Steven Martin
	
Captain Steve Martin and his nephew, John Thomas Martin, came to the Yukon from Martin’s home in Codroy, Newfoundland. The 20-year-old nephew was living at Fort Selkirk in 1903 when he became ill with pneumonia and died in the Whitehorse hospital.(("Obituary.” //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 9 May 1903.)) Steve Martin was a cousin by marriage to the Washington Barringtons.((Nancy Warren Ferrell, //White Water Skippers of the North: The Barringtons.// Hancock House, 2008: 73.)) In 1903, Martin was a steamer captain with White Pass & Yukon Route and a watchman in charge of the steamers //Columbian// and //Bailey// birthed at the Dawson dock.((Yukon Archives, Cor 722 (1203) WP&YR. RGI  II-I))
	
By 1911, Captain Martin was known as one of the most experienced men of the Yukon river fleet of boats. That spring he was in command of the steamer //Lafrance,// owned by the Side Stream Navigation Co. and managed by Syd Barrington. Lake Laberge was still covered in ice, but freight was taken down to Lower Laberge and loaded on the boats to get an early start on the navigation season. Five steamers left the foot of the lake within a few minutes of each other and about an hour later the //Lafrance// struck a rock near Twelvemile Point in the Thirtymile River, punctured her hull and sank, lying with a portion of her lower deck about two feet under water. The passengers were taken off and the cargo was unloaded onto the bank. The crew tried to raise the steamer but three days after the accident a fire broke out in the boiler room and within a few minutes the little boat burned to the water line. One of her barges broke loose and was wrecked just below Hootalinqua. Nearly all of the 75-ton cargo on that barge was lost. The //Lafrance// was insured so the loss was covered.(("Yukon River Disasters Very Numerous." //The Weekly Star// (Whitehorse), 26 May 1911.))