Beaver, 1835-1888
Arguably, the most famous coastal ship of its era, the
Beaver was a paddlewheel steamer built in England in 1835 for the
Hudson's Bay Company's trade-business in the Pacific Northwest. It was made of sturdy oak and elm and driven by twin side-paddles and two 35-horsepower
engines; it was reasonably light and nimble, at 111 tonnes and 31 m, and could achieve
a top speed at 10 knots. As for sails, it could be rigged as both a schooner and a brigantine.
The Beaver arrived at Fort Vancouver on April 10th, 1836. It spent much of its life carrying freight and passengers between outposts in and
around Vancouver Island and particularly between Victoria and the Fraser River during
the gold rush of 1858.
It was sold in 1874 to a company in Victoria, who used it for barge and cargo work
until it wrecked off of Prospect Point in Vancouver Harbour. The scope of its influence can be seen in the volume of place-names that bear its
memory.
This despatch reports that the
Beaver was detained by
American customs officers
and notes this event's effects on
trade, colony morale, and US relations.
This despatch, in the following year, reports that the ship was employed as part of
A difficulty which nearly led to a fatal affray with the Songies Tribe.
This despatch by Douglas reports that he proceeded to Fort Langley on the
Beaver, having transferred from the
Satellite and
Otter, respectively,
to proclaim the Act of Parliament providing for the Government of British Columbia.
- 1. Andrew Scott, The Encycmlopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 64.
- 2. Ibid.
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. Ibid.
- 5. Judith Hudson Beattie and Helen M. Buss, eds., Undelivered Letters to Hudson's Bay Company Men on the Northwest Coast of America,
1830-57 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003), 408.
- 6. Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names, 64.
- 7. Ibid.