Biography
(He was qualified as a Master Mariner.) He was the son of a HBS sloop Master and a Cree mother.
He was apprenticed to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1841.
He travelled overland to Fort Edmontonand on to Fort Vancouver.
He joined the Cadboro as a Steward in 1843 under Captain James Allen Scarborough.
He transferred to the Vancouver in 1845 and to the Columbia and Cowlitz between 1846-50 leaving the Cowlitz as Second Officer.
He worked in the Hudson's Bay Company vessel Beaver as First Officer in 1851.
He joined the Vancouver as Pilot in 1851 after the seizure of the Beaver by US Customs and survived the wreck of the Vancouver on Rose Spit.
He was appointed as First Officer of the Mary Dare in 1854.
He was appointed as Master of the HBC vessel Beaver in 1856-58.
He was master of the Labouchere 1859-1863 and was appointed as Chief Trader for the Northwest Coast District on the death of Captain Dodd.
He married Catherine, a Tlingit princess in 1860 when she was 13 years of age.
In 1865 he was appointed to the British columbia Pilotage Commission until Confederation in 1871.
He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Nanaimo in his absence in 1859 serving in the Labouchere in Alaska and upon his return he declined the electio.
He built his first home in 1864 on Quebec Street where the Laurel Point Aprtments now stand in Victoria.
In 1867 he moved to a larger house on Dallas Road which fronted on James Bay.
In 1870 he commanded the steamship Otter.
He was Master of the Enterprise.
He was buried in Ross Bay Cemetery in 1888.
Named Features
Swanson Bay (BC), Swanson Channel (BC), Swanson Harbour (AK), Swanson Island (BC), Swanson Point (BC)
References
- Wright, E.W. (ed.) (1895 reprinted 1967)
- Bailey, Lloyd J. Captain John S. Swanson: Historical Unknown. In BC Historical News - Summer 1991
- Delgado, James P. (1993)
