collection 986.019.0011-0022 - William Deacon Fonds

The Harbour Navigation Company, Vancouver B.C. firm began by operating small ferry boats on the Fraser River. In the 1930s, the business moved to Coal Harbour in Vancouver running small passenger ferries up Indian Arm. Today, they also operate harbour cruises.

The Canadian Pacific Railway Company entered into the shipping business in 1884, operating three ships on the Great Lakes. In 1901, with the acquisition of the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, the C.P.R. Company had established shipping services between British Columbia and Asia, on inland waterways in British Columbia, and in British Columbia coastal waters. Transatlantic freight and passenger services started in 1903. Eventually, C.P.R.’s deep-sea fleet came to be managed in Liverpool and most of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s ocean-going vessels were registered in the UK and in the late 1970s, the company divested itself of its coastal and passenger shipping.

In 1971, the name of the deep-sea operation was changed to C.P. Ships. In 2001, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company was divided into four separate entities one of which was C.P. Ships. In 2005, C.P. Ships was acquired by a German conglomerate and by 2011, the C.P. Ships name had disappeared from commercial shipping.