The Steamship Beaver

An icon of the BC Coast, the Steamship Beaver was originally built in England in 1835. Able to proceed under either sail or steam power (via a side paddle wheel), she heralded a new era of coal powered vessels on the Pacific Coast.

The SS Beaver arrived in British waters in the Pacific Northwest in 1836, and in 1837 William Henry McNeill took over as her Captain. As steam power began to replace sail as the preferred mode of transport, the economy and trade on Vancouver Island shifted from the fur trade to the search for reliable sources of clean coal. This resulted in the establishment of Fort Rupert at Beaver Harbour (today Port Hardy), and Fort Nanaimo.

The SS Beaver played a prominent role in early coastal history, serving the needs of the Hudson's Bay Company, transporting trade goods, and shuttling dignitaries around the South Coast until it foundered on the rocks off Prospect Point in Stanley Park in 1888.

Beaver Harbour in Port Hardy and Beaver Cove in Port McNeill are named after this ship. Port McNeill is named after her early Captain, William Henry McNeill, who was also for a time the Chief Factor at Fort Rupert.