SS Princess Kathleen (1924)

The SS Princess Kathleen was a passenger and freight steamship owned and operated by Canadian Pacific Steamships. She served the coastal communities of British Columbia, Alaska and Washington.

The Princess Kathleen, along with the Princess Marguerite, was built to replace the SS Princess Irene and SS Princess Margaret, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty during World War I.

Princess Kathleen was built by John Brown & Co., Clydebank and launched in 1924. She sailed from Glasgow to Vancouver via the Panama Canal on her maiden voyage in 1925. The Princess Kathleen and the Princess Marguerite relieved the SS Princess Charlotte and SS Princess Victoria on the "triangle service" between Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle, for which she was built. With a capacity of 1500 passengers, 290 berths, 136 staterooms, a 168 seat dining room and the ability to carry 30 automobiles, the Princess Kathleen and Princess Marguerite quickly became the preferred ships on this service, successfully competing against the Black Ball Line. Both ships were later modified to carry 1800 passengers by reducing the number of staterooms to 123.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth traveled aboard Princess Kathleen en route to Victoria in 1939.

In September 1939 Princess Kathleen and Princess Marguerite were requisitioned by the Royal Canadian Navy for use as troop ships. Princess Marguerite was lost in action but Princess Kathleen was returned to Canadian Pacific in 1947 and resumed service on the "triangle service." Changing demands and increased automobile traffic saw Canadian Pacific transfer her in 1949 to the Vancouver - Alaska cruise service along the spectacular Inside Passage.

It was while during this assignment at 0300 local time on September 7, 1952 that Princess Kathleen ran aground at Lena Point in Alaska's Lynn Canal at low tide; it was later determined that radar was not operational at the time of the grounding. The United States Coast Guard was alerted two hours later and a rescue cutter arrived at 0630. The crew tried to reverse off Lena Point, however as the tide rose, her stern became swamped. All passengers and crew were transferred to lifeboats and ashore as she slid into deeper water and then sank.

The wreck of Princess Kathleen sits in approximately 50 ft-100 ft of water and is accessible to divers, however, tides and currents in the vicinity of Lena Point are strong. The wreck contains approximately 155000 USgal of Number 6 fuel oil and in April 2010 crews began operations to salvage the fuel in advance of a possible catastrophic leak.