Captain William Irving was known as King of the River, and is perhaps the most familiar of the early Fraser River captains. He was born in Scotland, and went to sea at an early age, earning his captain's ticket by the age of 29. In the late 1840's the California Gold Rush drew him to the West Coast; however, he did not seek gold but rather entered the coastal shipping trade, carrying supplies and building materials from the Oregon Territory into the growing cities of San Francisco and Sacramento.

He settled in the Portland, Oregon area and married Elizabeth Jane Dixon in 1851. (He and his family owned large tracts of land in Portland, and one area of that city is still known as Irvington.)

Gold on the Fraser River brought Captain W. Irving north to British Columbia in 1858, where he established a successful riverboat trade. In 1865, Captain Irving brought his family to their new home in New Westminster on the inaugural voyage of the Onward from Victoria.

(Captain William Irving's magnificent home, proclaimed by the British Columbian newspaper as "the finest, the best home of which British Columbia can yet boast" was purchased by the City of New Westminster in 1950 and opened to the public as Irving House Historic Centre. We have a link to the Irving House website on our Lingo, Links & Resource page.)

Captain W. Irving and some associates formed the British Columbia and Victoria Steam Navigation Company, which commissioned the first two sternwheelers to be built in Victoria: Governor Douglas (launched 1858) and Colonel Moody (launched 1859).

For over a dozen years, William Irving dominated the sternwheeler trade on the Fraser River, and became not only the most successful but also the most respected of all the river captains. He never lost any of the rate wars that plagued early commerce on the river, but he also never destroyed an opponent.

Captain W. Irving's sudden death from pneumonia at the age of 56 shocked and saddened not only the people of New Westminster, but also all of British Columbia. Perhaps the greatest testament to his life and work is the obituary that appeared in the British Columbian newspaper on August 31, 1872 - a newspaper lined in black to signify the sorrow felt by all who had known him. (Read the full text of Captain W. Irving's obituary.)

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Captain John Irving was the son of Captain William Irving and Elizabeth (Dixon) Irving. He came to British Columbia with his parents in 1858 and formally began working with his father on Irving's Pioneer Line. Upon the death of his father in 1872, Captain J. Irving assumed responsibility for the business.

Under his direction, like that of his father, the company flourished. In 1883, Captain John Irving consolidated his Pioneer Line with the Hudson's Bay Company Line and became the active head of the new Canadian Pacific Navigation Company. Much of the maritime history of the West Coast is related to this fleet. In 1901, the CPN Co, as it was known, was sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to form the nucleus of their British Columbia Coast Service fleet.

John Irving also held interests in the John Irving Navigation Company in the Yukon, and in the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company, as well as in other companies in northern British Columbia. He was the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Cassiar District from 1894 to 1901, and, although his fortunes slipped in later years, Captain J. Irving was always regarded as a giant of the steamboat industry in British Columbia.

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Captain Otis Parsons arrived in British Columbia in 1858, with the influx of gold seekers. He established a profitable freighting business on the Harrison-Lillooet Trail, and founded the community of Parsonville across the Fraser from Lillooet.

With the construction of the Cariboo Road, Captain Parsons moved his business to Lytton, and set-up a steamer service, which included Lillooet, Hope, and Royal City.

In 1875, Captain Parsons sold his local interests and arranged to return to California with his family on S.S. Pacific. On their way south, just off Cape Flattery, S.S. Pacific collided with Orpheus, and sank. More than 250 people were on board and all but two were lost, including Captain Otis Parsons, his wife Jenny and their infant child.

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Captain William Moore In 1858, Captain William "Billy" Moore came north from California with the gold seekers. He immediately entered the steamboat trade and began his life as a riverboat captain, a career which would span 50 years.

His first sternwheeler, Henrietta, operated on the Fraser River for many years, and over his career Captain Moore owned and operated many other vessels, including Alexandra, Glenora, Western Slope, Gertrude, and Rainbow.

Captain Moore was one of the most prominent captains on the Fraser River. He was a respected businessman, and had a major influence on Fraser River shipping. He also had a reputation of being an adventurer (even once being accused of piracy) and he made a name for himself in northern British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska, where he is credited with being the founder of Skagway.

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Captain Angus Grant Captain Grant and his family moved to British Columbia in 1882, and took up residence in New Westminster. Not long after his arrival, Captain Grant secured command of the original Samson, and retained that post until his death in 1889.

With his two sons, Captain William Philpot Grant and George H. Grant, Captain Angus Grant founded the first ferry service across the Fraser River from New Westminster to Brownsville (on the Surrey side of the river), approximately where the SkyBridge now stands. The name of that first ferry, K de K, is commemorated today by a street along the Quay. K de K served until 1889, when it was replaced by a larger ferry, Surrey.

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The Great Rivalries

Throughout the steamboat era, great rivalries grew between the captains or the vessels that worked on the Fraser River. Of these rivalries, none was greater than that between Captain William Moore and Captain John Irving, who, like many other captains, resorted to wedging their steam-relief vales and racing their vessels in an effort to be number one. (Wedging a steam-relief valve was a dangerous trick. A boiler could burst and cause an explosion, as was the fate of some steamboats.)

The Victoria Colonist in October 1882 reported an incident between Captain Moore's Gertrude and Captain John Irving's William Irving:

"Steamboat rivalry. Alarming collision on the Fraser River...the sternwheel steamers William Irving and Gertrude locked guards and ran down the 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".

Such was the excitement on the Fraser River.

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