BURST
On July 21, 1906, a group of people chartered the tugboat Chehalis for a trip up the B.C. coast.
It left the North Vancouver dock in the early afternoon and headed for the First Narrows. But it wasn’t the only vessel entering the turbulent body of water that day.
The Canadian Pacific steamship Princess Victoria had left the CP dock with 219 passengers. It built up to speeds of 15 to 19 knots to get through the notorious tides of the First Narrows.
But a strong tide caused the much smaller and slower Chehalis to come into the path of the oncoming Princess Victoria. They collided, with disastrous results.
“The Chehalis, one of the best of the Union Steamship’s fleet, was cut in two and sank at 2 o’clock this afternoon off Brockton Point,” reported the Daily Province.
“The tug had on board about 15 persons. Ten of these are believed to have been drowned.” (In fact, there were eight dead.)
“The Princess Victoria was an hour late in leaving here for Victoria, and she was making good time out of the harbour,” said the Vancouver World.
“Just as she rounded the point to plow her way through the narrows, the Chehalis was struggling in the tide-rip. Caught in the current the Chehalis swung around, right across the bow of the Princess Victoria, and as far as could be made out from the shore, the Chehalis was cut in two, and sank almost immediately.”
The captain of the Chehalis was rescued, and was interviewed by a Province reporter, “with tears running down his face.”
“I suddenly heard a whistle behind me, and looking back out of the pilot house, I saw the Princess Victoria right on top of me,” said Capt. James House.
“Then the crash came. It was awful. The Chehalis rolled clean over. Something struck me on the head as I tried to get out of the wheelhouse when she righted again.
“Then I saw that the Chehalis was practically cut in two and sinking. I tried to get to Mrs. Bryce, whom I saw struggling in the water, to save her. But just then I was struck again. I think it was one of the Princess’ propellers, it hit me an awful blow in the side.
“I only wish Mrs. Bryce had been saved. And my poor engineer and fireman.”
Capt. Hulse then began “sobbing convulsively,” and fainted from his injuries.
The captain of the Princess Victoria, David Griffin, was arrested the following day and charged with manslaughter. He was released on $4,000 bond.
The case went to trial July 26. Passenger Theodore Rich said the collision made a noise “like a sledge hammer on a tank,” the boat “tumbled over” and he jumped into the water as it rolled. His watch stopped at 2:27 p.m.
The Chehalis’ engineer Cyrus Dean was on deck when the collision occurred. Dean stated the Princess was “coming along like a thousand of brick, and throwing water six feet high at the bow” when the ships hit.
The Vancouver News-Advertiser reported there was another small “launch” boat to the port (Stanley Park) side of the Princess Victoria, and Dean thought the CP ship would go around the Chehalis to the starboard (north) side of the water. But the CP liner tried to go between the two smaller boats.
“It was either a case of drowning us or the launch,” Dean said on the witness stand.
Defense attorney Bodwell got into it with Dean, asking him why he had left the engineering room to a “Japanese fireman” and why he had time to talk to a passenger but not yell out a warning to the captain.
Bodwell demanded, “Don’t you think if you had any sense you would have called to the captain?” Dean retorted, “I have as much sense as you,” and spectators in the court applauded.
The manslaughter charge was dropped, but Capt. Griffin was held responsible for the collision in a federal court of inquiry. It suspended his certificate to command commercial vessels for six months.
The disaster is commemorated with the Chehalis Cross memorial near Brockton Point in Stanley Park, which has the names of all eight people who died.
