, W.T. and Victoria, B.C. in eight hours, including stops en route. Captain Wilson, then in command of the inland sidewheeler North Pacific (488 GT), and his purser, would be shifted over to be in charge of Olympian.
Newspapers reported the officers to operate Olympian on Puget Sound would be the popular Capt. Thomas F. Wilson, then in charge of North Pacific, George Roberts,George Roberts was later to command the ill-fated Clallam. first officer, Mr. Pugsley, chief engineer, and C.H. Warren, purser. The crew of George E. Starr (473 GT) would be transferred to North Pacific, and the crew of Welcome (327 GT) would be assigned to George E. Starr.
Olympian arrived in Victoria, BC on the afternoon of March 25, 1884 from Port Townsend, taking two and one quarter hours to cover the distance between the two cities. A crowd turned out at Victoria to view the new steamer.
By May 1, 1884, Olympian, under Captain Wilson, was operating on a daily route between Tacoma and Victoria, stopping at Seattle and other way points. In early August 1884, OR&N advertised a reduction in its passenger fares to Victoria on Olympian and North Pacific, to $4, or $5 round trip.
Withdrawn from service September 1884
In September 1884 Olympian was taken out of service for lack of business. Olympians place on the Victoria route would be taken by OR&N's George E. Starr running in competition with Eliza Anderson (276 GT). Both Starr and Anderson were wooden-hulled side-wheelers. Both were older (in the case of the Anderson, much older), smaller, and slower than Olympian. Starr required an hour more than Olympian to complete the Victoria run. Even so, this competition forced down fares.
It was reported that the government of Brazil, which operated its own steamer lines, had made an offer to purchase both Olympian and Alaskan to operate on the Amazon River. OR&N was reported to have been asking $700,000 for both vessels.
As of May 5, 1885, Olympian had been tied up to a dock in Tacoma for some months according to one report, or a year, according to another report.
Repair in San Francisco May 1885 Olympian went to San Francisco for dry docking, departing Tacoma at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, 1885. The next day, Wednesday, May 13, Olympian cleared the customs house at Port Townsend, W.T. at daylight, and passed Cape Flattery, turning southbound at 11:00 a.m. Olympian returned to the Puget Sound area in late May 1885.
Return to service summer 1885 Olympian resumed Puget Sound service in the summer of 1885. In July it was able to make fast time between Tacoma and Seattle, taking about one hour and thirty-five minutes on an average of 37 pounds steam pressure, less than the 45 pounds maximum allowed.
Dock collision in Seattle On June 4, 1885, at 1:30 a.m., coming in for a landing at Seattle, the mate in charge miscalculated the distance and Olympian smashed into the dock. The supporting pilings were carried away and part of the building on the dock was demolished, for a total dock damage of about $3,000. Olympian sustained $4,000 worth of damage, from the bow back to the pilot house.
Columbia River service 1886 On the morning of January 18, 1886, Olympian arrived at Astoria en route to Portland. John Miller Murphy, publisher of The Washington Leader, of Olympia, W.T., commented on the transfer to the Columbia:
In January 1886, a severe snowstorm stranded passenger trains in the Columbia Gorge and also froze the Columbia River. Relief trains could not reach the stranded passengers and wooden-hulled steamboats could not navigate the ice-choked river. Olympian however had an iron hull, and on January 27, it was used to smash through the ice and rescue the passengers.
Olympian worked on the Portland-Astoria-Ilwaco run during the summer of 1886, serving vacationers and tourists. Olympian made its fastest time on this run under Capt. Lester A. Bailey, from Portland to Astoria in four hours and 47 minutes. Olympian'''s rival on this route was the popular crack side-wheelerT.J. Potter, which was less expensive to operate. Mostly Olympian was unsuccessful, being too expensive and not much faster than its wooden-hulled chief rivals, T.J. Potter and the express sternwheeler Telephone.
Alaskan operations summer 1887
In 1887, unable to earn money from Olympian on either the Seattle-Victoria run or on the Columbia River, OR&N chartered out Olympian to Pacific Coast Steamship Co. to run summer excursions to Alaska through the Inside Passage. Olympian did not do well on the Inside Passage, being too lightly built for its conditions, which were much more challenging than Chesapeake Bay for which the vessel was designed and best suited.
Preparation work