Floating Households

Princess Royal: A CPR passenger steamship floating household

The Princess Royal was one of the most versatile vessels in the CPR's British Columbia Coast Service fleet. Although originally intended for the northern run between Victoria and Skagway, she also operated on the Vancouver - Prince Rupert service and the Victoria-Seattle-Vancouver ‘triangle route.’ In June 1911, she was deployed on the Victoria-Vancouver service.

CPR coastal steamer Princess Royal
Image courtesy of Vancouver Public Library, 30332

The vessel was built at the British Columbia Marine Railway yard in nearby Esquimalt and named after King Edward VII’s eldest daughter. She registered 1,997 gross tons, measured 228 feet (69 m) in length, and had a beam of 40-foot (12 m). Constructed with a wooden hull and powered by a triple expansion steam engine manufactured in Scotland, she entered service in July 1907 and quickly gained a reputation for speed and reliability. Her popularity is reflected in the fact that, when her crew was enumerated in 1911, Princess Royal was manned by some of the most experienced officers in the Coast Service.

Captain Cyril D. Neroutsos, a master mariner with two decades of experience, commanded a crew that included Chief Officer William Gilchrist, Chief Engineer James Pettigrew, and Chief Steward George Montieth—each among the most senior figures in the Coast Service.

Princess Royal could accommodate 144 overnight passengers in 72 staterooms and was licensed to carry up to 700 day-passengers. The vessel's designation as a passenger ship rather than a cargo carrier is reflected in its crew composition, which included fifteen waiters, several stewards, and a stewardess. Notably, the stewardess was the only female crew member and one of just five women listed among the CPR Coast Service sea-going staff.

In addition, the ship’s complement of 54 crew members comprised three deck officers, 13 seamen, three engineer officers, nine firemen, and a wireless operator. Most were from England and Scotland; only a seaman, stoker, and junior steward were Canadian. As was typical, the two cooks in the galley and the two mess boys were Chinese.

Status withing the hierarchy on this floating household was indicated by a salary scale that applied to most of the CPR’s coastal fleet in British Columbia. Capt. Neroutsos earned $1920 annually, followed by Chief Engineer Pettigrew, who was paid $1630. The chief officer and the purser were next on the salary grid at $1200 per annum, followed by the second engineer ($1100) and first officer ($960). The chief cook earned the same salary ($900) as the third engineer, a wage commensurate with the cook’s culinary and management skills in the galley. The second cook was also relatively well paid. He received $600, less than firemen ($660) but more than seamen ($540) and waiters ($360).

The stewardess, who earned $300 year, was at the bottom of the salary scale. Her salary was comparable to that of her counterparts on the other CPR passenger ships and the rival GTP steamship, Prince Rupert, suggesting that compensation for this role was standardized across companies.

Presumably, the stewardess enjoyed some other perks, aside from salary, that made the job attractive. Perhaps it was the appeal of travel and working in the hospitality sector of the maritime industry. In any event, she and the crew would have been busy during a typical working week because of the sailing schedules imposed on ships like the Princes Royal.

CPR passenger steamers departing Victoria at 9 a.m. arrived in Vancouver by early afternoon, returned in the evening, and often undertook an overnight crossing back to Vancouver. During short layovers, crews replenished coal and the ships’ stores, prepared staterooms and readied dining saloons - a continuous cycle of duties with very little time for leisure.

Crew members aboard CPR ships on the popular Triangle Route also had a tight schedule. Steamers for Seattle left Victoria at 4 p.m. on a five-hour crossing. They left the Emerald City at 10 p.m. for an overnight passage to Vancouver, arriving at 7 a.m. Two hours later, they returned to Victoria.

All the while, the crew was tasked with ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers, for whom the voyage was an experience they shared with friends and the public through the medium of the local press. The daily newspapers in cities served by the CPR steamers included snippets about local residents who were travelling on these floating households. In March 1910, for example, the Social and Personal Column of the Victoria Daily Colonist noted that “Mr. David Spencer and Miss Spencer returned to the city yesterday afternoon on the Princess Royal, after spending several days in Puget Sound....Mrs. and Miss Cusack returned to the city yesterday afternoon, per the Princess Royal, from Seattle where they spent the Easter holidays on a pleasure trip.”

Passengers such as Mr. Spencer and Mrs. Cusack and their daughters likely knew very little about the crew who conveyed them across Puget Sound. Yet the census allows us to reconstruct a collective portrait of that workforce – a prosopographical profile of the Princess Royal’s floating household in 1911.