berths, opened on to the grand saloon. The dining room could accommodate 180 persons. Dimensions Olympian was long between perpendiculars, and long overall. The beam was exclusive of guards. The depth of hold was . Olympian drew of water when light. The steamboat measured out at 1419.60 gross tons and 1,083.20 registered tons. In this instance, "ton" is a unit of volume, not of weight. The official merchant vessel registry number was 155055. Fifty men comprised the Olympian’s crew in May 1884. Captain Thomas F. Wilson was the master of the vessel in May 1884. Engineering Olympian was driven by a single “vertical surface” condensing walking beam steam engine, with a cylinder in diameter and a piston stroke of . A small auxiliary steam engine assisted in starting the main engine. The main plant developed 2,100 indicated horsepower on the steamer's formal trial trip, riving the vessel at on 45 pounds steam. There were two large main coal-fired boilers which generated steam at 45 pounds working pressure for the main engine. Each boiler was about long, in diameter, and weighed about . Auxiliary machinery and an auxiliary boiler powered the fire pump and the dynamo. The vessel was illuminated throughout by electricity, 250 lights installed by Edison Incandescent Electric Light Co. The paddle wheels were of the composite-radial type, in diameter, fitted with wooden paddle buckets with an face. Olympian had an auxiliary sailing rig as a two-masted schooner. Transit to west coast On December 6, 1883, Olympian departed Wilmington bound for Puget Sound. Officers in charge of the vessel on the voyage to the west coast were H.S. Ackley, captain; W.S. Theater, first officer; John Dixon (b.1850), second officer; Andrew Hill, third officer; Puxley, chief engineer; John S. Kidd, first assistant; Barnard, second assistant; Marcey, third assistant; and Mr. Smith, chief steward. Olympian reached St. Thomas in the West Indies on December 15, 1883. The captain reported that the steamer was running well at . Olympian arrived in Valparaiso, Chile on February 2, 1884. Olympian reached San Francisco on March 3, 1884. Suitability problems Olympian had difficulty loading coal. Wheelbarrows had to be used at Seattle because the steamer was too big to use the coal chutes. The only alternative was a larger facility in Victoria, but Victoria had difficulty keeping enough coal on hand for Olympian. Talk was that the old steamer Isabel (446 GT), long out of