Princess Beatrice was a steamship built for and owned by the marine division of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The ship served from 1903 to 1928 in the coastal waters of British Columbia. The ship also operated on Puget Sound on a route from Victoria, British Columbia to Seattle, Washington. Princess Beatrice was the first ship to operate in the year-round steamship service between Seattle and Victoria that was run by CPR from 1904 to 1959. This ship should not be confused with an earlier Princess Beatrice, built in Scotland in 1874, which served on the Atlantic coast of Canada.

Design and construction Princess Beatrice was built in 1903 at Esquimalt, British Columbia by the B.C. Marine Railway Co., Ltd. The Princess Beatrice was the first Princess ship built for the Canadian Pacific Railway.Turner, Pacific Princesses, at pages 47 to 55.

The dimensions of the ship were in length, beam, and depth of hold, . The power plant was a triple expansion steam engine, manufactured by Bow, McLachlan & Co. of Paisley, Scotland, producing . The engine had three cylinders, with diameters ranging from high pressure to low pressure of 18, 30 and , with a bore stroke on all three cylinders of . The ship had design speed of and was driven by a single propeller.Turner, Pacific Princesses, at page 235. The ship was built of wood. Princess Beatrice was one of the largest vessels to have been constructed in British Columbia up to that time. The cost of construction was $200,000.An Outpost of Empire, Victoria, B.C., The Tourist and Commercial City of the Canadian Far West, Colonist Printing and Publishing., Ltd., Victoria BC (1904), at page 3. (accessed 07-01-11)

The ship was launched on September 10, 1903. Trial runs were completed in November 1903. The Canadian registration number was 116405.The New Mills' List, “Registered Canadian Steamships 1817-1930 over 75 feet” (accessed 06-17-11). The ship was licensed for 350 day passengers. There were 40 staterooms which could accommodate 86 overnight passengers.Newell, ed., McCurdy Marine History, at page 90. The ship's accommodations were considered to be luxurious, and they included, consistent with the practices of the times, a separate cabin for women and children.Kline and Bayless, Ferryboats – Legend on Puget Sound, at pages 72-73.

Operations Captain James W. Troup, the superintendent of the CPR coast steamship division, intended that Princess Beatrice be operated on the run between Victoria and New Westminster until the spring of 1904, when the ship was to be transferred to a route to the Nass River and southeastern Alaska. However, with the sinking of the American steamship en route from Seattle to Victoria on January 7, 1904, the citizens of Victoria asked that the CPR put a replacement steamer on the Victoria–Seattle run. In response Troup assigned the Princess Beatrice to the route, with the ship making its first trip to Seattle on January 20, 1904.Newell, ed., McCurdy Marine History, at page 634. This marked the beginning of a year-round daily passenger service that was maintained between Seattle and Victoria by the CPR Coast Service until 1959. This became part of the "Triangle Route" of steamships running between Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver, British Columbia.Faber, Steamer's Wake, at page 138. Beatrice docked at Pier 2 in Seattle. While in this service, Princess Beatrice was drawn into a rate war on the Victoria route that broke out between the CPR Coast Service and its American rival, the Puget Sound Navigation CompanyKline and Bayless, Ferryboats – Legend on Puget Sound, at page 46.

When the was brought into service in 1907, the plan became to relieve the Princess Beatrice on the Seattle–Victoria round in the winter, and use the Princess Beatrice on the Prince Rupert run. Beatrice served on the North Coast of British Columbia, making stops at the mining, logging and cannery ports along the northern coast.Turner, Pacific Princesses, at page 89.

In October 1911 Princess Beatrice ran aground on Noble Island. Economic dislocation in November 1914, caused by World War I forced CPR to idle half of its fleet, including Princess Beatrice.Newell, ed., McCurdy Marine History, at page 236. Captain Thomas Rippon, later appointed superintendent of the CPR Coast Service, was in command of Princess Beatrice from 1916 to 1920.Newell, ed., McCurdy Marine History, at page 477.

Disposition In 1928 the CPR brought a new vessel, the into service, and was able to retire the Princess Beatrice. Princess Beatrice was sold to B.L. Johnson, Walton & Co., a Vancouver concern, who removed the ship's machinery and converted the hulk to a floating cannery.Turner, Pacific Princesses, at page 140. The ex-Princess Beatrice, now a cannery, was then towed to the west coast of Vancouver Island.Newell, ed., McCurdy Marine History, at page 398.

Scrapped about 1930, a bill of sale from May 23, 1935, shows the cannery hulk was sold by British Columbia Packers Limited to Captain Cyril James House for, "one dollar and any other valuable considerations". The Princess Beatrice was the only Princess ship not converted to burn oil fuel.

Notes

References Faber, Jim, Steamer's Wake -- Voyaging down the old marine highways of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and the Columbia River, Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985 Kline, Mary S., and Bayless, G.A., Ferryboats -- A Legend on Puget Sound, Bayless Books, Seattle, WA 1983 Newell, Gordon R. ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA (1966) Turner, Robert D., Pacific Princesses – An Illustrated History of Canadian Pacific Railway’s Princess Fleet on the Pacific Northwest Coast, Sono Nis Press, Victoria, B.C., 1977 Norman R. Hacking and W. Kaye Lamb, The Princess Story – A Century and a Half of West Coast Shipping, Mitchell Press Limited, Vancouver, B.C., 1976