USS Active
According to this despatch, Active was a US paddle steamer. In 1856, a group of Indigenous people associated with the British colony were mistaken as hostile by the commander of the Active and taken into custody. Douglas intervened, the group was released and their weapons returned.
This 1857 despatch reports that the Active arrived in Victoria, carrying the American Boundary Commissioner Archibald Campbell, who was to discuss boundary issues with the British Commissioner Captain Prevost.
The Active was part of the highly competitive Victoria - Portland - San Francisco run and it became part of the North Pacific Transportation Company's fleet in the 1850s and 60s.1 An advertisement poster from 1867 lists the Active as part of California Steam Navigation Company's steamship line.2
Mentions of this vessel in the documents