Beaver (steamship)

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Beaver
Career
Built:	London, England
Launched:	2 May, 1835
Fate:	Wrecked in 1888 in Burrard Inlet, Vancouver
General Characteristics
Displacement:	109 Tons
Length:	100' 9" (30m 73cm)
Beam:	20' (6m 10cm)
Draught:	8' 6" (2m 59cm)
Type:	N/A
Hull:	Wood
Propulsion:	steam, paddlewheel
Speed:	N/A
Range:	N/A
Complement:	N/A

The Beaver was the first steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Launched 2 May 1835, the Beaver was used to service trading posts maintained by the Hudson's Bay Company between Puget Sound and Alaska. In 1862 she was chartered by the Royal Navy to survey and chart the coast of what is now the province of British Columbia. She was finally sold by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1874, and served until 25 July 1888 when she went aground on rocks at Prospect Point in Vancouver's Stanley Park. The wreck finally sank in July 1892, but only after enterprising locals stripped much of the wreck for souvenirs. The Vancouver Maritime Museum houses a collection of Beaver remnants. The site of the sinking has been commemorated with a plaque.

[edit] Statistics

• Power: 2 x 35hp (26 kW) Boulton & Watt steam engines driving two 13' (4m)- diameter paddlewheels
• Builder: Green, Wigram & Green, Blackwall Yard, London, England

[edit] External links

• An article on the Beaver from the Vancouver Maritime Museum.