From 1910 to 1975, superb coastal liners of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and, later, the Canadian National Railway plied the waters of coastal BC, connecting Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle to Prince Rupert and southeastern Alaska. Here is the little-known story of these ships, brought to life by BC's foremost marine historian and well illustrated with many photos.

Norman Hacking, as marine editor of The Province for 30 years, was long regarded as the West Coast’s foremost marine industry journalist. Never one to turn his back on adventure or a beverage, he swam the Panama Canal, was incarcerated for smuggling contraband cigarettes out of Tangier, cycled across Europe, took a bus tour of Albania and liked to say he never missed a deadline.

Born in Vancouver, BC, on February 12, 1912, Norman (Norm) attended school in Melbourne, where he produced a student newspaper. He founded another newspaper at Prince of Wales school in Vancouver, then edited the Ubyssey at the University of British Columbia, where he obtained a history degree. During World War II he served on minesweepers and corvettes with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve and made 13 trips across the North Atlantic on convoy duty, attaining the rank of first lieutenant. Referred to as “the admiral” by his newspaper cronies, Norm once single-handedly navigated a 34-foot ketch from Honolulu to Neah Bay, Washington, without an auxiliary engine. After his retirement in 1977, Norm continued to write, primarily for Harbor & Shipping Magazine. He died in North Vancouver in September 1997 at age 85.

Norman Hacking's profile page