| |
History | |
---|---|
Name | City of Seattle |
Builder | Neafie & Levy |
Cost | US$225,000 (equivalent to $7,630,000in 2023 |
Launched | May 14, 1890 |
In service | 1890-1937 |
Fate | Scrapped in 1937 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Propeller-driven |
Tonnage | 1411 gt |
Length | 259 feet (79 m) |
Beam | 40 feet (12 m) |
Depth | 16 feet (4.9 m) depth of hold |
Speed | 14 knots running time, maximum of 18 knots |
The City of Seattle was a passenger steamship built in 1890 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The City of Seattle operated out of Puget Sound from 1890 to 1921, during which it ran routes between the local ports as well as Alaska, notably transporting prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1921, the City of Seattle returned to the East Coast where it ran routes in both New York and Florida. In 1937, the City of Seattle returned to Philadelphia to be scrapped.
The City of Seattle was built in the Neafie & Levy shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under orders from Captain D. B. Jackson and the Puget Sound and Alaska Steamship Company. [1] Jackson had previously purchased the passenger steamship City of Kingston , which was running routes on Puget Sound, and the City of Seattle was intended to be its sister ship. [1]
The City of Seattle launched on May 14, 1890, [2] with a length of 259 feet (79 m), a 40 feet (12 m) beam, a 16 foot (4.9 m) depth of hold and was driven by an 11 foot (3.4 m) propeller. [3] Her running time was 14 knots, however was capable of reaching 18 knots. [3]
After months of building and fitting out the interior, which included a saloon and 135 rooms in all which allowed for a capacity of 600 passengers and 1,000 on excursions, the City of Seattle was ready to be delivered to Seattle. [3] [4] Captain Melville Nichols, who previously brought the City of Kingston from the East Coast to Seattle, took charge of the City of Seattle. [5]
The City of Seattle left Philadelphia on September 21, 1890, [6] and because the Panama Canal would not open until 1914, the City of Seattle had to make the 17,000 mile journey around Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. [3] On October 13, the City of Seattle reached Rio de Janeiro, [7] then reached Valparaiso on November 10, [4] before arriving at San Francisco on December 10. [4] In San Francisco, the City of Seattle was repainted and had its boilers and machinery inspected before departing on the final leg to Seattle. [6]
The City of Seattle arrived at Port Townsend, located at the mouth of Puget Sound, on December 24. [6] On December 26, over 200 members of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and their families made the trip up to Port Townsend via the City of Kingston to greet the ship and escort it back through Puget Sound to Seattle, where over 5,000 citizens welcomed her with cheers and the firing of guns. [3] [8] The next day, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer stated that "the City of Seattle can justly be described as the handsomest steamer on the Sound, both in construction and furnishing." [3]
The total cost of the City of Seattle to the Puget Sound and Alaska Steamship Company was $225,000, which included $200,000 for its construction, $20,000 for delivery from Philadelphia around Cape Horn, and $5,000 for repairs in San Francisco. [1] [3] The City of Seattle was then put on Puget Sound routes between Seattle, the Bellingham Bay towns and Victoria. [4] [8] In addition, the City of Seattle would make occasional trips to Alaska during the summer. [3]
In 1896, the City of Seattle was purchased by the Washington and Alaska Steamship Company [9] and was then used exclusively on the Tacoma-Alaska route. [10] When the Klondike Gold Rush began in 1897, the City of Seattle continued its Alaska runs to transport prospectors. [9] [11] In 1899, the City of Seattle took a group of Seattle citizens on a tour of Alaska, during which the Pioneer Square totem pole was stolen from a Tlingit village and taken back to Seattle where it was erected downtown. [12]
At some point between 1901 and 1904, the City of Seattle was bought by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. [9] In 1916, the City of Seattle was transferred to the Pacific Steamship Company after the Pacific Coast Steamship Company merged with the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company. [9] In 1921, the City of Seattle was sold to the Miami Steamship Company with the intention of running the Miami to Jacksonville route. [9] [13] However, the Miami Steamship Company was soon acquired by the Clyde Steamship Company [14] and on November 12, 1921, the City of Seattle set sail for New York to be put on the New York City to Philadelphia run. [13] [15] After operating in the Mid-Atlantic for almost a year, the City of Seattle set sail back to Florida and arrived in Jacksonville on September 13, 1922, in order to begin operating its originally planned Miami to Jacksonville route. [16] In February 1924, the City of Seattle returned to New York and began running the New York City to Atlantic City line the next month. [17]
In 1937, the City of Seattle returned to Philadelphia to be scrapped. [9]
The steamboat Monticello (2) operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. The vessel went through several reconstructions and remained in service until 1962, when she was lost in Alaska waters. Her later names were Penaco and Sea Venture. (This Puget Sound steamer should not be confused with the smaller Monticello, which also ran on Puget Sound, but was built in 1895 for Captain Z.J. Hatch of the Monticello Steamship Company.
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.
The steamboat Rosalie operated from 1893 to 1918 as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, also operating out of Victoria, B.C. In 1898, Rosalie went north with many other Puget Sound steamboats to join the Klondike Gold Rush.
The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. There is some confusion as to the origins of the name; many historians have proposed it is the inspiration for the name of the State of Idaho. Considerable doubt has been cast on this due to the fact that it is unclear if the boat was named before or after the idea of 'Idaho' as a territory name was proposed. John Ruckel also allegedly stated he had named the boat after a Native American term meaning 'Gem of the Mountains' he got from a mining friend from what is now Colorado territory. This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name, including the sternwheeler Idaho built in 1903 for service on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the steamship Idaho of the Pacific Coast Steamship Line which sank near Port Townsend, Washington.
Asbury Park was a high-speed coastal steamer built in Philadelphia, and intended to transport well-to-do persons from New York to summer homes on the New Jersey shore. This vessel was sold to West Coast interests in 1918, and later converted to an automobile ferry, serving on various routes San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound and British Columbia. This vessel was known by a number of other names, including City of Sacramento, Kahloke, Langdale Queen, and Lady Grace.
The Alaska Steamship Company was formed on August 3, 1894. While it originally set out to ship passengers and fishing products, the Alaska Steamship Company began shipping mining equipment, dog sleds, and cattle at the outbreak of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. The company was purchased by the Alaska Syndicate and merged with the Northwestern Steamship Company in 1909, but retained its name, and the fleet was expanded to 18 ships. During World War II, the government took over the company's ships. When the war ended, the company struggled to compete with the new Alaska Highway for passengers and freight. It discontinued passenger service altogether in 1954 and shut down operations in 1971.
North Pacific was an early steamboat operating in Puget Sound, on the Columbia River, and in British Columbia and Alaska. The vessel's nickname was "the White Schooner" which was not based on the vessel's rig, but rather on speed, as "to schoon" in nautical parlance originally meant to go fast.
General Miles was a steamship constructed in 1882 which served in various coastal areas of the states of Oregon and Washington, as well as British Columbia and the territory of Alaska. It was apparently named after US General Nelson A. Miles.
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company was an important early shipping company that operated steamships on the west coast of North America. It was first organized in 1867 under the name Goodall, Nelson and Perkins. The Goodall, Nelson & Perkins Steamship Company was formed in 1875, but a year later was reorganized as the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. In 1916 the Admiral Line bought the shipping interests of the company.
Princess Louise was a sidewheel steamboat built in 1869. From 1869 to 1879 this ship was named Olympia. In 1879 the name was changed to Princess Louise, after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, a daughter of Queen Victoria who was married to Marquess of Lorne (1845–1914), Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. Princess Louise was the last sidewheeler to be operated commercially on the coast of British Columbia.
SS Parthia (1870–1956) was an iron-hulled transatlantic ocean liner built for the Cunard Line by William Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton, Scotland. Her sister ships were the Abyssinia and Algeria. Unlike her two sisters, Parthia was smaller, built in a different shipyard and had a slightly different funnel arrangement. The Parthia was retired by Cunard in 1883 and sold to John Elder & Co., who subsequently transferred her to the Guion Line. After serving with the Guion Line and operating on trans-Pacific routes with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, she was refitted and renamed Victoria.
The SS Admiral Sampson was a U.S.-flagged cargo and passenger steamship that served three owners between 1898 and 1914, when it was rammed by a Canadian passenger liner and sank in Puget Sound. Following its sinking off Point No Point, the Admiral Sampson has become a notable scuba diving destination for advanced recreational divers certified to use rebreathing equipment.
Domingo Marcucci Jugo, was a Venezuelan born 49er, shipbuilder and shipowner in San Francisco, California. He owned or captained some of the many steamships, steamboats, ferries, and sailing ships he built at San Francisco and elsewhere on the Pacific coast.
SS Roanoke (1882–1916) was a passenger and cargo ship built by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Roanoke was built for the Old Dominion Steamship Company's service from New York to Norfolk Virginia. In 1898 the ship was sold to the North American Transportation and Trading Company to take miners, supplies and gold between Seattle and ports in Alaska. Later the Roanoke was sold to the Oregon-based North Pacific Steamship Company. In 1907, the Roanoke helped to rescue the survivors of her former running mate Columbia. On May 9, 1916, the Roanoke sank in heavy seas off the California coast near San Luis Obispo with the loss of 47 lives. There were only three survivors.
The steamship General Frisbie was a wooden two-deck passenger ship built in 1900, named after John B. Frisbie. She was designed for use as a ferry between Vallejo and San Francisco. The steamer was successful in that role and was the fastest ship on the route when she began service. Improved roads, bridges, and automobiles reduced demand for ferry service in the Bay Area, and newer ships were optimized for transporting cars, so General Frisbie was retired in the late 1920s.
Idaho was a wooden steamship built for Pacific Coast passenger and freight service. She was launched in 1866 and wrecked in 1889. She was one of the first ocean-going steamships to provide regular service to the northwest coast of North America.
Wheatland Montana was a steam cargo ship built in 1919 by Skinner & Eddy of Seattle for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The freighter spent the majority of her career in the Pacific connecting the West Coast of the United States with the Chinese and Japanese ports in the Far East. Early in 1928 the ship together with six other vessels was sold by the Shipping Board to the Tacoma Oriental Steamship Co. and subsequently renamed Seattle. After her owner declared bankruptcy early in 1937, the freighter was sold to Matson Navigation Company and renamed Lihue. She was then mainly employed to transport sugar and canned fruit from the Hawaiian Islands to the ports on the East Coast of the United States. In February 1942 she was chartered to transport general cargo and war supplies to the Middle East but was torpedoed by U-161 in the Caribbean Sea on February 23, and eventually sank three days later while in tow without loss of life.
Ilwaco was a small riverine and coastal steamship built in 1890 which was operated as a passenger vessel for the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, and later served in other roles, including tow and freight boat, cannery tender and fish packing vessel. Ilwaco was originally named Suomi.
Frank Waterhouse was an English-born, American-based businessman, a prominent figure in the shipping industry in the early 20th century. He was also president of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and of two Seattle taxi companies. His New York Times obituary described him as having had "one of the most colorful careers in the history of the Pacific Northwest."
SS City of Topeka was an iron-hulled passenger/cargo steamship built in 1884 by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. She was purchased by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company in 1887 and used to transport cargo and passengers from Seattle, WA to Alaska, a route which was expanded to accommodate the Klondike Gold Rush. On September 11, 1906, she began to take on water while docked in Seattle and sank. She was raised, pumped, refloated, and after a brief interruption she resumed service. In 1916, the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company merged with the Pacific Coast Steamship Company to form the Pacific Steamship Company, which sold the steamer in 1920 to the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. In 1921 she was purchased by the Los Angeles Steamship Company who extensively renovated her at the Hanlon Dry Dock and Shipbuilding facility and renamed her the SS Waimea. As Waimea she ran a weekly route between San Pedro and San Francisco, and saw her routes expanded to include Los Angeles. She was laid up in the Port of Los Angeles in 1930 and sold in 1932. She was broken down in 1933 and her iron plates were sold for scrap.