The company was founded in 1883 by John Irving (1854–1936), a prominent steamboat man, businessman, and politician of early British Columbia.

In 1901, the company was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway, becoming the steamship division of the CPR.

Islander was a steel twin-screw steamer built for the Inside passage to Alaska and favoured by wealthy travelers.

On the morning of August 15, 1901, the ship struck a submerged iceberg and went down off the south end of Douglas Island, British Columbia.

40 passengers and crew were lost, including the wife and daughter of the politician James Hamilton Ross.