The Malahat was a prominent 5-masted lumber schooner built in 1917 in Victoria, British Columbia, by Cameron Genoa Mills Shipbuilders. Owned initially by the Canadian Steamships Company of Montreal, she was pressed into service during World War I before her engines were installed, demonstrating her early versatility. Constructed as a large lumber schooner, she was capable of long voyages, notably transporting 1,300,000 board feet of lumber between Canada and Australia in her initial year. By 1934, Malahat was equipped for extended voyages, featuring comforts such as a coal-burning fireplace in the owner's quarters and two full-sized bathtubs, reflecting her adaptation to her roles beyond pure shipping. She was the longest-lived of the five-masted auxiliary schooners built in her era, active until 1944, and belonged to the Mabel Brown class. After the end of Prohibition, she resumed her role as a lumber schooner, notably serving as a self-propelled log barge transporting Sitka spruce from the Queen Charlotte Islands to Powell River, with a crew of fifteen required for her operations. During the Prohibition era (1920–1933), Malahat gained notoriety as "the Queen of Rum Row," serving as a floating warehouse for contraband liquor, primarily in the Pacific Coast region between Vancouver and Hawaii. She transported large quantities of illegal liquor—up to 100,000 bottles or 84,000 cases—using her hold and deck space, successfully evading U.S. Coast Guard interdiction for over a decade. Her operations involved covert communication, evasive tactics like dropping burlap bags of sand as decoys, and strategic anchoring off international limits, which made her a significant figure in maritime smuggling history. Her speed was modest, around five knots, making her less fast than the smaller, faster "mosquito boats" used for delivery. She was ultimately wrecked in Barkley Sound in 1944, where her remains lie in Powell River. The Malahat's story has been commemorated in documentaries and referenced in Canadian political discourse, underscoring her place in maritime and local history. The vessel's legacy persists today, notably inspiring the name of Malahat Spirits Co., a San Diego-based rum distillery.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.