User:Mpschaff/sandbox

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"they saw the longest service of any vessel that carried passengers and freight on the triangle route between Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle."

"In September 1941, the British Admiralty requisitioned the two fastest ships on the triangle route, the Princess Kathleen and the Princess Marguerite, for use in the Second World War . After being retrofitted in Esquimalt, Maggie sailed to Hawaii..."

Between 1941 and 1949, the triangle route was served by the slower and older CPR ships, Princess Charlotte, Princess Alice, Princess Victoria, and briefly by Puget Sound Navigation's streamlined ferry, Kalakala.

"...was built in Scotland as a replacement for her predecessor to serve the triangle route. Launched on May 26, 1948, the Princess Marguerite II left Glasgow under Captain George A. Thompson and Chief Engineer David Macraild . Maggie arrived in Victoria on April 6, 1949, where the Inner Harbour's turning basin had been dredged to accommodate the larger draft of the two new ships. Following a quick refurbishment, Maggie traveled to Seattle where she hosted an open house at the Lenora Street Terminal on April 27, 1949. The Princess Marguerite's maiden run on the Seattle-Victoria-Vancouver route began the next day at 7 AM and consisted of guests from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce World Trade Club . The trip marked the first in a decades long career on the Seattle to Victoria leg."

For decades, the Princess Marguerite II was a fixture of the Seattle maritime landscape. The vessel’s typical schedule had a morning departure from Seattle and a late afternoon return to Seattle. Seattleites often observed from the ship arriving and departing from viewpoints in West Seattle and Magnolia, and heard her distinctive steam whistle blow. A catchy radio and television jingle that ran from the 1970s into the 1980s exhorted Seattle residents to “Take a princess to sea” and visit Victoria for the day.

Her last round trip was on Sunday, September 17th. At her 8 AM departure from Seattle, Maggie paused off the pier for an extra long blast of her steam whistle - which was answered by whistles from two tugboats who had appeared to honor her last round trip. Maggie arrived back in Seattle at 10:30 PM and was greeted by a flotilla of horn-honking, whistle blowing vessels, as well as tearful onlookers who observed her from the Seattle waterfront. Maggie left Seattle for good in the predawn hours of September 18.