SS Prince Rupert
The Grand Trunk Pacific steamship Prince Rupert
| |
History | |
---|---|
Name | Prince Rupert |
Owner |
|
Port of registry | Prince Rupert, British Columbia |
Builder | Wallsend-on-Tyne |
Launched | 13 December 1909 |
Completed | March 1910 |
In service | 4 June 1910 |
Out of service | 1955 |
Fate | Scrapped 1956 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Passenger ship |
Tonnage | |
Length | 307 ft (93.6 m) pp. |
Beam | 42 ft (12.8 m) |
Draught | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Capacity | 1,756 |
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.
Design and description
Prince Rupert was 307 feet (93.6 m)
The passenger ship had a passenger capacity of 1,756; 220 First class, 36 Second class and 1,500 excursionists on the promenade deck.[1] In 1916, Prince Rupert was given limited staterooms for second-class travellers. Six four-berth and one two-berth staterooms were installed.[3] Prince Rupert also had a refrigerated freight capacity of 350 tons.[1][2]
Service history
Prince Rupert was ordered from
Beginning in 1916, Prince Rupert began her career as an "unlucky ship". On 28 December 1916, the vessel was involved in a collision with the tugboat Cleeve in Vancouver Harbour. The following year on 23 March, the ship ran aground on Genn Island while leaving Anyox during a gale.[5][7] Prince Rupert was eventually lifted off the rocks and spent two months in dry dock at Prince Rupert undergoing repairs.[5]
On 1 May 1918, the ship's screws were stripped and Prince Rupert was forced to dock at Victoria for repairs. On 14 January 1919 she was struck by lightning in Vancouver Harbour. In October that year, the ship suffered a fire in her cargo hold, and underwent $25,000 in repairs. On 20 September 1920, the vessel struck a reef in Swanson Bay and tore a 12-foot (3.7 m) hole in the bottom of the hull. Prince Rupert was beached and the passengers and crew landed. However, at high tide, the ship became completely submerged except for sections of the bridge and upper deck.[5][7]
The ship was salvaged by the Pacific Salvage Company of Vancouver. Prince Rupert's stern lay under 72 feet (22 m) of water and 20 feet (6.1 m), which took the salvage vessel Algerine and two 1,400-ton barges to even out. A cofferdam was then constructed on the ship until the structure was 75 feet (23 m) high, 175 feet (53 m) long and 42 feet (13 m) across. The entire cofferdam took 125,000 feet (38,000 m) of lumber which was bolted to the sides of the ship with the crevices with heavy canvas. The structure added a further 200 tons to the vessel.[7] Prince Rupert was then raised to the surface and towed to Victoria where the ship underwent repairs at Yarrows, remaining out of service until May 1921.[5][7] From 1925, ownership of both Prince Rupert and Prince George was transferred along with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway system to the Government of Canada to be operated as part of the Canadian National Railway.
On 22 August 1927, Prince Rupert went aground on
On 6 March 1931, the ship was alongside at Yarrows in Victoria undergoing a yearly refit when water, leaking into the hold, caused the vessel to keel over at a 45° angle and sank in 26 feet (7.9 m) of water. To prevent further rolling, the ship was fastened to the dock by its masts. Prince Rupert was raised once again and following a month-long refit, was ready for service again.[8]
On 4 September 1935, she overtook and rammed the American 28-gross register ton halibut-fishing vessel Anna J near Maud Island (from where Ripple Rock was blasted in Seymour Narrows) on the British Columbia coast; Anna J beached herself in Plumper Bay after the collision and became a total loss.[9][10]
After the collision with Anna J, Prince Rupert's service remained quiet until 1951. On 20 August 1951, Prince Rupert rammed the
See also
- List of ships in British Columbia
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b c d Guay 2016, pp. 100–101.
- ^ a b c d Miramar Ship Index.
- ^ Guay 2016, p. 84.
- ^ Guay 2016, p. 75.
- ^ a b c d e f Guay 2016, p. 100.
- ^ Guay 2016, p. 80.
- ^ a b c d Hacking 1995, p. 28.
- ^ a b Hacking 1995, p. 29.
- ^ alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (A)[dubious ]
- ^ "Bayers, Lloyd H. 1911–1968 Captain Lloyd H. "Kinky" Bayers Collection, 1898–1967 MS 10" (PDF). Marine General Information Files. Alaska State Library Historical Collections. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ Hacking 1995, pp. 30, 32.
Sources
- Guay, David R. P. (2016). Passenger and Merchant Ships of the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN 978-1-4597-3555-2.
- Hacking, Norman (1995). Prince Ships of Northern BC: Ships of the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways. Surrey, British Columbia: Heritage House Publishing Company. ISBN 1-895811-28-7.
- "Prince Rupert (1129743)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
External links
- Canada Science and Technology Museum (CSTM). "Observation room of the SS Prince Rupert".
- CSTM. "Ferry SS Prince Rupert".
- CSTM. "Dining room of the SS Prince Rupert".
- CSTM. "The S.S. Prince Rupert sailing in Alaskan waters".
- CSTM. "S.S. Prince Rupert on a cruise near Taku Glacier, Alaska".
- CSTM. "S.S. Prince George mooring at the Grand Trunk Pacific Coast Steamship Company harbour facilities".