Wednesday, February 3, 1999 _

THE SEA Docs — A SERIES

Brad Morrison

The sinking of the Hud-.
son's Bay Company's
steamer Labouchere and
the unfortunate deaths of
two of its crew was one of
many turning points in.
Captain William A.

" Mouat’s long and rumbus-
tious career. In this week’s

Pioneer Portrait, we look at -

“the career of Capt. Mouat,

‘ one of the early land owners

on igi! Saanich Peninsula.

Y illiam Alexander
_ Mouat was born -
¥  in.1821, the son

of William Mouat, in Lon-»

don, England. As alad of

-. 14, he went to sea as an ap-

prentice, learning the skills -

to be an officer over the

~ next three years. In. 1844.
he joined the service of the.

-. Hudson’s Bay Company

~ and was made thé Second...
Mate of the company’s. bar--
~ que Vancouver, under Ce ap :

tain Andrew Cook Mott. .

ee 1844, the: Vancouver sailed &
ee directly, to: Fort Victoria
“and was the first supply:

Leaving i in the fall-of -

by direct route to the new:

“ “was not particularly suc-

cessful as it ended with a.

_ minor mutiny and Mouat
being removed by. the cap- ee
~., tain,” relates HBC re- -

searcher Bruce Watson.’

- “Matters were relatively

calm in 1845-46 with minor

incidents of the crew being —

~_ insolent to him. However,
© on Jan..16, 1847, he struck

~ steward William Maydle on

~ the face several times as

the steward would not:

~ bring him water. with which

to wash; Mouat was tem-

porarily relieved from duty, .

When the schooner landed:

at San Francisco.on Jan, 31,
1847, Mouat apologized for:

his behavior and was rein-
stated; however, only the

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“sails...

moved] off. -

' bers mutinied,
refusing to

-Mouat.”

: ishing of Fort Rupert, and
_ serving on. ‘the Mary Dare,
again under Scarborough

hé schooner Cadboro, un-: ©

“der Captain James Scarbor- :

ough and soon ‘became its ©
First Officer:
‘His time on ‘he Cadboro: hee

_ ing his whole stay” there,
“and that on July 25; Mouat
“-was:“so driven & bullied
that he left the ship putting :
~ himself under Captain Mc-
Neil's [sic]:protection” on:
~ the steamer Beaver. The
- reaction of Scarborough «
“was, declaring “him ade
~gerter .,
ceeded to the extremity of.

boatswain would support
him. Because the ship was
about to leave San Fran-
cisco on Feb. 8, Mr. Mouat
was loosening the
this
caused one crew
member to
refuse to work
unless Mouat
was |[re-

the deck. Fi-
nally, on

Feb: 20,
while at Fort:
Victoria, five
crew mem:

work under’

Captain SeTbon

ough’ s only option was to. -
“put him off duty,” and send
~ him to Fort Vancouver...”
While in the Fort Van-
“couver area, Mouat.is be-
lieved to have worked as a
- piloton the Columbia - .
River. ‘By. the'sumimer of
- 1848, he was at-Beaver »

Harbor during the. estab-

- and: [he] pro-.

the law. We shall be anx-.

- jous to hear how itis set-
~tled,” continued Beard-.

‘more, “as this officer is a
favorite with us all,”
But just, a few weeks later

Mouat assisted Chief Trader i

Roderick Finlayson and
‘J oseph McKay ona search

for nine deserters who “ran,

away in course of the night

_ of the 23rd of August.”

Five days after, the
steamer Beaver, with the: —

Mary Dare in tow, arrived

Use oP 4g a bey

~ Capiain William, Mlexander Nouat

at Fort Victoria. Even more

confusing is the fact that in

late October, he is

_ recorded going to Califor

nia, where he states
that he was at the
time the “master
of an American‘
‘\ vessel.”

again with

-\ the Company
by the begin-
ning of the
1850 outfit,

# but this time
| as the Cap-
_tain of the”
Mary Dare. Af-
- ter serving fora
few years as her
master, the Mary.

to England with Mouat at.

~ her command, on Dec: 16, .

*- 1853. During that trip,
~Mouat was “accused by his. :

_ own first officer of ‘dis-

» graceful conduct’in mak-
~ ing a physical assault on et
ih the second officer of the

at Stepney. Parish i in the.
‘outskirts of London. The™ i
happy couple spént their
honeymoon traveling. to”

“Vancouver Island in the 2 “
~~ Marquis of Bute, arriving at

‘Fort Victoria on April 1,
1855. They were accompa-.

nied on the trip by Rev. Ed-.

ward Cridge and his new
bride: The two couples re-
mained faithful friends
throughout their lives.
‘On April 16, two weeks
“after their arrival, Captain

Mouat received command ».

of the HBC steamer Otter,

~ where he served as its ©

master until April 3, 1862,
-when he was transferred to

the steamer Enterprise.
During this time Captain
‘Mouat was promoted to-

Chief Trader, and also ac- »

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a

aq
thle

-. Mouat was. >”

~ change of command due to
_the awarding of the mail

- Dare was sent back ¥
‘most careful and reliable.

. wheel” i in command. This -
~ their thinking.
- Francisco-and have the ~
“ Labouchere refitted. for the
is accommodation. of passen- -

gers. ‘After the refit and on L

ship was wrecked off Point e
Reyes,
abo

: Francisco, on:

-This came about: according eS

‘headed’ by Chief Justice
a Joseph: Needham, through: » *
“very gross negligence was |
; displayed by Captain pore
' Mouat in not swinging the -

-Labouchere. to ascertain the
.. deviation.of the: Compasses.

~ tus having been shifted

» also of opinion that the loss
“of that vessel can be attrib-

‘for only a single season,
then placed in charge of

Tebrusry 6, 1999, tom - 3: 20pm eed

Ronald MeDonald, Biter Grininee” ond Homburg} in person

2073 Mt. Newton X Rood, Soanichton —

_ PENINSULA NEWS REVIEW 19

quired 201 acres of land in
South Saanich District
[Sections 5 & 6, Range 2
East} on June 24, 1858, just
south of the Prairie Inn. He
retained the Jand until Feb.
16, 1863, when it was sold
to by auction to Robert
Henry Stone [Section 5]
and Henry Nathan [Section
6} for $159.20 and $185.52
respectively.

Captain Mouat remained
the master of the Enter-
prise until early 1866, when.
he was given the command
of steamer Labouchere,.a

Fort Rupert. Charles A.
Bayley in his memoirs re-
ferred to this-as being “al-
most equal to banishment
~or Siberia” and as being-a
form of disciplinary action.

Although Captain Mouat
is seen as being tempera-

~ mental at times, with his
‘fury raging, he was known
as “a kindly man,-generous
to the unfortunate, [but]
had.a quick: temper. and
would brook no interfer-
ence in what he considered
the performance of his ©
duty,” wrote Dr. Dorothy.
Blakey Smith.

Captain: Mouat remained
in charge at Fort Rupert ~
until his untimely death on
April 11, 1871, while on a
canoe trip. The British.

Colonist reported that his
death occurred “while in a-
canoe on his way:from
Knight's Inlet to Fort Ru- -
pert.” A short time later,
his body was “placed ina
tin coffin inside a wooden. ~
one” and. conveyed by the.
Otter to. Victoria, where it

was interred at the Old.
Ce emetery on Quadra
ae street. :

contract to the HBC. =~

_ As it was an important
obligation, the company de-
cided to have “one of the «

men that ever handled a

soon became antithetical i in

“The first course eof busi-

) Real Estate.
ness was to sail to San |

Advertising —
with :

| ThePen
her. second voyage, the - cine ens
abold headland
8 miles north of San-

April. 14; with
Il the ‘mail. and cargo lost. -

to the official inquiry, .:

before leaving San Fran- |
cisco, the steering appara-

‘from aft forward. We are

‘uted solely tothe error in
the Compasses.”

-Captain Mouat, now.
without a ship, was sent to
the interior to command
the steamer Marten on her -
maiden voyage plying the. ~
Thompson River. He re-
mained with the Marten

tL PeninsulaNews Review _

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