Floating Households
Canadian Pacific steamships
The Canadian Pacific steamship terminal was located on the south side of Victoria’s Inner Harbour along Belleville Street. Vessels docking here were operated by the British Columbia Coast Service of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which maintained regular passenger and freight connections between Victoria, Vancouver, and Seattle.
CPR steamship terminal in Victoria, 1910
Image courtesy of City of Victoria Archives, M00830
Eight steamships were enumerated at the CPR wharves in June 1911. In order of visitation by the census enumerator, they were:
Princess Victoria (1902) - Capt. Patrick J. Hickey + 90 crew
Princess Mary (1910) - Capt. M.J. McCleod + 52 crew
Princess Adelaide (1910) - Capt. Robert A. Hunter + 91 crew
Princess Charlotte (1908) - Capt. Thomas O. Griffin + 92 crew
Princess Ena (1907) - Capt. Charles Campbell + 28 crew
Princess Beatrice (1903) - Capt. W. H. Whiteley + 41 crew
Princess Royal (1907) - Capt. C. D. Neroutsos + 53 crew
Joan (1892) - Capt. P. Ritchie + 19 crew
The largest vessels in the fleet, Princess Victoria and Princess Charlotte, each carried more than three hundred passengers and were deployed on the “Triangle Route” linking Victoria, Seattle, and Vancouver. With multiple daily sailings, these ships formed the core of a highly regularized coastal transport system.
The census reveals the internal structure of these vessels in unusual detail. Each ship functioned as a large, tightly organized household, with clearly defined ranks and responsibilities. Officers, engineers, deckhands, and service staff were all enumerated in sequence, reflecting a disciplined hierarchy that extended from the bridge to the galley. Compared to smaller vessels in the harbour, CPR steamships displayed the most complex and stratified labour organization
The crew of Princess Victoria included twenty-one seamen, seventeen firemen and stokers, and twenty stewards and waiters. Nine cooks and pantrymen, all Chinese, manned the ship's galley. The crew of her sister steamer, Princess Charlotte, included a fourteen-year old bootblack.
Princess Royal on ways in Victoria Machinery Depot shipyard, Victoria harbour, 1911
Image courtesy of BC Archives, A-06308
Women were almost entirely absent from Victoria’s population afloat. Only four were recorded in the 1911 shipping list, two of whom were employed aboard CPR vessels: a cashier on Princess Adelaide and a stewardess on Princess Royal. Their presence, though limited, points to the gendered structure of shipboard labour, particularly within passenger service roles.
The CPR steamships represent one of the most visible and familiar segments of Victoria’s maritime world. Their regular arrivals and departures in the Inner Harbour – announced by distinctive whistles and easily recognized profiles – made them a constant presence in the daily life of the city.
Passengers aboard these vessels would have been well aware of the shipboard hierarchy that served them as they travelled in comfort to Seattle, Vancouver, and other coastal ports. What they likely knew far less about was the makeup of the workforce itself. A glimpse of that hidden world emerges in June 1911, when a census enumerator stepped aboard the Princess Royal and recorded the structured and remarkably diverse crew of a typical CPR “Princess” steamer.