Sir James Douglas
Laid down at Victoria, British Columbia, in 1864, and launched early in January of the
following year, the Sir James Douglas was a small wooden ship, 116
feet long, built of pine on oak framing; following the best practice
of the day, she was copper sheathed as a protection against worm.
The boiler, a three furnace tubular type, was built locally, but the
resources of the young Colony could hardly produce the engine, which
was a two cylinder diagonal imported from England, not unlike a
smaller edition of the Napier machinery without gearing.
When
the Victoria Harbour dredging scheme, for which she had been built,
fell through for lack of money, the humble origin of the Douglas was
no handicap to a rise in the world, and she was employed by the
Government of the Colony as a passenger steamer on the run from
Victoria to Comox, calling at Nanaimo. She could take some fifteen
or twenty passengers below, although there was no sleeping
accommodation and, by the standards of the time, she was a handy
ship,
". . . is a tolerably good sea boat, steams well, and
was faithfully put together by the contractor."
In this role,
the Douglas became extremely popular, partly because of her original
officers who, in these early days of Pacific settlement, played a
more than usually important part in the communications of the
Colony. Captain William R. Clarke had come out to British Columbia
as gunner of HMS Forward and had taken his discharge on time expiral,
from the Royal Navy at Esquimalt; the first chief engineer, Mr.
William A. Steele, was a Dundee man who would later serve, at
different times, in most of the well known steamers of the Pacific
coast, including the Beaver of Hudson Bay Company and surveying
fame. The purser was another naval man, Mr. Edward Quenell, who
remained in the ship for several years; all of these were men of
character and ability who later rose to leading positions, Quenell
becoming Mayor of Nanaimo in 1894.
In 1883, the Douglas was
lengthened by about twenty feet; this operation, by no means unusual
even in modern times, will often increase the carrying capacity
while providing, at the same time, a little more speed for the same
power, or perhaps a reduction in fuel consumption with no loss of
speed. In this case the surgery was extremely successful, it being
recorded that:
". . . her rate of speed increased from 8 and
8½ to 10 and 10½ knots per hour, on a smaller quantity of fuel than
formerly. The agent reports that she is now in good order and will
last 8 or 9 years."
Thus improved, the Sir James Douglas, by now
relieved from her former role of passenger carrier, was the
work-horse of the West Coast until the arrival of the Quadra in
1892. She was continually engaged in the work of light station
supply and construction, she laid cable for the Canadian Pacific
Railway, carried out survey work for the British Columbia
Government, and conveyed inspection parties on innumerable official
occasions. It is recorded that:
"The average number of
officers and crew aboard the Sir James Douglas was 12, and the cost
of provisioning the vessel was 53 cents per diem per man."
By
this time the boilers were beginning to show signs of trouble and
with the advent of the new ship, the Douglas was paid off and lay in
reserve. The vessel was put up for sale without success and it was
noted that in 1897 the chief engineer of the Quadra, Mr. Grant, who
had formerly been chief of the Douglas, overhauled and white leaded
the engines, one suspects as a labour of love.
The end came
in 1899:
"No use has consequently been made of the steamer
for seven years and efforts have been made several times to dispose
of her. In October of this year tenders were invited publicly and
the highest offer received was from Mr. R. Winkleman for $1,292.50."
One cannot help wondering about the odd fifty cents but the
offer was accepted, and the Douglas disappeared from the Department
of Marine and Fisheries.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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