Cowichan was a steamship which was operated in British Columbia under the ownership of the Union Steamship Company. Cowichan sank in 1925 following a collision with another ship.
Nomenclature
Cowichan was originally launched under the name Cariboo. "Cowichan" comes from the Halkomelem word Q(a)w-(a)can, which means "warm mountains". This is believed to refer to hills at the head of the Cowichan River. The tribe of the First Nations called "Cowichan" lived on southeast Vancouver Island.
The popular name for the ship was The Cow.
Design and construction
Cowichan was designed specifically to serve the remote logging camps of coastal British Columbia. A larger vessel could not maneuver in the narrow inlets such as Minstrel Island, Wells Pass, and Kingcome Inlet. Two new design aspects of the ship were a larger wheelhouse and relocating the bridge further forward so that both the quartermaster and the navigator could see over the bow.
Cowichan was built in Troon, Scotland, in 1908 by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company. The Ailsa firm was chosen over Bow, McLachlen & Co. because Union Steamship Co. was then in litigation with Bow, McLachlen over repairs to another one of the company's ships. Dimensions of the ship were in length, beam and depth of hold , 962 gross and 520 registered tons. Cargo capacity was 125 tons. Cowichins ship's twin triple-expansion steam engines, built by MacColl & Co. and twin propellers drove the ship's speed was . There were two boilers, manufactured by D. Rowan & Co., which were originally coal-fired.
First class accommodations consisted of 53 stateroom berths. There were 34 crewmembers. In 1914, the ship was licensed to carry 225 passengers. The ship's Canadian registry number was 126210.
The ship had separate cabins for members of the First Nations and for Japanese and Chinese persons. Loggers were also accommodated separately.<ref name = VancouverMuseum>[http://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/modules/vmmuseum/treasures/?artifactid=182 “Union steamship COWICHAN, Vancouver Maritime Museum] (accessed 06-29-11)</ref>
DeliveryCowichan, proceeding under the name Cariboo, was delivered to British Columbia by way of Cape Horn, there being no Panama Canal at the time. The ship was commanded by Capt. Charles Polkinghorne on the 90-day voyage, and the vessel was found to be seaworthy during the moderate storms encountered on the trip. Cariboo arrived at the Union dock in Vancouver on July 21, 1908. It was then discovered that there was already a Canadian vessel named Cariboo on the Great Lakes and so the name was changed to Cowichan.
Operations
Following a trial trip to Van Anda, on Texada Island, Cowichan replaced the Cassiar on the Kingcome Inlet route, and then, on August 20, 1908 temporarily took the place of the Camosun on the company's most important route, to Prince Rupert.Cowichan eventually was assigned to its own route. Every Monday and Thursday, the ship departed Vancouver bound for Campbell River and the Rock Bay region. On the Monday trip the ship went further north, to Loughborough Inlet. The ship was also placed on a Saturday Vancouver Island run for a while, making calls at Nanaimo, Denman Island, Union Bay, and Comox before returning to Vancouver at midnight on Sunday.
The first captain of Cowichan was Charles Moody. All the Union steamers at that time, including Cowichan had only three deck officers, the captain and two mates.
In 1908, coaling was usually done at the company wharf in Vancouver unless a stop was scheduled for Nanaimo, where there were substantial mines and coaling facilities.
In 1912 Cowichan was converted to oil fuel.
Loss
On December 27, 1925, Cowichan sank following a collision with Lady Cynthia, which was also owned by Union Steamship Co.
