Capilano (1915)

The Capilano was a coastal passenger-freight steamer built in Glasgow for the Union Steamship Company but assembled in Vancouver. On the night of September 29, 1915, Capilano struck a submerged object while travelling from Vancouver to Texada Island. It wasn’t until the early morning of October 1 that the extent of the damage was realised, and the vessel sank with no loss of life, south of Savary Island on the Sunshine Coast.

The wreck sits upright on a sandy bottom in 37 meters of water between Savary and Harwood Islands in the Salish Sea. The Capilano is an excellent example of an early coastal passenger and freight steamer – the type of vessel which played a pivotal role the early development of a reliable water transportation network on the coast of British Columbia. The vessel itself was the first steamer to transport miners from Vancouver to the Klondike in 1897, and delivered stone used to build the provincial legislature in the mid-1890s.

Note: British Columbia’s Heritage Conservation Act automatically protects all heritage wrecks, including the remains of all wrecked vessels and aircraft once two or more years have passed since the date of loss. It is illegal to damage, alter or remove a heritage object from a heritage wreck except under a permit issued by the Archaeology Branch.