SS Princess Marguerite
| History | |
|---|---|
 Canada
|
|
| Name: | Princess Marguerite |
| Owner: | Canadian Pacific Railway |
| Builder: | John Brown & Co., Clydebank |
| Launched: | September 1924 |
| Commissioned: | 1925 |
| Decommissioned: | 1941 (as a ferry) |
| Out of service: | 1942 (as a troopship) |
| Fate: | Torpedoed |
| Status: | Sunk |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 5,875 t (5,782 long tons) |
| Length: | 369 ft (112.5 m) |
| Beam: | 60 ft (18.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam turbine; twin screw |
| Speed: | 22.5 kn (41.7 km/h) |
Princess Marguerite II
|
|
 Canada
|
|
|---|---|
| Name: | Princess Marguerite II |
| Owner: |
|
| Builder: | Fairfield Shipbuilders and Engineers Company Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland |
| Acquired: | 1948 |
| In service: | 1948 |
| Out of service: | 1989 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 5,911 t (5,818 long tons) |
| Length: | 373 ft (113.7 m) |
| Beam: | 56 ft (17.1 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 23 kn (43 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 2,000 |
|
Canada
|
|
|---|---|
| Name: | Princess Marguerite III |
| Owner: | BC Ferries |
| Builder: | Victoria Machinery Depot, Victoria |
| Launched: | September 1965 |
| Renamed: |
|
| Status: | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Burnaby-class ferry |
| Length: | 426 ft (130 m) |
| Propulsion: | Diesel; twin screw |
| Capacity: | 650 passengers, 192 cars |
Princess Marguerite, Princess Marguerite II, and Princess Marguerite III was a series of Canadian coastal passenger vessels that operated along the west coast of British Columbia and into Puget Sound in Washington State almost continuously from 1925 to 1999. Known locally as “the Maggie”, they saw the longest service of any vessel that carried passengers and freight between Victoria, Vancouver, and Seattle. The vessels were owned and operated by a series of companies, primarily Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPSS) and British Columbia Steamships Corporation. The first two were part of the CPR "Princess fleet," which was composed of ships having names which began with the title "Princess". These were named after Marguerite Kathleen Shaughnessy, who was not a princess but was the daughter of Baron Thomas Shaughnessy, then chairman of the board of CPSS's parent, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).
The first Maggie was constructed at Clydebank near Glasgow, Scotland in 1924 for the CPR's British Columbia Coast Service. She was a class of vessel the CPR called "miniature luxury liners." On March 25, 1925, Princess Marguerite departed Scotland on her maiden voyage to Victoria British Columbia and for the next 26 years sailed the Triangle Route between Victoria, Vancouver, and Seattle. In 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth sailed from Vancouver to Victoria on board the Maggie.
In September 1941, the British Admiralty requisitioned Princess Marguerite for use in the Second World War. After being retrofitted in Esquimalt, she sailed to Hawaii, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, and across the Indian Ocean en route to the Mediterranean, where she served as a troopship. On August 17, 1942, while en route in a convoy from Port Said, Egypt to Cyprus with 125 crewmen and 998 British soldiers on board, Princess Marguerite was hit by two torpedoes fired by the German submarine U-83, sinking the vessel with a loss of between 50 and 60 soldiers and crewmembers. News of the sinking was withheld from the public until January 22, 1945.
...
Wikipedia