Floating Households

Grand Trunk Pacific steamships

The Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) Coast Steamship Company operated in direct competition with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) on key coastal routes. Its terminal, located on Wharf Street on the north side of Victoria’s Inner Harbour, faced the CPR wharves across the harbour, symbolizing a rivalry that extended from rail to sea.

GTP steamship Prince George
Image courtesy of UBC Library Chung Collection

GTP’s principal services linked Victoria with Seattle and connected Vancouver to Prince Rupert, the western terminus of the transcontinental Grand Trunk Railway. (Following the First World War, the Grand Trunk system was absorbed into the Canadian National Railways.)

The company operated two nearly identical passenger steamers, Prince Rupert (1909) and Prince George (1910), both built in Newcastle-on-Tyne by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd—the same shipyard responsible for Princess Victoria. Contemporary observers remarked on their distinctive appearance. As historian Norman Hacking noted, they were “smart, racy looking vessels with three very tall, slim funnels,” painted in a striking colour scheme that emphasized their modern design.

Each vessel measured approximately 3,379 gross tons and 320 feet in length—slightly larger than Princess Victoria, though marginally smaller than Princess Charlotte. Designed for both comfort and capacity, they accommodated over two hundred first-class passengers, with additional second-class berths and the ability to carry up to 1,500 passengers on excursions.

The 1911 census captures these vessels as large and highly organized floating households. Under the command of Capt. B. L. (“Barney”) Johnson, Prince Rupert carried a crew of 91, while Prince George, commanded by Capt. Frank T. Saunders, had a complement of 96. As with CPR vessels, the census recorded a full hierarchy of officers, engineers, deck crew, and service staff.

GTP steamship Prince Rupert at the Grand Trunk Pacific wharf in Victoria's Inner Harbour, 1911.
Image courtesy of BC Archives, D-06308

At the same time, the census reveals important distinctions within this structure. The galley crews were entirely composed of Asian workers—eight Chinese crew members aboard Prince George and nine Japanese crew members aboard Prince Rupert. Their concentration within service roles reflects the racialized division of labour characteristic of the Pacific maritime economy in this period.

Both vessels also employed a female stewardess. Along with the small number of women serving aboard CPR steamships, these individuals account for all women recorded in Victoria’s 1911 “shipping list,” underscoring the overwhelmingly male composition of the harbour’s population afloat.

The GTP steamships represent a parallel system to the CPR fleet: similar in scale, structure, and function, yet operating under a competing corporate regime. Their presence highlights the degree to which Victoria Harbour in 1911 was shaped not only by maritime activity, but by rivalry between national transportation networks.