The Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company was an American passenger and freight ocean shipping company that operated between 1912 and 1916 on the West Coast of North America. [1] It was formed as a holding company during the merger of the Alaska Pacific Steamship Company and the Alaska Coast Company. During its four years of life, its fleet became known as the Admiral Line because its ships (for example, the Admiral Halstead) were usually named for former U.S. Navy admirals. The company was operated by president H.F. "Bert" Alexander, a former Tacoma longshoreman who worked his way up the ranks. [2]
During the company's brief history, it suffered at least two significant accidents. The steamer SS Yukon ran aground June 23, 1913 on the northwest coast of Sanak Island on a reef subsequently named for the ship. [3] A second major accident occurred Aug. 26, 1914 when the SS Admiral Sampson was rammed by the SS Princess Victoria of the Canadian Pacific Line. Both ships were operating in heavy fog within Puget Sound, 18 miles north of Seattle. The Admiral Sampson sank, killing 11, while the Princess Victoria returned to Seattle with the survivors of the accident. [4]
In 1916, the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company operated nine steamships when it merged with the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, operator of 13 ships. The resulting company became known as the Pacific Steamship Company. [5]
Steamship Princess Victoria was a luxury passenger ship built in 1902 and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Subsequently, converted into a bulk oil carrier under the name Tahsis No. 3, the ship struck a rock and sank on 10 March 1953.
CP Ships was a large Canadian shipping company established in the 19th century. From the late 1880s until after World War II, the company was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships. Many immigrants travelled on CP ships from Europe to Canada. The sinking of the steamship RMS Empress of Ireland just before World War I was the largest maritime disaster in Canadian history. The company provided Canadian Merchant Navy vessels in World Wars I and II. Twelve vessels were lost due to enemy action in World War II, including the RMS Empress of Britain, which was the largest ship ever sunk by a German U-boat.
SS Valencia was an iron-hulled passenger steamer built for the Red D Line for service between Venezuela and New York City. She was built in 1882 by William Cramp and Sons, one year after the construction of her sister ship Caracas. She was a 1,598-ton vessel, 252 feet (77 m) in length. In 1897, Valencia was deliberately attacked by the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The next year, she became a coastal passenger liner on the U.S. West Coast and served periodically in the Spanish–American War as a troopship to the Philippines. Valencia was wrecked off Cape Beale, which is near Clo-oose, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, on 22 January 1906. As her sinking killed 100 people, some classify the wreck of Valencia as the worst maritime disaster in the "Graveyard of the Pacific", a famously treacherous area off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.
The Grand Trunk steamship Prince Rupert and her sister ship SS Prince George served the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. Prince Rupert had a 45-year career serving northern ports from Vancouver, British Columbia, from 1910 to 1955. The ship was considered "unlucky" and suffered several incidents during her career, including two significant ones that left large portions of the vessel underwater. The ship was broken up in 1956.
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.
The Pacific Steamship Company was a US freight and passenger shipping company that operated between 1916 and 1936. The company was formed by the merger of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company and the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company and was a direct competitor to the Alaska Steamship Company in the Alaska-Seattle shipping business. Pacific Steamship Co. owned and operated The Admiral Line and The Admiral Oriental Line. American Mail Line worked with the Admiral Oriental Line.
The Union Steamship Company of British Columbia was a pioneer firm on coastal British Columbia. It was founded in November 1889 by John Darling, a director of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, and nine local businessmen. The company began by offering local service on Burrard Inlet near Vancouver and later expanded to servicing the entire British Columbia coast.
The SS Princess Kathleen was a passenger and freight steamship owned and operated by Canadian Pacific Steamships. She served the coastal communities of British Columbia, Alaska and Washington.
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 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.
Princess Royal was a wooden steamship built in 1907 for the Canadian Pacific Railway Coast Service. The ship operated on the coasts of British Columbia, south east Alaska, and northern Puget Sound until 1933, when the ship was sold for scrapping.
Princess May was a steamship built in 1888 which was operated under a number of different names and owners. The ship is best known for having been involved in a grounding in 1910 which left the ship jutting completely out of the water, which became the subject of a famous shipwreck photograph.
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.
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.
The Alaska Pacific Steamship Company was a short-lived freight and passenger shipping line that operated on the West Coast of North America between 1906 and 1912. The company was created by E.E. Caine, who used the steamships Buckman and Watson on the route between Seattle, Tacoma, and San Francisco. The following year, Caine's partners in the company took over management of the Alaska Coast Company, which operated the steamships Jeanie and Portland. In 1909, Alaska Pacific acquired the twin-propeller steamships Admiral Farragut and Admiral Sampson from the American Mail Steamship Company on the East Coast. In 1912, Alaska Pacific acquired the remaining Admiral-class steamships Admiral Dewey and Admiral Schley from American Mail. Before the end of the year, the company's directors decided to merge Alaska Pacific with Alaska Coast Company to form the new Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company.
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 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.
Senator was a steel-hulled steamship launched in 1898. She served as a troopship during the Spanish-American War and was an important part of the Nome gold rush. She spent thirty years in the coastwise shipping trade between Alaska and San Diego, until she was scrapped in Osaka, Japan in 1935.
American Mail Line of Seattle, Washington was a commercial steamship service with routes to and from Seattle, Washington and the Far East. American Mail Line was founded in 1920, by Pacific Steamship Company also with a $500,000 investment from Dollar Shipping Company. The American Mail Line operated regular service until June 1938. American Mail Line was not profitable and ran with subsidies from Dollar, due to the cancellation of the ocean mail contracts. American Mail Line - And their affiliate Dollar Steamship Lines operated Trans-Pacific Routes, primarily from China and Japan to Canada and the United States. Some of the American Mail Line ships come for the Admiral Oriental Company when Dollar became the owner of Admiral Oriental Line. Admiral Oriental Line formed by H. F. Alexander was acquired in 1922 and renamed the American Mail Line