The PRESIDENT, a Veteran Making History

S.S. PRESIDENT 
417' l x 48.2' b x 19.7' d.
Original gelatin-silver photo dated 1910.

Click to enlarge image.
Original gelatin-silver photo from the 
 Saltwater People Historical Society©

1907: With a tonnage of 5,433, a single screw,  the S.S. PRESIDENT was launched by New York Shipbuilding at Camden, New Jersey. Upon her arrival on the Pacific Coast, Capt. H.P. Weaver was placed in charge, where she was known for providing excellent passenger line service and the efficient handling of cargo. 

1913: The PRESIDENT gave up coal and was installed with an oil burner.

1922: The veteran liner, S.S. PRESIDENT, following a thorough renovation, was renamed S.S. DOROTHY ALEXANDER, becoming the third of the famous steamers in the company's primary coastwise service.

S.S. DOROTHY ALEXANDER
(ex-PRESIDENT)

Original gelatin-silver photo from the 
Saltwater People Historical Society©

1923: A historic event in the sea community occurred in May with the official tests of the radiotelephone equipment installed aboard the steamships H.F. ALEXANDER and DOROTHY ALEXANDER (ex-PRESIDENT.)

"Greetings, Capt. Bartlett of the H.F. ALEXANDER, this is Capt. Harris of the DOROTHY ALEXANDER off Cape Blanco. How's the weather at Cape Flattery?" Such was the first voice radio conversation ever held between ships at sea on the North Pacific. The H.F. ALEXANDER was then 300 miles south of Seattle, and the DOROTHY ALEXANDER, 280 miles north of San Francisco. The wireless message was dispatched by Jafet Linderberg, a prominent Nome mining man, to J.W. Kelly in Seattle, and was relayed via land stations at Carmanah and Tatoosh Island. A return message from Kelly was received by the PRESIDENT. This event took place shortly before the placing in operation of similar equipment aboard the U.S. liner LEVIATHAN on the Atlantic.

1935: DOROTHY ALEXANDER was sold to Alaska Steamship Company and following her completion of the 1935 schedule, she was placed in service on the Puget Sound-Alaska route as the S. S. COLUMBIA. 

S.S. COLUMBIA 
(ex-PRESIDENT AND DOROTHY ALEXANDER)

Original gelatin-silver photo from the 
Saltwater People Historical Society©

1946: COLUMBIA (ex-PRESIDENT AND DOROTHY ALEXANDER) was sold by the Alaska Steamship Company to Portuguese owners and transferred from Vancouver to Oporto by a Portuguese curfew under the new name of PORTUGAL.

Words in this piece were extracted from H.W. McCurdy's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Gordon Newell, editor. Superior Publishing. 1966.