Description Cruise Ship S.S. North Star

The cruise ship the S. S. North Star made visits to the Port of Pictou in 1939.

The entrance to the Pictou Freight Shed is dwarfed by the gleaming, white liner with her three huge funnels towering over the large buildings on the government wharf (now Pier C). Cars on the wharf are late 1930 models.

A crowd was always on hand to watch the docking of the North Star, and a wharf parallel to the freight shed was a good location to view her arrival. Cruise passengers were taken to county points of interest such as the Pictou Lodge and the Greenhill Look-Off. Every available car was hired by the steamship company to give the visitors a "guided tour". No long trips were attempted as some of the roads were unpaved and a bit rough.

The North Star had been one of the'Prince Line' of cruise ships operated by the CNR which provided winter service down south. The ship was then known as the Prince Henry. She was purchased by the Clarke Steamship Company and renamed the S.S. North Star. This service was terminated with the start of World War II.

The sheds and wharves were located directly behind the present CN Station on Front Street and were parallel to the 'Beatty's Wharf'. The three wharves and the long double shed were all destroyed in the 1946 waterfront fire.