The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-28
LAST OF THE BEAVER.
The First Steamer to Enter the
Pacific Ocean.
LAUNCHED IN THE YEAR 1895.
King William and 60, 900 Subjects Saw
Her slide Into the Thames-An
Ignominious End.

eran steamer Beaver, the first TO cast
Pacific foam from her bows and which for
several years has been piled up on the
rocks at the entrance to Burrard inlet. was
collided with by passing boom of logs
day or so ago and SO shaken that she has
slid off into deep water, her boilers and
engines falling to pieces, and the divided
fragments of her old oaken hull being
swept away by the current out toward the
ocean.
So ends the project Of the Steamer
Beaver Exhibition Company jus. formed
with capital of $l25 900 to transport and
show the wreck TO the wondering thou
sands at Chicago's great Worlds fair.
And SO disappears craft whose adyen-
turous career is inseparable from the his
tory of the Pacific coast.
The Beaver has held together we'll. and
has been one of the sights not to be
missed on any consideration by visitors to
the city of Vancouver during recent years,
as she lay, partially submerged, at the
harbor entrance. When the POTs-lNTEL-
HGENCER correspondent last visited the
wreck there were many signs visible OF
the shameless vandalism OF tourists and
/ sight-seers, who in their anxiety to secure
keepsake had not only carried away al
most every movable object but also cut
deep into the solid timbers of the ship.
The steamer was then run nose on just
at the Narrows. Five hundred feet above
her lowered the heights of Prospect point,
from which can be had a magnificent view
of Burrard inlet, of the young city of VAN
couver, of the Indian mission on the
north side of the inlet, and of the famous
Moodyville sawmills. Her stern lay in
about twelve to fifteen feet of water TT
high tide; engines and boilers were still
intact, and barring the loss of rigging,
timbers and some of the metal work that
once held the timbers together, there was
not very much to indicate to the traveller
the length Of time the boat had been re-
tired from service. The malnmast and
smokestack were still standing, and there
was enough left of the wheelhouse and
deck cabins to show that they had once
been there.
1t is interesting now to recall the early
history of the pioneer steamer. In 1874
there was published the following ac-
count of the ship, and time has not robbed
it of any of its romance. The Victoria
COionist of September 2 that year, said
More than thirty-nine years have passed
and a generation have come and gone
since the Hudson Bay Company's steamer
Beaver. whose sale was chronlcled yester-
day, fioated with the tide down the river
Thames, through the British channel, and
went out into the open, trackless sea;
rounded Cape Horn, Glove the placid
waters of the Pacific ocean and
anchored at length, after passage
that lasted 163 days, at Astoria. on
Columbia river, then the chief "town" on
the Pacific coast. Built and equipped at
period when the problem of steam ma
rine navigation was yet to be solved. Is 1t
any wonder that the little steamer which
was destined to traverse two Oceans-one
of them scarcely known outside of books
of travel-was an object of deep and en-
crossing interest from the day that her
keel was first laid until the morning
when she passed out of sight amidst the
encouraging cheers of thousands gathered
on either shore. and the answering salvos
of her own guns, on long voyage to an
unknown sea?
Titled men and women watched the
progress of construction. King William
and l60, 900 of his loyal subjects witnessed
the launch. A duchess broke the traditional
bottle of champagne over the bow and be-
slowed the name she has ever since
proudly worn. The engines and boilers,
built by Bolton & Watt watt was a son of
the great Waltz, were placed in their
proper positions on board, but it was not
considered safe to work them on the
passage. so she was rugged as brig and
her as convoy to assist in case of accident;
but the Beaver set all canvas. ran out of
sight of her protector" and reached the
Columbia twenty-five days ahead. Cap
tain Hume was the name of the first COM
mander of the Beaver; he brought her out.
and we can well imagine the feeling of
pride with which he bestrode the deck of
his brave little ship, which carried six
guns-nine-pounders. The Beaver. soon
after reaching Astoria, got up steam. and
after having "astonished the natives"
with her performances. sailed up TO Nes-
quallv, then the Hudson Bay COmpany's
chief station on the Pacific. Here Cap
tain Mcneil (now commander of the En-
terprise) took command of the Beaver,
and Captain Hume, retiring to one of the
company's forts on the Columbia river,
persisted in 1897 in Deaths rapids by the
upsettng of boat. From that period I'M
til the steamer passed into the hands of
the imperial photographers, the history of
the Beaver was that of most of the COM
panv's trading vessels. She ran north and
south, east and west. collecting furs and
carrying goods TO and from the stations
for many years. Amongst the best known
of her officers during that period were
Captain Dodds, Captain Brotchie, Cap
tains Scarborough, Sangster and others,
all of whom passed away long since, but
have left their names behind them. We be-
lieve we are correct in saying that not
single person who came out in the Beaver
in 1885 is now alive; and nearly all the
companv's officers, with q few exceptions,
who received her on her arrival at Column
bia river. are gone too.
Yesterday through the courtesy of Can
tain Rubin Zone OF her new owners and
future commanderl we visited the old
ship. On board We met the venerable
CAPTAIN William Mitchell. who has had
charge of the vessel for some wears. He
was busily engaged in packing his clothes
into chests, preparatory TO going ashore,
He remembers we'll the Beaver in her early
DAYS Every room. every plank. possesses
historic interest to him. He pointed out
the captains room. Just the same"
said he, ''as when l first saw il in '36.
There's the chest of drawers. there's the
bunk and there's the hook where the cap
tain's pipe hung, and manv's the
smoke I had in these cabins nearly forty
years ago. Nothing below has been
changed" continued Captain Mitchell.
''except-except the faces that used TO
people these rooms in the DAYS long a.o.
and'-pointing TO his thin gray locks-"I
was deal younger them" He led the
way into the enGine-rOOm. chatting
pleasantly as he went, and relating Incl
dents connected with the Beaver and her
dead people Of an Interesting character.
which we may some day give 10 the world.
There are two engines Of observation-disclosures
power, as bright and apparently as little
worn a. when they first came from the
shop of Bolton 4 Watt. From some cud-
dy-hoie the captain drew forth the ships