The Canadian Pacific Navigation Company was an early steamship company that operated steamships on the coast of British Columbia and the Inside Passage of southeast Alaska. The company was founded in 1883 by

John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to G ...

(1854-1936), a prominent steamboat man, businessman, and politician of early British Columbia. In 1901 the company was purchased by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

, becoming the steamship division of the CPR.

Ships

The company owned a variety of vessels, including the sternwheeler ''Princess Louise'', ''R.P. Rithet'', the old sidewheelers ''Wilson G. Hunt'' and ''Yosemite'', and the coastal steamer ''Willapa''.

Loss of SS ''Islander''

Another ship owned by the company was the steamship ''

Islander Islander, Islanders, or The Islanders may refer to: People * Islander, referring to Jersey people * Islander, New Zealand-English term usually meaning Pacific Islander Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''The Islander'' (Rylant novel), ...

'', which went down in August 1901. ''Islander'' was a steel twin-screw steamer built for the Inside passage to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

and favoured by wealthy travelers. On the morning of August 15, 1901, the ship struck a submerged iceberg and went down off the south end of Douglas Island, British Columbia. 40 passengers and crew were lost, including the wife and daughter of the politician

James Hamilton Ross James Hamilton Ross (May 12, 1856 – December 14, 1932) was a Canadian politician, the third commissioner of Yukon, and an ardent defender of territorial rights. He is also considered to be the first resident of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Ear ...

References

* Hacking, Norman R., and Lamb, W. Kaye, ''The Princess Story -- A Century and A Half of West Coast Shipping'', Mitchell Press, Vancouver BC 1974 * Newell, Gordon, R., ed. ''H.W. McCurdy Maritime History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing 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
Wright, E.W., ''Lewis & Dryden's Marine history of the Pacific Northwest'', Lewis & Dryden Printing Co., Portland, OR (1995)
Transport in British Columbia History of British Columbia Interior of British Columbia Defunct shipping companies of Canada {{Canada-company-stub