Pacific Steamship Company

The Pacific Steamship Company, based in Seattle, Washington, was formed in 1916 through the merger of two earlier companies: Pacific Alaska Navigation Company and the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, which had been based in San Francisco.

Robert Butchart was on the Pacific Steamship Company’s Board of Directors from 1916 to 1932.

Advertisement for the Pacific Steamship Company’s Admiral Line, 1926. Notice that it took 5 days to travel by Admiral Line ships between Victoria and Los Angeles. Railroads took far less time to travel the same route, a fact which ultimately contributed to the Admiral Line going out of business in 1936. Notice also the reference to taking a car to California on the ship by “check[ing] it like an extra trunk in [the] auto-baggage service….” (Author's collection)
Advertisement for the Pacific Steamship Company’s Admiral Line, 1926. Notice that it took 5 days to travel by Admiral Line ships between Victoria and Los Angeles. Railroads took far less time to travel the same route, a fact which ultimately contributed to the Admiral Line going out of business in 1936. Notice also the reference to taking a car to California on the ship by “check[ing] it like an extra trunk in [the] auto-baggage service….” (Author’s collection)
909 Government Street in downtown Victoria. Built in 1903 by architects Thomas Hooper and C. Elwood Watkins, it was the Victoria office of the Pacific Steamship Company's Admiral Line. Robert Butchart was on the Pacific Steamship Company's Board of Directors. (photo by Author)
909 Government Street in downtown Victoria. Built in 1903 by architects Thomas Hooper and C. Elwood Watkins, it was the Victoria office of the Pacific Steamship Company’s Admiral Line. Robert Butchart was on the Pacific Steamship Company’s Board of Directors. (photo by Author)

Here are some pages with more information about the Admiral Line ship, SS Emma Alexander:

Here are some pages with more information about the Admiral Line ship, SS Ruth Alexander:

Here is an excerpt from our book, From Devastation To Beauty: The Creation Of The Butchart Gardens:

“….The Pacific Alaska Navigation Company was organized in 1912 by Hubbard F. Alexander of Tacoma, Washington through the merger of the Alaska Pacific Steamship Company, of which Alexander was President, and the Alaska Coast Company, of which Alexander was general manager. Pacific Alaska Navigation was one of the leading operators in passenger and freight steamship service along the west coast between California and Alaska, its main ports of call being San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Astoria and Seattle. The company operated under the trade name “The Admiral Line” since it named most of its ships after U.S. Navy Admirals.

The company also serviced the Seattle-Victoria passenger run with two of its smaller ships, the 442 foot Emma Alexander, named for Hubbard Alexander’s mother, and the Ruth Alexander, named for Hubbard Alexander’s wife.

In 1916, the Pacific Alaska Navigation Company purchased a leading competitor: the San Francisco based Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Hubbard Alexander merged the two companies under a new name, the Pacific Steamship Company, based in Seattle, Washington. Retaining the trade name “The Admiral Line”, the Pacific Steamship Company operated a west coast passenger service until it went out of business in 1936, unable to compete with railroads, which offered much faster intercity travel with the added advantage of downtown train stations, a major consideration in cities like Los Angeles where the steamship docks were a considerable distance from the downtown…..”

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