S.S. Pheasant
S.S. Pheasant was built in 1905 near Fort Langley BC by Capt. George Magar and Capt. Watson for J Alexander Cunningham. Cunningham ran her on the Skeena River in opposition to the Hudson’s Bay boats until 1906 when the British Columbia government chartered her for channel clearing work above Kitsequecla. She was nicknamed the “Chicken” because of her lack of power. In 1906 on her last trip of the season on November 21, she sank near the Skeena Crossing Bridge after her engines broke down. Capt. John H. Bonser and the crew got off her safely. The vessel was stripped, boiler used in a sawmill in Terrace and the hull blown up.
| Name, Reg | Tonnage | Len x Wid x Draft | NHP | Engines | Passengers | Info |
| Pheasant, C-111952 | 158 | 112.0×17.2×5.2 | 9 | u/k | u/k | u/k |
Captains:
Capt. John H Bonser
Ships Registry for the Phesant courtesy Library and Archives Canada:
Sources:
Armstrong, Cliff Sternwheelers on the Skeena , 2001
Bennett, Norma V Pioneer Legacy: Chronicles of the Lower Skeena River, 2001
Macdonald, Joseph F. Macdonald’s Steamboats & Steamships of the Pacific Northwest.
O’Neill, Wiggs Steamboat Days on the Skeena River, 1963
Wright, E. W. Lewis & Drydens Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, 1967.
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