Comox author and historian Ian Kennedy announces the publication of his latest book: The Best Loved Boat: The Princess Maquinna. It is his eighth book.
The book tells the story of the B.C.-built ship, the Princess Maquinna that sailed up and down the West Coast of Vancouver Island for nearly 40 years, from 1913 until 1952. She served all of the communities there before roads connected them to civilization.
鈥淚 discovered there were lots of articles about the Maquinna, but no one had ever written a book about her,鈥� says Kennedy. 鈥淪o I thought I would fill the void.鈥�
The people on the West Coast relied on the Maquinna for their supplies, medical needs, food, mail, newspapers, liquor and transportation in and out of their communities. Weddings were timed to the ship鈥檚 schedule; women took her to hospitals in Port Alberni or Victoria for the births of their children, and tourists flocked to buy tickets to cruise on her in the summers. She made three 1,500-kilometre trips a month from Victoria to Holberg, near the top of the Island, and back, stopping at more than 30 ports, some of which had no wharves.
鈥淪he was a workhorse, but she also featured luxuries seldom found in pioneering settings like the West Coast,鈥� said Kennedy. 鈥淪he boasted luxurious cabins, a dining room with linen tablecloths, liveried waiters and fine food, and the people connected with the crew because the officers sat at the tables with the passengers for meals. It was like a local bus and the people grew to love her calling her 鈥淥ld Faithful鈥� because of her reliability.
鈥淚n her long career sailing on the hazardous 鈥楪raveyard of the Pacific,鈥� she never came to grief.鈥�
The book takes readers on an imaginary 1924 trip on the Maquinna describing what such a trip would have been like, stopping at remote villages, canneries, whaling stations, gyppo logging shows and mines. 鈥淏oat days鈥� at the various stops along the way brought the communities together with neighbours meeting each other as the ship unloaded her goods. Readers meet Captain Edward Gillam and his crew, learn how the triple expansion steam engines drove the ship and how Gillam navigated in fog and still kept to a tight schedule.
The book also relates how Aboriginal passengers were not allowed inside the ship but had to stay on the forward deck, or in the hold in bad weather, yet the CPR still used images of First Nation people to promote their cruises.
鈥淭his is a B.C.鈥檚 maritime story that British Columbians should be aware of,鈥� says Kennedy. 鈥淚t makes good reading.鈥�
Kennedy will be signing books at the Laughing Oyster bookstore on Fifth Street in Courtenay from 1-2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12.
