1930
Built by Fairfield Co., Glasgow, Scotland
Length: 365' Beam: 52' Draft: 25' Tonnage: 5251
A pair of handsome sister-ships, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Joan, also arrived at their home port of Victoria from Great Britain in 1930- for CPR coastal service, also products of the Fairfield yard. These 365 foot three-funnel vessels were driven by twin screws and quadruple-expansion engines giving them a service speed of 161/2 knots. First used in the famous CPR midnight sailings between Victoria and Vancouver, they also became known to thousands of tourists as the last of the CPR steamers to operate on the winter Seattle-Victoria run. Gordon Newell, the HW McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, page 400.
The Canadian Pacific steamship Princess Joan while outbound with 400 passengers from Vancouver to Victoria, rammed and sank the small coastal freight steamer Squid on the night of October 12. The freighter, owned by Frank Waterhouse & Co., was transporting 25 tons of dynamite to the Brittania Mining & Smelting Co. in Howe Sound when the accident occurred near Point Grey, Vancouver. The dynamite did not explode and no lives were lost, the Princess Joan taking the five-man crew safely off the Squid. Gordon Newell, "Maritime Events of 1943-1944," H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest.Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1966. p. 520.
On the evening of February 25th, 1959, the steamship Princess Elizabeth left Seattle on the final voyage in year-round passenger service between that port and Victoria, which had been inaugurated on January 20th, 1904 by the Princess Beatrice. The breaking of this maritime link of well over half a century passed almost unnoticed in Seattle, although the Washington State Ferry Quinault altered her course to salute the departing three stacker as did the tugs Carol Foss and Shannon Foss. The harbor launch Susan Jane, operated by maritime photographer Joe Williamson, who has recorded most important Puget Sound maritime events for the past 30 years, also escorted the Princess from Elliott Bay. The Princess Joan and Princess Elizabeth were laid up at Victoria and subsequently disposed of. This also terminated the famous midnight sailings of these steamers between Victoria and Vancouver. Service on the Seattle-Victoria route continued during the summer months only, maintained by the splendid day liners Princess Marguerite and Princess Patricia. All winter service between Victoria and Vancouver was also canceled at this time, but heavy protests from provincial and local governments resulted in an agreement by the company to continue service on a limited basis of one round trip daily by the Princess Marguerite or Princess Patricia. The Vancouver-Nanaimo ferry service by Princess of Vancouver and Princess of Nanaimo continued. Gordon Newell, the HW McCurdy Martime History of the Pacific Northwest, page 634.
The CPR three-funneled coast steamship Princess Joan and Princess Elizabeth, in layup since the abandonment of the Vancouver-Victoria and winter triangle routes, were sold to the Epirotiki Line of Greece and placed in excursion service to the Greek Inlands with three other old B.C. Coastal liners, Princess Alice, Princess Adelaide and Princess Charlotte. The two latest acquisitions were renamed Pegasus and Hermes. Page 652.
FINAL DISPOSITION
1961: sold to Epirotiki Line, reanmed Hermes and rebuilt with one funnel.
1974: Scrapped.
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