Princess Louise (sidewheeler)

Princess Louise, at Masset, BC, circa 1880.
History
Name:	Princess Louise
Owner:	Hudson's Bay Company; Canadian Pacific Railway, others.
Route:	San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound, coastal British Columbia and southeast Alaska
In service:	1869
Out of service:	1919 (unpowered after 1906)
Identification:	Canadian #72682: US #19297
Fate:	Sank at Port Alice, British Columbia
General characteristics
Tonnage:	971 gross tons.
Length:	180 ft (55 m)
Beam:	30 ft (9 m)
Depth:	12.5 ft (4 m) depth of hold
Installed power:	Walking beam single-cylinder steam engine
Propulsion:	side wheels
Sail plan:	brig (auxiliary)

Princess Louise was a sidewheel steamboat built in 1869. From 1869 to 1879 this ship was named Olympia. In 1879 the name was changed to Princess Louise, after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, a daughter of Queen Victoria who was married to Marquess of Lorne (1845-1914), Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. Princess Louise was the last sidewheeler to be operated commercially on the coast of British Columbia.

Olympia was built in 1869 in New York City by John English and Sons to the order of George S. Wright, a pioneer steamboat man on Puget Sound. The ship was 180 feet (55 m) long, with a beam of 30 feet (9.1 m) and depth of hold of 12.5 feet (3.8 m). The hull was built of seasoned white oak. Power was supplied by single-cylinder walking beam type steam engine, manufactured by John Roach & Sons. The cylinder was 46 inches (1,200 mm) in diameter and had a stroke of 11 feet (132 inches). The engine generated 350 horsepower. Overall size of the vessel was 971 gross tons, and, as of 1874, 493 registered tons. The ship had an auxiliary sailing rig as a brig. The official United States steamboat registry number was 19297.

Construction of Olympia was supervised by Capt. James Bolger, who commanded the vessel in the 75-day delivery voyage around Cape Horn. Olympia arrived in San Francisco on November 19, 1869. Continuing north, Olympia arrived at the city of Olympia on December 3, 1869.

On December 7, 1869, Olympia was employed on the Olympia-Victoria route for the first time, running under the ownership of the Finch and Wright partnership.Olympia was a replacement for the older and slower Eliza Anderson, a vessel once so profitable that it became known as the "floating gold mine", which the partnership then used as a reserve boat. In April 1870, the partnership suffered a business reverse when the mail contract was lost to Capt. J.T. Nash, who had submitted an annual bid of $12,000 to carry mail on weekly runs to Victoria, British Columbia and on a semi-weekly route between Olympia and Port Townsend, Washington Territory. Nash, who was to take over the mail contract on July 1, 1870, prepared by purchasing and reconstructing the half-completed sidewheeler Tacoma.