Newspaper Database
The following is a collection of newspaper clippings from the Victoria Times, the Daily Colonist, and the Semi-Weekly Tribune which mention the Princess Sophia. They were collected from the British Colonist Online Edition as well as the University of Victoria microfilms and Royal BC Archives microfilms.
The Victoria Times
24 October 1918
Page 13: “Ashore in Lynn Canal,” boat specification, information on grounding.
26 October 1918
Page 1: “Disaster Overwhelms the Princess Sophia.”
28 October 1918
Page 1: “No sign of life; no hope for any survivors.” Particulars of the sinking.
Page 2: “Flags at Half Mast in Alaska.”
Page 4: Editorial discussing the disaster.
Page 10: List of victims, some with basic biographies. Specifically on Victorians who died.
Page 12: Map of Lynn Canal. Piece on the Park brothers. Answers to questions of negligence.
29 October 1918
Page 1: “Nearly Two Hundred Bodies Have Been Recovered; Identification of Victims Rapidly Proceeding.”
Page 8: Full page on identified victims, such as Chief Waller, Mr. and Mrs. Davis and Mr. and Mrs. Bridges.
30 October 1918
Page 1: Front page article on HMCS Galiano.
Page 15: Identification process of the victims. Pieces include, “Boy In Arms,” a piece on Norman Blyth, whose mother was sick with influenza, as well as Stanly Litchfield, who was not on the boat, and the wireless operator.
31 October 1918
Page 9: On D.C Coleman, the new Vice-President of the C.P.R.
Page 10: On HMCS Galiano and “No Hope of Saving Sophia.”
1 November 1918
Page 14: The Sophia salvage operation, undertaken by the salvage boat Tees, and a piece on the Princess Alice departing Juneau loaded with the dead.
2 November 1918
Page 14: Bodies are recovered from both the Sophia and the Galiano . Ducks are dying from the crude oil that surrounds the Sophia wreck.
12 November 1918
Page 10: The Princess Alive arrives in Victoria with the dead.
26 November 1918
Page 13: The Princess Mary is back from Alaska and another body is found.
31 December 1919
Page 17: The Princess Sophia is listed along with other wrecks of the year.
The Daily Colonist
25 October 1918
Page 14: Ashore in Lynn Canal, with photograph.
26 October 1918
Page 16: Paper connects the grounding of the Sophia to the grounding of the Del Norte fifty years prior.
Page 17: “Princess Sophia awaits salvage boat.”
27 October 1918
Page 1: News of the disaster reaches front page.
Page 2: Piece on sinking with photo of the Sophia. Names and small biographies on victims.
Page 4: List of dead. Also an article assuring the public that there was no negligence.
Page 21: Sophia put in the context of other marine disasters on the Pacific West Coast.
29 October 1918
Page 1: “Shores strewn with bodies.”
Page 2: Piece on Captain Locke and other local victims. Photographs provided.
Page 8: Victims continued. Article also denies the rumour that there was any gold on the ship, states there were only horses.
Page 10: “His Fate Recalls Romance of the Yukon.” Article on victim William Scouse.
Page 15: The search for bodies and cold winds.
30 October 1918
Page 1: “Many Bodies are Recovered.” Says jewels were recovered from the body of Mrs. Murray Eades.
Page 2: “Victoria’s toll of lives heavy.”
Page 5: New list of victims. Piece on Stanly Litchfield.
Page 8: “Many Bodies are Recovered” continued.
Page 9: “Tragedy may affect mining development.”
31 October 1918
Page 1: “Search Raging Seas for Missing Galiano.”
Page 2: Sophia remembered in light of the Galiano.
Page 4: Sermon. Preached by late Bishop Cridge for the Valencia in 1906, but re-circulated for the Sophia tragedy.
Page 7: Statement by new head of the C.P.R.’s western lines, D.C. Coleman.
1 November 1918
Page 1: Front page confirming that the Princess Sophia is a total wreck, the boat is not salvageable.
Page 2: Body of Galiano sailor found. Reference to Sophia.
Page 4: “The Harbor of Eternity,” a memorial poem by Louise Shrapnel Keith.
Page 16: Crew was not to blame.
2 November 1918
Page 15: On the Tees salvaging exploits. Mentions memorial services to be held in Toronto.
3 November 1918
Page 1: “Oil Suffocated Wreck Victims,” a report from Dawson.
Page 17: Victorians who lost their lives with photos.
5 November 1918
Page 1: “Treasure and Body Found on Sophia.“
Page 13: Story continued from page 1.
6 November 1918
Page 11: Memorial services were held in Toronto.
7 November 1918
Page 8: C.P.R. manager Coleman asks public to “reserve any hysterical statements.”
Page 12: Notice that Mrs. Dodds of North Saltspring lost brother in wreck.
Page 13: Salvage efforts. Princess Alice to bring back bodies. Fifty horses lost, were to have gone to Siberia with troops.
8 November 1918
Page 9: “Whole story of Sophia disaster” as told by Alaska Governor Thomas Riggs. Also, the log from the King and Wing.
10 November 1918
Page 2: Letter to the editor called “Old Time Friends Lost.”
Page 16: “First Case Arising From Sophia Disaster,” launched against C.P.R. on behalf on Mrs. C.S. Templeman (mother of a victim.
Page 21: “Death Ship Will Arrive on Tuesday.” Alice will arrive in Victoria on Tuesday. Tells how process of identification will be carried out.
12 November 1918
Page 2: Princess Alice reaches Vancouver. Gosse presumed to have reached shore alive.
Page 7: Obituaries.
Page 12: Death announcements.
Page 15: Princess Alice will arrive with bodies. Public memorials postponed due to influenza.
13 November 1918
Page 1: “Losses on the Sophia included Christmas packages for the Yukon boys at the front.”
Page 7: Funeral notices for Dalby, Steinburger, Dallas, Neilson, Beadle.
Page 12: Alice arrives with the dead.
14 November 1918
Page 6: Police identify body of Peter Orton.
Page 7: Obituary and funeral notice for Deans, Tribe, Wilkinson.
Page 13: Nanaimo victims buried in Nanaimo.
Page 14: Death notices for Tribe, Gosse, Waller, Bloomquist, Smith, Neilson, Beadle, Dallas, Deans.
Page 16: Under “Marine Miscellany:, Tees salvage steamer on way to Victoria.
Page 17: “Silent Story of Sophia Tragedy.” Photo of Sophia on the rocks, and with only mast showing.
15 November 1918
Page 7: Funerals for Beadle, Dallas, Gosse and Phillips.
16 November 1918
Page 13: Discusses the problem of holding an inquiry for Sophia.
Page 14: Death notices for Neilson, Hitchen, Smith and his sons.
17 November 1918
Page 7: Funeral of Lee Bing Chow and his internment at the Chinese Cemetery.
Page 12: Navy League gives support to families.
Page 18: Cards of Thanks from families for the community’s support.
19 November 1918
Page 8: Thanks for gifts of sympathy from the Gosse family.
Page 16: Victims of wreck buried at Nanaimo.
Page 14: More death notices.
21 November 1918
Page 12: “Improbable story of a Sophia survivor.”
22 November 1918
Page 7: Cook George Hong to be embalmed until he can be sent back to China.
23 November 1918
Page 7: Memorial Service held at St. John’s Church on Quadra Street.
Page 10: Navy League asks for “Shipping Act Amendment.”
26 November 1918
Page 14: Baggage and a child’s body found, evidence of Sophia wreck still being recovered.
27 November 1918
Page 3: Search for the will of victim Capt. Alexander.
Page 13: Dawson News to publish a memorial edition.
31 December 1918
Page 12: Small paragraph saying that the Sophia wreck was still whole.
2 February 1919
Page 21: “The Last Farewell,” poem by M.C. Ironside.
Semi-Weekly Tribune
28 October 1918
Page 6: In “City in Brief,” outlines the details of the disaster.
21 November 1918
Page 1: Calls the Sophia “A Case for Investigation.”
Page 6: Continued from page 1.