~cruise Historians I Need Your Help!!!~

[wtevrfltsurbt]

Hello!

I guess cruising is just in my blood you could say:rolleyes: I have just found a photograph of my grandmother on a cruiseship dated 1912. Does anyone know where I can research what line could have been cruising a particular itinerary during that period? It was a west coast cruise to Alaska and in the photo I can see 3 smoke stacks so it was a ship of some size I believe, but no logos are visible. I will share the photo here in case anyone might have info. thanks for your imput!

Happy cruising!

[Lisa63]

It could have been the Canadian Pacific Line. Check out the attached site:

 

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/cp.html

 

I'm not certain that this is the same line as your grandmother sailed, although the funnels look similar (from what one can tell from a b/w photo). Perhaps her name appears in the passenger list link on the site.

 

I'll keep searching...

[wtevrfltsurbt]

Lisa,

 

Thanks for the link I will check it out!

 

It could have been the Canadian Pacific Line. Check out the attached site:

 

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/cp.html

 

I'm not certain that this is the same line as your grandmother sailed, although the funnels look similar (from what one can tell from a b/w photo). Perhaps her name appears in the passenger list link on the site.

 

I'll keep searching...

[dougnewmanatsea]

I would concur with Lisa, that it seems possible, even probable that this photo was taken aboard a CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) vessel.

 

Certainly, CPR had ships operating in Alaska at that time, and the funnel livery looks correct.

 

Despite having three funnels, this would not have been a very large ship. CPR did have some large vessels; before WWII they operated on both the Atlantic and the Pacific and together with the railway, hotels, coastal ships, etc., constituted what many considered to be the greatest transportation system on earth.

 

After WWII, the trans-Pacific service was ended, but an airline was added (later this became Canadian Airlines, which merged with Air Canada).

 

It has been a few decades since CP stopped operating passenger ships. A few years ago, CP shed its non-rail subsidiaries, with the railway (still called Canadian Pacific Railway), the hotels (now Fairmont Hotels & Resorts), and the shipping interests (called CP Ships, a legacy from the '60s when the company's various divisions were renamed CP Rail, CP Air, CP Hotels, etc., and united under the famous Multimark logo) all going their separate ways. Today, CP Ships is one of the largest container operators in the world.

 

While CP have long since stopped coastal services in Alaska along with their other passenger services, their legacy lives on in some ways with Princess. Of course Princess is one of the largest cruise operators in Alaska, but what many people do not know is that Princess Cruises began in 1966 when founder Stan MacDonald chartered one of CP's coastal British Columbian ships, PRINCESS PATRICIA. It is from the name of this ship that Princess Cruises was named!

 

Carnival, ironically now the corporate parent of Princess Cruises, also has an important link with CP. Their first ship, MARDI GRAS, started life as CP's last passenger liner, EMPRESS OF CANADA. While Princess' name arose as a result of the CP link, Carnival borrowed their logo - the Carnival logo used right through to today is a variation of the famous CP Multimark. Carnival simply changed the colors and modified the shape a bit, as the bead welding for the Multimark was already on the ship's funnel and they did not have the money to change it! The Multimark disappeared in the 1990s, but Carnival's logo is still going strong.

 

Anyhow, sorry for rambling on like this about CP, I am a huge CP fan and invariably if I get started on this subject it takes me a while before I stop ;) .

 

Back to the original question, I am going to contact an acquaintance of mine who is with the World Ship Society's Vancouver branch (I am a member of the New York branch), and see if he has any further ideas about this photo. I will let you know if I hear anything from him.

[wtevrfltsurbt]

OK WOW!

 

Doug your info is not only incredibly educational but truly appreciated! I cannot begin to tell you how much. My Grandmother died when I was only 5 yrs old and getting this info about a moment in her life somehow helps me to know her better. You are very kind.

 

Elena Fallin