BC Maritime Museum – Remembering the Princess Sophia

BC Maritime Museum

The original CPR sign that hung above the entrance of Victoria Harbor's CPR passenger terminal now hangs above the MMBC's display on the Princess ships. In the bottom left corner, the model of the Princess Alice is visible. — The original CPR sign that hung above the entrance of Victoria Harbour’s CPR passenger terminal now hangs above the MMBC’s display on the *Princess* ships. In the bottom left corner, the model of the *Princess Alice* is visible.

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia, located at 28 Bastion Square in Victoria, BC, has a direct link to the sinking of the Sophia. The third floor of the museum used to be Victoria’s court room, and it was there that the original court hearing to determine who was responsible for the disaster opened on January 6, 1919, under the supervision of Justice Aulay Morrison. Morrison ultimately determined that the ship “was lost through the peril of the sea,” a claim which the public largely accepted.¹

A model of the Princess Alice, the ship that traveled north to take passengers off the grounded Sophia, but returned laden with coffins.

The Museum is planning a new exhibit on the sinking of the Princess Sophia for the event’s centenary in 2018. As of now, information about the Sophia is included within the larger context of the CPR’s Princess ships. The museum also has a stunning model of the “Ship of Sorrow,” the Princess Alice, which was sent to Juneau to retrieve the victims’ bodies. If you are interested in learning more about the tragedy and seeing actual artifacts, the Maritime Museum would be an excellent place to start.

^{1. Coates and Morrison, The Sinking of the Princess Sophia, 145-146.↩}

Photos of the exhibits taken by Courtney Reynoldson, 23 March 2014.