The engines from Elizabeth J. Irving were salvaged and installed in the Rithet, which was intended to the most luxurious riverboat ever launched up to that time in British Columbia.

He was a partner in the firm of Welsh, Rithet, and Co., which had offices in San Francisco and Victoria, BC, and also major sugar holdings in the Hawaiian Islands.

About six weeks after the vessel was launched, Captain Irving took Rithet on her first voyage to the mainland, arriving at New Westminster, BC on June 10, 1882.

Arriving on a Saturday night, the vessel's electric lights shown brilliantly across the water, earning the praise of the local press.

A military band had been embarked, which played stirring tunes as crowds of people swarmed on the docks to welcome Captain Irving's new steamer.

Irving's major rival at the time of the launch of Rithet was Captain William Moore, who ran Western Slope under contract with the Hudson's Bay Company ("HBC") across the Strait of Georgia from New Westminster to Victoria.

Moore went into bankruptcy, and Irving and Rithet then joined with Alexandro Munro, HBC chief factor and other prominent businessmen to incorporate the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company ("C.P.N.").

Despite this biased evidence the steamboat inspector concurred and forbade Rithet from crossing the Strait until such time as her seaworthiness was established.

Irving himself went back to Ottawa, Ontario where he was able to persuade the Ministry of Marine to reverse the steamboat inspector, and by February 27, 1883 Rithet was clear again to run across the strait.

Excursionists could then ride a special Canadian Pacific Railway train to the end of the line at Yale, British Columbia.

Teaser however could make little progress against the C.P.N., which was running not only the Rithet on the Strait route, but also the enormous sidewheeler Yosemite, recently brought up from operations in California.

[4] Captain Rudlin was faulted for not reboarding Enterprise from Rithet to take action to manage the evacuation of the vessel, but unlike Insley, he continued to receive command assignments from C.P.N.

[2] On June 28, 1894, Rithet broke her paddlewheel shaft at Maria Slough, near Ruby Creek on the Fraser River, which disabled the vessel because her sternwheel could not be turned.

Things went well until they reached Farr's Bluff, where the strong current swung both vessels around, and Irving''s bow smashed into a rock.

Free of Rithet, Irving kept going downstream, gradually sinking, and eventually hit a sandbar, which caused her to become a total wreck, an uninsured loss of a vessel worth $50,000.

The cannery business used to require that salmon be canned and crated at the Fraser River then transshipped to Victoria to be loaded on ocean-going vessels.

By the late 1890s ocean-going vessels were going directly to the canneries on the Fraser River, eliminating the need for steamers to carry the packed salmon to Victoria.