Floating Households

Coastal freighters

Although Vancouver had emerged as British Columbia’s premier city by the early twentieth century, Victoria retained a significant share of the coasting trade. A number of coastal freighters were registered in the port and appear in the 1911 census:

Coastal freighter Queen City.
Image courtesy of Maritime Museum of BC, 26079

Cascade (1906) - Capt. H. Milton + 6 crew
Forager (1904) - Chief Engineer John Roberts + 4 crew
Leebro (1908) - Capt. James Hunter + 13 crew
Vadso (1904) - Capt. E. LeBlanc + 26 crew
Venture (1910) - Capt. N. S. Matheson + 31 crew
Otter (1900) - Capt. Duncan J. McPherson + 13 crew
Tees (1893) - Capt. Edward Gillam + 29 crew
Queen City (1897) - Capt. J. H. Hawes + 20 crew
Amur (1890) - Capt. Leonard P. Locke + 36 crew

These vessels comprised an important sector of Victoria’s maritime economy. Unlike the large passenger steamers, their crews were smaller, with relatively few catering staff and an emphasis on cargo handling.

Passenger freighters Vadso and Venture, owned by the Boscowitz Steamship Company, operated regular routes linking Victoria to northern coastal communities. The Venture maintained a weekly service to Campbell River, Rivers Inlet, Namu, Bella Coola, and Bella Bella, while the Vadso sailed biweekly to Prince Rupert and the Skeena River.

CPR freighter Tees in Victoria harbour, c. 1905.
Image courtesy of Maritime Museum of BC, 14564.

Other vessels—including Otter, Tees, and Queen City—formed part of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s coastal fleet. Along with ships such as Princess Ena, they connected canneries, lumber camps, and whaling stations on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii. These coastwise freighters also carried passengers and goods to potlatches that continued to be held in Indigenous communities along the west coast of Vancouver Island during this period

The freighters suggest the breadth and scope of Victoria’s coastal trade, which extended from Alaska in the north to Puget Sound in the south. Their crews, as recorded in the 1911 census, formed structured households of transient residents, connecting Victoria with an extensive network of coastal settlements and industries.

The CPR passenger freighter Amur operated on the route between Victoria and Skagway. Like other vessels in Victoria Harbour, she was both a workplace and a home—a floating household structured by rank, duties, and wages. We can appreciate the dynamics of these households more clearly by going aboard the Amur and meeting her crew.