Ships were used by the Hudson's Bay Company to carry out the maritime trade on the Pacific coast. The first ship was the schooner Cadboro, acquired in 1827 and used to establish Forts Langley and Simpson. The paddle wheel steamer Beaver, shown above, was brought to the Pacific in 1836 in a successful attempt to compete with both American and Russian coastal traders. Simpson used the steamboat to eliminate the need for expensive fixed posts on land. This policy, combined with a three-tiered price system which saw less expensive trade goods offered at the coast and the most expensive goods offered inland, effectively limited much of the American competition on what is today the British Columbia coast. The Beaver served the Company until it was wrecked in 1888 off Stanley Park in Vancouver.
Courtesy: Provincial Archives of British Columbia (115)
