HMS ''Grappler'' was an ''Albacore''-class

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She served on what is now the

British Columbia Coast , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...

from 1859 until sold into commercial service in 1868. She sank with significant loss of life as result of a fire in 1883.

Naval service

The ''Grappler'' was one of about 100 ''Albacore''-class gunboats that the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

had built to meet the needs of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

. Like the others of her class, she was completed as that war ended. The Admiralty dispatched her, along with her sister ship, , to British Columbia following the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

in 1858. She sailed from England in August 1859 and reached

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de ...

nearly a year later on July 12, 1860. HMS Grappler, shown here in later service as a packet steamer, brought the first settlers to the

Comox Valley The Comox Valley is a region on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, that includes the city of Courtenay, British Columbia, Courtenay, the town of Comox, British Columbia, Comox, the village of Cumberland, British Columb ...

in 1862.

Vancouver Island service

On the

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast of A ...

''Grappler'' played an important role in the early history of the

Colony of Vancouver Island The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. ...

. Under the command of Lieutenant Edmund Hope Verney, ''Grappler'' transported the first 35 British settlers to a new settlement at Comox on 2 October 1862 at the request of Governor James Douglas. She continued to act as a transport for the settlement before other transport was available. She also helped enforce the regulation of the liquor trade in the colony. Her small size, steam power, and shallow draft made her useful as a lighthouse tender, for rescue, and for laying navigation buoys. however She and ''Forward'' were involved in the Lemalchi incident in the spring of 1863 when they hunted down and captured natives believed to have murdered some Gulf Island settlers. ''Forward'' used her guns to level a village on

Kuper Island Penelakut Island, formerly known as Kuper Island and renamed in 2010 in honour of the Penelakut First Nation people, is located in the southern Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada. ...

; she then transported her captives to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

where they were tried and hanged.

Civilian service and fate

''Grappler'' was paid off on 13 May 1865 and sold for $2,400 in 1868. She was modified by the addition of deck house and put into commercial service for the next 15 years. On 29 April 1883, while in

Discovery Passage , image = Discovery Passage.jpg , image_size = 250px , caption = Looking south from between Vancouver Island and Sonora Island , image_bathymetry = Locmap-DiscoveryPassage.png , caption_bathymetry = , loc ...

about 4 miles south of

Seymour Narrows Seymour Narrows is a section of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia known for strong tidal currents. Discovery Passage lies between Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay, British Columbia and Quadra Island except at its northern end where the ea ...

, a fire was discovered in her boiler room. There were only two lifeboats aboard, one of which overturned. There were 36 survivors. Because the ship's records were lost, the number who perished in the sinking is uncertain but is believed to be between 70 and 90. At an inquest which followed, it was found that the vessel was not licensed to carry passengers aboard and the owners had failed to make provisions for their safety. ''Grappler'' was on a voyage from the Puget South to the

Alaska Territory The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The territory was previously Russian America, 1784–1867; the ...

Citations

References

HMS ''Grappler''
at the Historic Shipping web site

External links

by William Edward Atkins at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...