SS Algoma: Construction

SS ALGOMA at Port Arthur, J.F. Cooke, Photographer.

City of Thunder Bay Archives

Construction

Algoma was built by Aitken and Mansel of Glasgow, Scotland for Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The ship, with its two sisters Alberta and Athabasca (the earliest spelling was Athabaska), were the first steamers to be purchased by the new line and were used in the Owen Sound-Port Arthur run that connected the railway across Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The three vessels were similarly built, with steel hulls of 263.5 feet in length, 38.2 feet in beam and 23.3 feet in depth ( Scanner 1974:8), giving a gross tonnage of about 1750 as originally built. The completed vessels would be able to accommodate about 240 first-class passengers and 600 steerage passengers.

The Canadian Pacific Upper Lakes Steamship Lines advertised with a cabin diagram of their ships. The SS ALBERTA and SS ATHABASCA were sister ships to the SS ALGOMA and identical in specifications. The SS MANITOBA was the ALGOMA'S successor and heir to its engine.

Great Lakes Maritime Collection, Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, 14924_14938_F

Shipwrecks of Isle Royale

Operational History of the Algoma SS Algoma Home