''Orion'' was constructed as a whale catcher in 1904, in

Christiana, Norway Oslo ( or ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of towns and cities in Norway, most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a Counties of Norway, county and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a populat ...

. She was a steam-powered vessel, long, wide, displacing 109 tonnes. Robert Lloyd Webb, author of a book on commercial whaling in the Pacific Northwest, wrote that she was the first steam-powered chaser boat in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He recorded that ''Orion'' had to ship her whale catching gear in a commercial freighter, because every available space had to be loaded with coal for her long and difficult voyage from Norway, around

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

, to

. ''Orion''s first crew, who sailed her from Norway, were Norwegian whalers. Her owners wanted to take advantage of the Norwegian whalers' experience, and invited them to stay in Canada. Canadian fishermen complained that their experience should be ignored, and Canadian seamen should be given first crack at their jobs. In its initial years of operation her owners considered ''Orion'' a great success, harvesting hundreds of whales per year. By 1916, nine other Canadian whalers were working out of British Columbia, and Americans had followed the Canadian example, and the whale stock off the coast of the Pacific Northwest had been devastated. ''Orion'', like most of the other vessels, was repurposed. She was converted to fish

halibut Halibut is the common name for three species of flatfish in the family of right-eye flounders. In some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish are also referred to as halibut. The word is derived from ''haly'' (holy) and ...

Fireboat Orion Battling a fire at a Vancouver grain elevator -c

In 1930 she was converted to serve as a

fireboat A fireboat or Fire-float Pyronaut, fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with ...

, serving in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. The

Port of Vancouver The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo, facilitating trade between Canada and more than 170 world economies. The port is managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, whic ...

's 1933 annual report stated that ''Orion'' had responded to 75 alarms. Lea Edgar, a historian at the

Vancouver Maritime Museum The Vancouver Maritime Museum is a maritime museum devoted to presenting the maritime history of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the Canadian Arctic. Opened in 1959 as a Vancouver centennial project, it is located within Vanier Park j ...

, wrote in the ''

BC Shipping News BC most often refers to: * Before Christ, a calendar era based on the traditionally reckoned year of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth * British Columbia, the westernmost province of Canada * Baja California, a state of Mexico BC may also refer to: ...

'', that ''Orion'' was "dubious in its effectiveness", and that she was retired, in 1937, and sold for scrap in 1941.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U6TmAAAAMAAJ&q=pluvius+vancouver+fireboat , title = Canadian Transportation , publisher = Southam Business Publications , author = J. A. O'Dowd , date = 1937 , page = 511 , accessdate = 2017-03-31 , quote = Vancouver Needs Fireboat — Following condemnation of the Vancouver Harbour fireboat Pluvius, early this year, Vancouver has been without a fireboat... {{cite news , url = https://issuu.com/janemci/docs/bcsn-nov-2015 , title = Fireboats: A century of marine protection , publisher =

, author = Lea Edgar , date = November 2015 , pages = 20–21 , location = , archiveurl = , archivedate = , accessdate = 2017-03-30 , quote = {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-uwmAQAAIAAJ&q=Orion+vancouver+fireboat+OR+%22fire+boat%22+OR+whaler+OR+%22whale+catcher%22 , title = Annual Report -- 1933 , publisher =

Port of Vancouver, British Columbia A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchest ...

, author = , date = 1933 , page = 22 , access-date = 2017-03-30 , quote = The Fireboat "Orion" responded to 75 fire alarms, most of them trivial, except that on the S.S. "Lome" when valuable assistance was rendered. {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vPYbAQAAMAAJ&q=Orion+vancouver+fireboat+OR+%22fire+boat%22+OR+whaler+OR+%22whale+catcher%22 , title = Harbour & Shipping, Volume 72 , publisher =

Progress Publishing Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet publisher founded in 1931. Publishing program Progress Publishers published books in a variety of languages: Russian, English, and many other European and Asian languages. They issued many scientific ...

, year = 1989 , access-date = 2017-03-30 , page = 16 , quote = Their choice fell on the ancient whale catcher Orion, built in Norway in 1904. {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KnIb2nsqjv0C&q=Orion&pg=PR11 , title = On the Northwest: Commercial Whaling in the Pacific Northwest, 1790-1967 , publisher =

UBC Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It is a mid-sized scholarly publisher, and the largest in Western Canada. The press is based in Vancouver, British Col ...

, year = 2011 , author = Robert Lloyd Webb , pages = 154–156, 165–167, 175–176, 180–181, 183, 196, 226, 228–229, 239, 334 , location = , isbn = 9780774843157 , access-date = 2017-03-30 , quote = 1904 ships Whaling ships Ships built in Oslo Fireboats of Canada