Olympia was built in 1869 in New York City by John English and Sons to the order of George S. Wright, a pioneer steamboat man on Puget Sound.

[1][2] Power was supplied by single-cylinder walking beam type steam engine, manufactured by John Roach & Sons.

[1] Olympia was a replacement for the older and slower Eliza Anderson, a vessel once so profitable that it became known as the "floating gold mine", which the partnership then used as a reserve boat.

Nash, who had submitted an annual bid of $12,000 to carry mail on weekly runs to Victoria, British Columbia and on a semi-weekly route between Olympia and Port Townsend, Washington Territory.

The Starrs however responded by commissioning Joseph Gates, a well-regarded engineer on Columbia river steamboats, to design and build a steamer which would run faster and cheaper than Olympia.

As North Pacific made a south-easterly course for Point Wilson, 36 miles (58 km) of open water away from Victoria, Olympia's firemen poured on the coals, causing clouds of black smoke to spew out of the ship's smokestack.

Olympia, the heavier, oak-built vessel, was favored over the long open stretch, whereas North Pacific was thought to be able to better in the narrower waters near Point Wilson.

[7] The resulting race between the two vessels, each of which was almost new, and represented the highest point of technical achievement for the time, was long remembered by the people on board the ships and alongside the wharves of Victoria and Port Townsend.

At that time, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was engaged in a competitive struggle with John Irving, who had recently purchased the former Gold Rush steamer Wilson G. Hunt.

In a monopolistic arrangement which became known as the "'arf and 'arf agreement", HBC ships would carry passengers to and from New Westminster, where they would transfer to an Irving-owned stternwheeler for the trip up river to the head of navigation at Yale.

This was a suitable arrangement for the Princess Louise because as a sidewheeler the ship required improved docking facilities that were not available upriver from New Westminster.

[11] In May 1881, the Canadian Pacific was anxiously recruiting as many laborers as it could for the difficult work of completing the transcontinental rail line down the valley of the Fraser River.

[13] On May 4, 1883, the new company announced that Princess Louise would be put on a regular route from Victoria to Burrard Inlet and Port Moody, British Columbia.

[16] From 1886 to 1890, Princess Louise was operated on northern routes, serving among other communities the many cannery ports in coastal British Columbia.

[19] In September 1898, Princess Louise returned to Victoria carrying 8,100 cases of canned salmon from Alert Bay, but on this trip there had been a fatal accident.

James W. Troup reported that Princess Louise was in poor mechanical condition, with worn out boilers and engines badly in need of repair.

Because the hull was still in good condition, and capable of being operated in the often-dangerous waters of the Strait of Georgia, Troup recommended that the engines be replaced.

In the summers, the Princess Louise was a secondary vessel on northern routes to Rivers Inlet, Port Simpson, British Columbia, and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

[22] In November 1906 Princess Louise was sold to Marpole McDonald of Victoria, who removed the machinery and converted the vessel to a barge.

[23] The unpowered vessel is also reported to have sunk a considerable distance away from Woodfibre, at Port Alice, British Columbia in 1919 on northern Vancouver Island.