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The Klondike gold rush galvanized the Union Steamship
Company to begin operations in Alaska. The company was
founded in 1889 by John Darling, the director of a New
Zealand shipping company who recognized a great need for
a scheduled service that would transport supplies and work crews to various northern BC sites; he also
realized there was little competition in Vancouver.
Darling assembled an assortment of vessels, creating a
successful business. The Union fleet became synonymous
with pioneers and loggers, and for 70 years, ships
sporting the company’s black and red funnels plied the
coast, servicing logging camps, canneries, mines and
coastal communities. The Union Steamship Company was the
first line to use Vancouver as homeport.
 As early as 1889, Darling also noted a growing market
for coastal tourism but lacked the money for dedicated
tourist ships. Instead, company executives built
multi-purpose ships and promoted excursions whereby
passengers could enjoy traveling aboard a “working”
ship.
During WWI, the company experienc ducing the number of ships
cruising to Alaska each summer to four.
While the Union Steamship Company was the smallest of
the three BC cruise companies that handled cruises to
Alaska, it built up a great tradition that resulted in
several published histories of the company: Whistle Up
the Inlet and its sequel Echoes of the Whistler by
Gerald A. Rushton, Union Steamships Remembered by Art
Twigg and later The Good Company by Tom Henry.
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Comox, Capilano and Coquitlam were a trio of early Union
steamships assembled and launched in Vancouver. Most of
the Union fleet that were used for servicing logging
camps and pioneer settlements were small, rough
steamships. The wooden-hulled Cassiar was probably the
most famous, if only because loggers were allowed to
wear caulk boots on board, or even to bed. It was also
equipped with an onboard bar and jail.
When the Union Steamship Company decided to get into the
tourist excursion business, it acquired steamers that
were a cut above the company’s usual vessels. These
boats received the “Lady” prefix, in keeping with their
elevated status. The first was Lady Evelyn, followed by
two former Royal Navy minesweepers (Swindon and
Barnstable) that were re-launched as Lady Cynthia and
Lady Cecilia.
The flagship of the Union’s day or overnight excursion
fleet was Lady Alexandra, built in 1923-24. During the
depressed 1930s, the ship provided an exotic, if brief,
getaway for hundreds of Vancouverites who could afford
the $1 round-trip fare to Bowen Island. It boasted a
promenade deck that ran three-quarters of its 225 ft (69
m) length and an excellently equipped restaurant.
Maintaining order on a ship carrying up to 2,000
partying passengers often proved challenging—crew
members had to lug drunks off the ship, stacking them
like cordwood onto freight dollies. In 1937 alone, Lady
Alexandra carried 171,000 passengers.
After WWII, many former warships were again purchased by
steamship lines and converted to passenger liners. One
such example is the former Royal Canadian Navy corvette
that the Union Steamship Company turned into the steamer
Chilcotin. Alas, the company’s haste in the uneconomical
conversion of war-surplus vessels, along with management
failure to secure greater tonnage prior to the war,
encouraged its decline. In the end, the remaining active
Union fleet was sold to Northland Navigation Company.
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Early Union ships taking tourists to Alaska:
- Capilano I was the first British-built vessel to sail
from a BC port carrying passengers bound for the
Klondike gold rush in 1897.
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Cutch was a large steam yacht originally built for the
Maharajah of Cutch.
Purchased by Union, the ship first
handled the Nanaimo run under contract to the Canadian
Pacific Railway, but was re-engined for Alaskan service
in 1898 and ran from Vancouver to Skagway until it was
wrecked south of Juneau in 1900.
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- Coquitlam I was rebuilt for Alaskan service in 1897
and briefly took over the Skagway run. The ship stayed
in the Union fleet until 1923.
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Later Union ships running cruises to Alaska:
- Chilcotin saw Union service from 1947-1958, primarily
for Alaskan summer cruises.
- Both Coquitlam II and Camosun III worked the northern
British Columbia and Queen Charlotte Islands routes
primarily, but also spent several seasons in Alaska
cruise service. In 1958, both vessels were sold to
Alaska Cruise Lines and renamed Glacier Queen and Yukon
Star, respectively.
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