[3] Cowichan was designed specifically to serve the remote logging camps of coastal British Columbia.

Two new design aspects of the ship were a larger wheelhouse and relocating the bridge further forward so that both the quartermaster and the navigator could see over the bow.

[6] Cowichan, proceeding under the name Cariboo, was delivered to British Columbia by way of Cape Horn, there being no Panama Canal at the time.

Charles Polkinghorne on the 90-day voyage, and the vessel was found to be seaworthy during the moderate storms encountered on the trip.

Every Monday and Thursday, the ship departed Vancouver bound for Campbell River and the Rock Bay region.

Other passengers had come from the north over the holiday, and the numbers returning to Powell River exceeded Cecilia's capacity.

Cecilia passed safely by, but then Wilson was taken by surprise 15 minutes later when Cynthia, under Captain John Boden appeared out of the fog, striking Cowichan bow-on amidships.

Captain Boden shouted down from Cynthia's bridge that he would hold the bow into Cowichan to hinder the ship from sinking.

"[6] In May 1997, after a year of searching, a team of wreck hunters on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police patrol vessel Lindsay in connection with a training exercise, located what they claimed was the wreck of the Cowichan 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the White Islets off Roberts Creek, British Columbia.

[11] Subsequent research has shown, however, that the discovered wreck was not, in fact, the Cowichan despite all the breathless newspaper reports to the contrary.