AN HISTORIC STEAMER.
The following interesting account of the historic steamer
_Beaver_, the first to round the Horn into the Pacific, will be
read by native sons as well as pioneers with renewed interest, as it
is many years since this account was published.
The _Beaver_ lay off the old Customs House for a long time,
until taken by the Admiralty for hydrographic work. When done with
for that purpose she was sold for mercantile purposes again.
For some years she was in charge of my old friend, Captain "Wully
Mutchell," as he was called by his friends, and he had many, for he
was as jolly as a sandboy and always joking, in fact more like a man
of fifty instead of eighty, as he really was.
[Illustration: The steamer Beaver.]
"More than thirty-nine years have passed and a generation of men have
come and gone since the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer _Beaver_,
whose sale was chronicled yesterday, floated with the tide down the
River Thames, through the British Channel, and went out into the
open, trackless sea, rounded Cape Horn, clove the placid waters of
the Pacific Ocean, and anchored at length, after a passage that
lasted one hundred and sixty-three days, at Astoria on the Columbia
River, then the chief 'town' on the Pacific Coast. Built and equipped
at a period when the problem of steam marine navigation was yet to be
solved, is it 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 engrossing 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 salvoes of her own guns,
on a long voyage to an unknown sea?
"Titled men and women watched the progress of construction. King
William and 160,000 of his loyal subjects witnessed the launch. A
Duchess broke the traditional bottle of champagne over the bow and
bestowed the name she has ever since proudly worn. The engines and
boilers, built by Bolton and Watt (Watt was a son of the great Watt)
were placed in their proper positions on board, but it was not
considered safe to work them on the passage; so she was rigged as a
brig and came out under sail. A bark accompanied 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-two
days ahead. Captain Home was the name of the first commander 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 Nisqually, then the
Hudson's Bay Company's chief station on the Pacific. Here Captain
McNeil (now commander of the _Enterprise_), took command of the
_Beaver_, and Captain Home, retiring to one of the Company's forts
on Columbia River, perished in 1837 in Death's Rapids by the
upsetting of a boat. From that period until the steamer passed into
the hands of the Imperial hydrographers, the history of the
_Beaver_ was that of most of the Company'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 Capt. Dodds, Capt. Brotchie,
Capts. Scarborough, Sangster, Mouat and others, all of whom passed
away long since, but have left their names behind them. We believe
we are correct in saying that not a single person who came out in
the _Beaver_ in 1835 is now alive; and nearly all the Company's
officers, with a few exceptions, who received her on her arrival at
Columbia River, are gone, too.
[Portrait: Captain "Willie" Mitchell.]
"Yesterday, through the courtesy of Capt. Rudlin (one of her new
owners and future commander) we visited the old ship. On board we met
the venerable Captain William Mitchell, who has had charge of the
vessel for some years. He was busily engaged in packing his clothes
into chests preparatory to going ashore. He remembers well the
_Beaver_ in her early days. Every room, every plank possesses
historic interest to him. He pointed out the Captain's room. 'Just
the same,' said he, 'as when I first saw it in '36. There's the chest
of drawers, there's the bunk, and there's the hook where the
Captain's pipe hung, and many's the smoke I've 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 ago, and'--pointing to his thin, gray
locks--'I was a deal younger then!' He led the way into the
engine-room, chatting pleasantly as he went and relating incidents
connected with the _Beaver_ and her dead people of an interesting
character which we may some day give to the world. There are two
engines, of seventy-five horse-power, as bright and apparently as
little worn as when they first came from the shop of Bolton and Watt.
From some cuddy hole the Captain drew forth the ship's bell, on which
was inscribed '_Beaver_, 1835;' then he showed us into the little
forecastle with the hammock-hooks still attached to the timbers, from
which had swung two generations of sailors. Then the main deck was
regained and we took leave of the gallant old gentleman and Captain
Rudlin, who informed us that the _Beaver_ will be taken alongside
of Dickson, Campbell & Co.'s wharf to-day to undergo the important
changes necessary to the new trade in which she will henceforth be
employed."