Hudson’s Bay Company Steamships

The Hudson’s Bay company flag

This list includes only those ships that engaged in the coasting trade, or were intended for the coasting trade after the establishment of Fort Victoria in 1842. They are numbered in sequence of acquisition for service.

Bracketed name indicates the second or third vessel with that name.

Pictures of vessels to follow.

1. Beaver 1835

Wooden side-wheel steamer, 109 tons, 100’9” x 20’ x 11’ depth of hold. Two side-lever engines, each 35 nominal hp, by Green, Wigrams, and Green, Blackwall. England. Arrived Fort Vancouver April 10, 1836. Sold in 1874 to Henry Saunders et al. Wrecked at Prospect Point, Burrard Inlet, 1888

2. Columbia 1835

Barque, 309 tons. Launched by Green, Wigrams, and Green, Blackwall, England. Sailed on supply voyages 1842, 1845, 1848, Sold in 1850

3. Vancouver (2) 1838

Barque. 303 tons, launched by Green, Wigrams, and Green, Blackwall. England. Sailed on supply voyages 1844, and 1847. Wrecked on the Columbia River bar May 07, 1848

4. Cowlitz 1840

Barque. 303 tons, launched by Green, Wigrams, and Green, Blackwall, England. Supply voyages in 1843, 1846, and 1849. Sold in 1851

5. Mary Dare 1842

Brig. 163 tons. Built at Bridgeport, Dorset for Captain R. Dare. Bought by HBC in 1846. Sold in 1854

6. Una 1849

Brigantine. 187 tons. Built at New Brunswick and purchased by HBC in same year. Wrecked at Neah Bay, Washington Territory, 1851

7. Recovery, ex-Orbit 1849

Brig. Built in the United ‘States. Purchased by HBC in 1852 when an abandoned wreck. Sold in 1861

8. Vancouver (3) 1852

Brigantine. 192 tons. Built at London. Wrecked August 13, 1851 on Rose Spit, Queen Charlotte Islands

9. Otter 1852

The first propeller-driven steamer on the North Pacific. Wooden screw steamer. 291 tons gross. 125’ x 22’ x 12’. two direct-acting condensing engines 18” x 26”. Built by Green, Wigrams, and Green, for HBC.  Purchased by CPN in 1883. Converted to a barge in 1885, sold and broken up in 1890.

10. Labouchere 1858

Wooden side-wheel steamer. 680 tons net. 202’ x 28’ x 15’. Side-lever engines, 181 indicated h.p. Built at Sunderland England. Wrecked near Point Reyes, California April 14, 1866

11. Mink 1861

Schooner. 160 tons, built at Victoria. Sold in 1866 in Hawaiian Islands. Renamed Kohala

12. Enterprise 1861

Wooden side-wheel Walking beam engine 30” x 26” steamer. 380 tons gross. 142.25’ x 27.2’ x 6.9’  Built at San Francisco. Purchased by HBC in 1862. Sold to CPN in 1883. Sunk in collision with the R.P. Rithet near Cadboro Point July 1885

13. Alexandra 1864

Wooden stern wheel steamer. 469 tons. 163.8’ x 28 x 7 built at Victoria in for Captain William More. Purchased by HBC in 1866. Dismantled in 1869

14. Princess Louise ex-Olympia 1869

Wooden side-wheel walking beam engine, 350 hp steamer. 932 tons gross 180’ x s0’ x 13’  Built at New York as Olympia. Purchased by HBC in 1878. Renamed Princess Louise in 1879. Purchased by CPN in 1883. Registered in the name of the CPN March 23, 1903. Sold 1906 and converted into a barge. Sunk at Port Alice in 1919.

Much is owed to the scholarship of Norman R. Hacking and W. Kaye Lamb for the comprehensiveness of the following list. Their book, The Princess Story, A century and a Half of West Coast Shipping is the definitive work on shipping along British Columbia’s coast from 1827 to 1974.