The Princess fleet is an eponym for the coastal vessels of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the first half of the 20th century.[1] The names of these small ocean liners began with the title "Princess."
The ships of the British Columbia Coast Steamships came to be called "pocket liners" because they offered amenities like a great ocean liner, but on a smaller scale.[2] The CPR princesses were a coastal counterpart to CPR's "Empress" fleet of passenger liners which sailed on trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic routes.[3]
James William Troup is credited with conceiving and building the Princess fleet. In 1913, 10 of the 12 Princess ships in the coastal fleet had been built to the orders of Capt. Troup.[4]
Former ferries of CP Steamships that were absorbed by Washington Marine Group (WMG) in 1998. Two years before WMG had gained full control of Seaspan.
Trailer and rail ferries
Active Service
Vessel Name
Launch Date
Maiden Voyage
Notes
Current Status
1973
Carrier Princess
Seaspan uses the same name after 1998.
Still in service for Seaspan.
1974
Princess Superior
Originally named the Incan Superior when built. Renamed Princess Superior in 1993 for Coastal Marine Operations, Seaspan uses the same name after 1998.
^Hacking, Norman R. (1995). Prince Ships of Northern B.C.: Ships of the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian National Railways, p. 16, p. 16, at Google Books; excerpt; "... creating the CPR's Princess fleet, of which the two largest vessels were the Princess Victoria of 1903 and Princess Charlotte of 1908. See also Turner, Robert D. (1987). West of the Great Divide : an Illustrated History of the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia, 1880-1986, p. 65.
^Steamship Historical Society of America. (1940). Steamboat Bill (US), Vol. 54, p. 206.
Fournier, Leslie Thomas. (1935). Railway Nationalization in Canada: the Problem of the Canadian National Railways. Toronto: Macmillan. OCLC 424018532
Hacking, Norman R. (1995). Prince Ships of Northern B.C.: Ships of the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian National Railways. Surrey, British Columbia: Heritage House. ISBN9781895811285; OCLC 31778600
__________ and W. Kaye Lamb. (1974). The Princess Story: a century and a half of West Coast shipping. Vancouver : Mitchell Press. OCLC 2973754
Turner, Robert D. (1974). The Pacific Princesses: an illustrated history of Canadian Pacific Railway's Princess fleet on the Northwest Coast. Winlaw, British Columbia: Sono Nis Press. OCLC 254451187
__________. (1987). West of the Great Divide : an Illustrated History of the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia, 1880-1986. Victoria, British Columbia: Sono Nis Press. ISBN9780919203518; OCLC 16019694