Misplaced Pages

Beaver (steamship)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from SS Beaver) 1836 paddle steamer, first steamship in the North Pacific For other ships with the same name, see Beaver (ship).

Beaver about 1870
History
HBC flag Canada
NameBeaver
BuilderWigram & Green, Blackwall Yard, London
Laid downLondon, England
Launched9 May 1835
In service1835-1888
FateWrecked 25 July 1888
General characteristics
TypeSidewheel paddle steamer
Tonnage109 tons
Length101 ft 9 in (31.01 m)
Beam33 ft (10 m)
Draft8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Propulsion
Sail planBrigantine
Armament4 brass cannons

Beaver was a steamship originally owned and operated by the Hudson's Bay Company. She was the first steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America, and made remote parts of the west coast of Canada accessible for maritime fur trading. At one point she was chartered by the Royal Navy for surveying the coastline of British Columbia. She served off the coast from 1836 until 1888, when she was wrecked.

Service

Beaver served trading posts maintained by the Hudson's Bay Company between the Columbia River and Russian America (Alaska) and played an important role in helping maintain British control in British Columbia during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858–59. In 1862 the Royal Navy chartered her to survey and chart the coast of the Colony of British Columbia. She also provided assistance to the Royal Navy at Bute Inlet during the Chilcotin War.

Loss

A consortium that became the British Columbia Towing and Transportation Company in 1874 purchased her, and used her as a towboat until 25 July 1888. On that day an inebriated crew ran her aground on rocks in Burrard Inlet at Prospect Point in Vancouver's Stanley Park. The wreck finally sank in July 1892 when the wake of the passing steamer Yosemite struck it, but only after enterprising locals had stripped much of the wreck for souvenirs. The Vancouver Maritime Museum houses a collection of Beaver remnants including the boiler and two drive shafts for the paddle wheels, one raised in the 1960s and the other returned from a collection in Tacoma, along with the boiler. A plaque commemorates the site of the sinking. Divers surveyed the wreck in the 1960s. However, when the Underwater Archaeological Society of BC did so in the 1990s, they found she had mostly disintegrated due to rot and currents.

See also

Image gallery

  • Side lever engine off PS Levan; Beaver's engine had two cylinders and was built by Boulton and Watt. Side lever engine off PS Levan; Beaver's engine had two cylinders and was built by Boulton and Watt.
  • The wreck of S.S. Beaver The wreck of S.S. Beaver
  • Plaque commemorating Beaver in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Plaque commemorating Beaver in Stanley Park, Vancouver.

References

  1. ^ "Beaver at the Vancouver Maritime Museum website". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2008.
Steamboats of British Columbia
Routes
Inland
Coastal and inland vessels
Propellers
Wood
Iron and steel
Sternwheelers
Sidewheelers
Steam tugs
Ferries
Steam
Motor
BC Ferries
Motor vessels
(non-ferry)
Lists of vessels
Companies, shipyards, and personnel
Companies and
shipping lines
Passenger and freight
Ferry
Shipyards
Personnel
icon Transport portal
Steamboats in other areas
Articles by area
Washington
Oregon
Alaska and Yukon
Other
Navboxes
Lists of vessels
See also: Puget Sound mosquito fleet
Steamboats of Puget Sound and western Washington State
Ships of the Mosquito Fleet
Propellers
Wood
Steel
Sternwheelers
Sidewheelers
Steam tugs
Steam ferries
Converted
Purpose-built
Motor vessels
Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet companies, shipyards, and personnel
Companies
Passenger
and freight
TowingPacific Tow Boat Co.
Ferry
Shipyards
Personnel
Steamboats in other areas
Articles by area
Washington
Oregon
British Columbia
Alaska and YukonYukon River
OtherMackenzie River
Navboxes
Lists of vessels
Further information: Washington State Ferries
Puget Sound sidewheelers
Wood hulls
Iron hulls
Steamboats of Oregon and the Columbia River basin
Routes
Inland
Coastal
Inland and coastal vessels
Inland
vessels
Coastal vessels
Vessel lists
Modern ferries
Companies, shipyards, personnel, and navigation
Portages, locks, and canals
Steamboat lines
Steamboat owners and captains
Builders and shipyards
Shipwrecks
Steamboats in other areas
Articles by area
Washington
British Columbia
Alaska and Yukon
Other
Navboxes
Lists of vessels
Related topic : Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet
Stanley Park
Attractions and
monuments
Related
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1888
Shipwrecks
Other incidents
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1892
Shipwrecks
Other incidents
Hudson's Bay Company
Current holdings
Former holdings
History
Ships
Equipment
Related topics
Category
Categories:
Beaver (steamship) Add topic