Pacific Coast Ship China

by Jacques Marc

At the height of Pacific Coast steamship travel in the late 1800s and early 1900s passengers enjoyed dinner served on china with silverware. Today the only places that you can still find this china is at flea markets and antique shops or by diving at dock sites or on shipwrecks. Pacific Coast Ship China identifies and dates ship china used along the Pacific Coast of North America. It covers china used by shipping organizations registered in Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Hawaii; it describes patterns used in inter-coastal and transpacific services. In addition to passenger vessels it documents the china used by freighter operations, oil companies, government operations and yacht clubs.

An important feature of this book is that it presents the histories of 75 companies and government agencies that operated ships on the Pacific Coast. This guide identifies more than 280 china patterns and provides essential information for collectors, museum technicians and divers. It's also an important resource for anyone interested in the history of Pacific coast shipping, transportation and commerce.

Pacific Coast Ship China was published by the prestigious Royal BC Museum in 2009. It is printed on high quality paper and is 192 pages, with 400 color and 60 b/w photographs.

The book is available from the author for $35 CDN plus shipping. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, send an email to