BEAVER Gastown Morning
1885

Watercolor 14" x 21"


At the end of BEAVER’s long carreer, there would have been almost no hint left of the graceful brigantine that slid off the ways fifty-three years earlier. Over that time her rig was cut back and deck houses and sponsons were added. In 1862 she was chartered by the Royal Navy who converted her for use as a survey vessel. In that role she again steamed up and down the coast until she was decommissioned in 1870. She was finally sold out of HBC hands in 1874 and converted to a tug. Under various owners she remained in this capacity until she went aground at the entrance to Vancouver Harbor on July 25th 1888.

Gastown, the future site of Vancouver, was the tiny collection of wooden bars, businesses, hotels and houses that grew up beside Hastings Mill on the south side Burrard Inlet. A fire on June 13, 1886 completely destroyed the town. BEAVER was a familiar site on the inlet, and on her last voyage departed from one of the rebuilt wharfs of one of the favorite watering holes.