Pacific Coast Ship China

At the height of Pacific-coast steamship travel in the late 1800s and early 1900s, passengers enjoyed a sit-down dinner served on china with silver flatware. Today, the only places you can still find this china is at flea markets and antique shops or by diving at old dock sites and on shipwrecks.

Pacific Coast Ship China identifies and dates shipping china used along the Pacific coast of North America. It covers china used on vessels and in-shore establishments of shipping organizations registered in Alaska, Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Hawaii; it describes patterns used in coastal, intercoastal and transpacific services. In addition to passenger vessels, it documents the china used by freighter operations, oil companies, government services and yacht clubs.

This easy-to-use guide identifies almost 300 china patterns. It provides collectors, museum technicians, divers, history buffs and anyone else interested in identifying and dating Pacific-coast ship china with all the information they need. It also includes brief descriptions of 73 Pacific-coast shipping companies and government services.

Jacques Marc has spent 25 years diving on and documenting historic shipwrecks around the province of British Columbia, and he has collected ship china for more than a dozen years. He is a member of the Underwater Archaeological Society of BC and has coordinated the inventory of several shipwrecks along the coast.