At a recent talk at the Fraser River Discovery Centre, we focussed on stories of various “Captains and Characters” on the Fraser River as well as some of the cargoes carried on the river in the past. As part of the Characters’ section were some humorous accounts taken from local maritime history including the following stories.
Captains John Irving and William Moore were good at what they did, but they were also frequently cantankerous, especially when it came to interacting with each other. In the spring of 1884, Captain Moore wanted to unload a freight cargo at a wharf at Port Hammond that was apparently owned by John’s company. Moore thought the wharf was public; Irving said it wasn’t, and off to court they went.
Not sure how it all turned out, but a newspaper item seemed to sum up the frequent efforts of these two men in saying: “Captain Moore and Captain Irving never seem happy unless they are quarreling over steamboat matters.”
John Irving was also known to be superstitious. He paid close attention to the operations of his vessels, who or what was carried on board, and apparently what might be combined on a trip. On one occasion when he was overseeing the loading of steamboat at Chilliwack he would not allow a parson to get on board as a passenger. An argument ensued with increasing strength, but Captain John won out.
Irving, it was reported, stated: “A parson and a grey mare should not travel together. He had carried such a combination on three separate occasions, and on each occasion, he had met with an accident, and as he had a grey mare aboard at the present time … parsons were barred. The parson was, in fact, left protesting angrily as the boat drew away from the wharf.”
While it was important to take care of a vessel, the passengers and varieties of cargoes that were carried, it was not unknown for some captains to actually race each other, sternwheel steamboat against sternwheel steamboat, in order to get to the docks and ports ahead of the other guy. The following story of such activity is from a local paper of 1889. While we don’t know the captains involved, the two boats were very well known.
“Steamboat rivalry. Alarming collision on the Fraser River. On Sunday when nearing Fort Langley, the sternwheel steamers William Irving and Gertrude locked guards and ran down river in that position for several minutes. On arrival at Langley the Gertrude ran into the Irving, smashing guards and doing about $200 worth of damage. The steamers sheared off. Someone on the Gertrude gave the Irving an ovation with a raw egg, which he threw at the latter’s commander.”
There are lots of stories of life on the Fraser River during those steamboat days and they present an interesting vision of some of the people who took part in that era.
