Pacific Coast Steamship Company

Biographical / Historical Notes

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company (PCSC) was founded in September 1882 under the name Pacific Steamship Company. This passenger and freight company was based in San Francisco. They shipped a variety of cargo such as vegetables, grain, lumber, coal and iron, and boasted modern, luxurious facilities for their passengers. In the early 1890s, the name Pacific Coast Steamship Company gained permanent resonance, until the demise of the company in 1936. The company travelled routes from Alaska to San Diego, and included stops in many ports along the west coast of the United States, Canada and Mexico. This was a large company that employed over two dozen ships.

S. T. Johnson, was the San Diego Agent for PCSC. He was born in San Francisco on April 22, 1864 and was the youngest of twelve siblings. His father, Sivert Johnson, was a seafaring man who was known as a pioneer of the shipbuilding trade in San Francisco. S. T. Johnson’s mother gave each of her children a few drops of saltwater at their birth to prevent drowning at sea. It proved to be a lucky break for Johnson, who was shipwrecked five times in his 54 years with PCSC. Johnson began working for the company in 1882 in San Francisco, and was sent to San Diego as an agent in 1894 due to his ailing health. He continued his service in San Diego for another 42 years, until the company went out of business in 1936. After the PCSC’s demise, Johnson worked on the San Diego docks for various other ocean liners. In addition to his career as “one of the best known characters on the waterfront,” Johnson also served as the president of fire commissioners under Mayor Forward, two terms on the Board of Education, President of the Board of Alderman, and was even acting mayor for three months in 1907 when Mayor Frank Frary was out of town on business. S. T. Johnson died at 95 years of age, in his home at 1861 Montecito Way, in December 1959.

From the guide to the Pacific Coast Steamship Company Records, 1879-1938, (San Diego History Center Document Collection)