This is a story of a murder, not of a human soul, but rather, the murder of a once-great ship,
a ship considered the pride of British Columbia and a charming lady who transported
her passengers in safety and style. This is the story of the S.S. Princess Louise.
August 29th, 1921...Wallace Shipyards in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The chilly breeze
brought with it the salty air of the harbor, and though rainclouds threatened another deluge, there
was a welcoming break in the weather. The shipyard erupted in cheers as the men celebrated the launch
of their latest ship, S.S. Princess Louise, named after the daughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria.
Canadian Pacific Railway’s British Columbia Coast Steamship company was operating a fleet
of ships just like these, all named after Princess royals. The ship that was launched
on this day was to ferry passengers on the 1,700 mile or 2700 kilometer journey between Vancouver,
British Columbia to Skagway, Alaska. The ship was built to ocean liner standards,
meaning that it was strong enough to withstand terrible Pacific weather. Her delicate interior
design was both charming and elegant, featuring iron railings in an almost Art Nouveau style.
Her dark maple and oak paneling was contrasted by the white ceilings, illuminated with conservative
bowl-shaped lamps. One could almost be mistaken to think they were riding aboard a Cunard or
White Star Line ship, and that was on purpose. Many passenger ships were lost during the Great War
since they were often pressed into military service. When the war had ended, shipyards across
the U.K. were busy rebuilding the fleets. So when the British Columbia Coast Steamship company was
looking to build their princess fleet, they hired local builders. The shipbuilders of
British Columbia were eager to prove they could design and construct ships just as well as
their larger competitors across the Atlantic. They certainly had succeeded in their goal.
The Princess Louise had a capacity of 1,000 day trip passengers, people who
were traveling a short distance. But the ship also contained 133 staterooms to accommodate
overnight guests. The rooms were modern, but had a familiar appearance to the second-class
cabins aboard the larger British liners. The ship was 4,032 Gross Tonnes and stretched
a length of 97 meters, or 317 feet. Her beam was 15 meters, or 48 feet across. Deep inside
her hull pounded her engine, a quadruple cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine,
it drove the ship through the waters of the Northern Pacific at a top speed of 17 knots.
She did her job well and was beloved by the Vancouver locals,
she was called “The Queen of the Northern Sea” and she certainly was a regal little lady.
In 1964, the Princess was ready to retire after nearly 42 years of service.
She was purchased by Jerry Sutton of Shoreline Holdings and brought to the port of Los Angeles,
California. She was moored on Terminal Island, and reopened her doors in 1966 as the largest
floating restaurant in the United States. The S.S. Princess Louise was once again charming
tourists and locals, just like she used to in her heyday. She served up to 2,000 guests per day,
and many folks considered her affordable deluxe cuisine to be the finest in L.A.,
not to mention the views of the harbor aboard her boat deck were captivating.
In 1979 she was moved a short distance over to Berth 94 in San Pedro where she would live out
the rest of her life. She continued serving banquets, business meetings, soirees, and
wedding receptions, earning herself a wonderful reputation, however, the good times didn’t last.
In 1984 she was sold to Marion Perkov who thought the sale of the purchase
also included the lease to the berth the ship was moored at, unfortunately,
this wasn’t so. Just four years later in 1988, Mr. Perkov couldn’t afford the $10,000 per month lease
and had to file for bankruptcy. The Bank of San Pedro repossessed the ship, ripping the Princess
from the comfort of her pier-side home and moving her to the desolate docks of a nearby shipyard.
The bank said they were going to repair the vessel in order to sell it,
but some would argue that was never the intention. Oddly enough, on October 30th, 1989,
the ship capsized in broad daylight at her berth in the shipyard. Instead of being immediately
refloated, she was left there for several months while the bank thought of what to do with her.
The insurance company suspected foul play and decided not to pay out money for the supposed accident.
While the ship lay helplessly in the dock, divers pillaged her artifacts and fittings,
stealing up to $50,000 worth of items. One of the reports claimed that the looters even held
a party on Easter weekend, callously referring to it as “The Rape of the Princess Louise”.
The Bank was no longer interested in saving the ship and decided to have her
towed out to Catalina Island to be sunk as an artificial reef for diving tourists to visit.
On June 30th, 1990, the ship’s rotting hull was hauled onto a massive barge, the idea was to sink
her in 500 feet of water, unfortunately, on the way to the site, the barge began to take on water,
and to prevent the risk of further danger to the barge or the crew, it was decided to scuttle
the ship prematurely. She sank to a depth of 900 feet and landed amid a toxic waste dumping area.
There were plans drawn up for retrieving the ship, but ultimately, it was deemed too expensive and
too dangerous, considering the size of the sunken vessel. She was abandoned there, off the coast of
Southern California, too deep to be visited by divers, and surrounded by deadly toxic waste.
The once-grand ocean liner, the Queen of the Northern Sea, spent her final days
battered and beaten, men rummaging through her interiors and stripping off her valuables,
and after such a violent end, she was left dumped in an unmarked grave in a lonely stretch of water
where the rays of sunlight could never shine. A truly tragic ending
to the story of a once charming little steamship, the lovely S.S. Princess Louise.