View allAll Photos Tagged boatwork
Britannia Heritage Shipyards
(Steveston) Richmond, BC Canada
The Britannia Shipyards are in Steveston, a small area at the mouth of the Fraser River, in the southwest corner of Richmond, British Columbia. In the late 1800s, Steveston became the largest fishing town on B.C.’s coast and boasted the most canneries in the British Empire.
Immigrants from around the world heard of the jobs available in Steveston. The city quickly became one of the more multicultural places in Canada. European, Chinese, First Nations and Japanese people all gravitated to its fishing industry.
The Britannia Shipyard was designated a National Historic Site in 1991 by the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The 3.3-hectare park located along the Steveston Channel of the Fraser River consists of a community of workshops and dwellings that served the shore-based salmon fishery during its boom years from 1890 to 1913. Built over water, the shipyard is part of Steveston’s Cannery Row extending from Garry Point and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery to London Heritage Farm. Many of the buildings on the site were built in 1885.
The property includes the Britannia Shipyard and two boatworks operated by Japanese-Canadians. Labourers and craftsmen of Chinese, European, First Nations and Japanese descent lived in houses on site, and worked in salmon canneries, on the fishing boats, and in the boatworks.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated.
Sonja
Richmond, BC Canada
Cannery 1889 – 1917 Shipyard 1918 – 1979
The Britannia Shipyard is the oldest surviving structure on the Steveston waterfront and the oldest shipyard building in British Columbia.
The traditional “L” shaped cannery, timber framed and built on pilings over the Fraser River dates back to 1889. In 1917-18, in a wake of a disastrous downturn in salmon stocks on the Fraser, the cannery was converted to a shipyard.
The Britannia Shipyard repaired and maintained the Anglo British Columbia Packing Company fleet for many years. The fleet’s early fishing boats were largely built in the numerous boatworks located throughout the Steveston waterfront area.
In 1969, the Canadian Fishing Company purchased the shipyard operation and ran it for another 10 years before it closed its doors permanently.
Image best viewed in Large screen. Thank-you for your visit, and any comments or faves are much appreciated! ~Sonja
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Britannia Heritage Shipyards
(Steveston) Richmond, BC Canada
The Britannia Shipyards are in Steveston, a small area at the mouth of the Fraser River, in the southwest corner of Richmond, British Columbia. In the late 1800s, Steveston became the largest fishing town on B.C.’s coast and boasted the most canneries in the British Empire.
Immigrants from around the world heard of the jobs available in Steveston. The city quickly became one of the more multicultural places in Canada. European, Chinese, First Nations and Japanese people all gravitated to its fishing industry.
The Britannia Shipyard was designated a National Historic Site in 1991 by the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The 3.3-hectare park located along the Steveston Channel of the Fraser River consists of a community of workshops and dwellings that served the shore-based salmon fishery during its boom years from 1890 to 1913. Built over water, the shipyard is part of Steveston’s Cannery Row extending from Garry Point and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery to London Heritage Farm. Many of the buildings on the site were built in 1885.
The property includes the Britannia Shipyard and two boatworks operated by Japanese-Canadians. Labourers and craftsmen of Chinese, European, First Nations and Japanese descent lived in houses on site, and worked in salmon canneries, on the fishing boats, and in the boatworks.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated.
Sonja
Richmond, BC Canada
Cannery 1889 – 1917 Shipyard 1918 – 1979
The Britannia Shipyard is the oldest surviving structure on the Steveston waterfront and the oldest shipyard building in British Columbia.
The traditional “L” shaped cannery, timber framed and built on pilings over the Fraser River dates back to 1889. In 1917-18, in a wake of a disastrous downturn in salmon stocks on the Fraser, the cannery was converted to a shipyard.
The Britannia Shipyard repaired and maintained the Anglo British Columbia Packing Company fleet for many years. The fleet’s early fishing boats were largely built in the numerous boatworks located throughout the Steveston waterfront area.
In 1969, the Canadian Fishing Company purchased the shipyard operation and ran it for another 10 years before it closed its doors permanently.
Image best viewed in Large screen. Thank-you for your visit, and any comments or faves are much appreciated! ~Sonja
the boat gets a washdown - the water spray off the boat has the sunlight shining through
ODC - GOSSAMER
Richmond, BC Canada
Britannia Shipyard is a rare surviving example of a once thriving mixture of canneries, boatyards and residences. It is an eight acre National Historic Site with some of the oldest remaining heritage buildings found along the Fraser River.
The Britannia Shipyard is the oldest surviving structure on the Steveston waterfront and the oldest shipyard building in British Columbia.
The traditional "L"-shaped cannery, timber framed and built on pilings over the Fraser River dates back to 1889. In 1917-18, in the wake of the disastrous downturn in salmon stocks on the Fraser, the cannery was converted to a shipyard.
The Britannia Shipyard repaired and maintained the Anglo British Columbia Packing Company fleet for many years. The fleet's early fish boats were largely built in the numerous boatworks located throughout the Steveston waterfront area.
In 1969 the Canadian Fishing Co. purchased the shipyard operation and ran it for another 10 years before it closed its doors permanently.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
A bit of local history in the making. This boat was built in Deland, Fl (Beresford Boatworks) in 1944 for the US Army. There were 29 ST-Tugboats (ST stands for Small Tug) built in Deland and approximately 5-550 for the war, but this one is the ONLY one of the entire fleet to return home. ST-479 Tiger was found in Stockholm, Sweden and made the journey home, first to Jacksonville and now it sits in Astor, FL. Weighing in at 140 tons, because it is made of steel, that trip was no small feat. Plans are to get it all the way to Deland and build a monument, but the Hurricanes of last year have delayed those efforts. Hats off to Dan Friend and Deland Historic Trust, Inc.
Richmond Trails Scotch Pond
The name comes from the Scottish-Canadian Cannery, built in 1899, that was located at the western end of Garry Point. At the time, the pond was only a slough and Garry Point was a marsh tidal flat. The only land access to the large salmon cannery and its numerous living quarters, was a raised wooden boardwalk built along the slough. If you look carefully along the edge of Scotch Pond, you can see the remnants of the piles for the walkway can still be seen.
In 1905, the Atagi family built their home and boatworks at the head of the slough. For 35 years they were famous up and down the coast for their well crafted fish boats. In those days, because of the narrow slough, the boats had to be launched bow first, so they could be dragged through at high tide.
Thanks for visiting! ~Sonja :)
Richmond, BC Canada
Cannery 1889 - 1917 Shipyard 1918 - 1979
The Britannia Shipyard is the oldest surviving structure on the Steveston waterfront and the oldest shipyard building in British Columbia.
The traditional "L"-shaped cannery, timber framed and built on pilings over the Fraser River dates back to 1889. In 1917-18, in the wake of the disastrous downturn in salmon stocks on the Fraser, the cannery was converted to a shipyard.
The Britannia Shipyard repaired and maintained the Anglo British Columbia Packing Company fleet for many years. The fleet's early fish boats were largely built in the numerous boatworks located throughout the Steveston waterfront area.
In 1969 the Canadian Fishing Co. purchased the shipyard operation and ran it for another 10 years before it closed its doors permanently.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
Cap Sante Marina, Fidalgo Bay, Anacortes.
65′ Blanchard Custom
"PASPATOO was originally commissioned by the U.S. Army and constructed by the Blanchard Boatyard on Lake Union, Seattle in 1942. Designed by famed naval architect Ralph Winslow. Paspatoo was given a “keel up” retrofit at Easom Boatworks Sausalito, and Admiral Boatworks, Port Townsend WA. Retrofit designed by Eden & Eden Architects , San Francisco, CA."
We'll use the 9-foot Old Town dinghy, built in Maine, as our ship's boat. It will ride on the top of the trunk cabin, aft of the pilothouse, and be lifted on and off the boat with the mast and boom to be installed later.
Britannia Heritage Shipyards
(Steveston) Richmond, BC Canada
The Britannia Shipyards are in Steveston, a small area at the mouth of the Fraser River, in the southwest corner of Richmond, British Columbia. In the late 1800s, Steveston became the largest fishing town on B.C.’s coast and boasted the most canneries in the British Empire.
Immigrants from around the world heard of the jobs available in Steveston. The city quickly became one of the more multicultural places in Canada. European, Chinese, First Nations and Japanese people all gravitated to its fishing industry.
The Britannia Shipyard was designated a National Historic Site in 1991 by the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The 3.3-hectare park located along the Steveston Channel of the Fraser River consists of a community of workshops and dwellings that served the shore-based salmon fishery during its boom years from 1890 to 1913. Built over water, the shipyard is part of Steveston’s Cannery Row extending from Garry Point and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery to London Heritage Farm. Many of the buildings on the site were built in 1885.
The property includes the Britannia Shipyard and two boatworks operated by Japanese-Canadians. Labourers and craftsmen of Chinese, European, First Nations and Japanese descent lived in houses on site, and worked in salmon canneries, on the fishing boats, and in the boatworks.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated.
Sonja
Richmond, BC Canada
EVA, is a wooden gill-netter built in 1937. She is powered by an original two cylinder Easthope engine. Easthope was a local company that manufactured some of the first gasoline engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Eva was built from good quality materials – Western Red Cedar, Yellow Cedar and Douglas Fir to name a few.
She is probably the only vessel in existence to have been exchanged for an exact replica of herself. In 1997, Al Mason, a former resident made an interesting trade with Gus Jacobson, a Finnish fisher with long ties to Finn Slough. Al agreed to trade a working scale model (25.5 inches) of the Eva for the real thing (29.5 feet). Gus had been looking for a good home for the boat ever since he transferred the Eva’s fishing license to his present gill-netter because of a change of the fishing regulations around 1993 when area fishing was set up on the West Coast. Gus knew if a wooden boat was left unused it will deteriorate. Al, a shipwright who had repaired Eva in the past, had his eye on the boat for years and jumped at the chance to take ownership. When Al moved away from the Slough he made sure the Eva went to the Finn Slough Heritage and Wetlands Society. Kevin, another Finn Slough resident has upgraded her moorings among many other things.
Recently, local fishers have considered donating several historic fishing vessels and buildings to the Heritage & Wetland Society for preservation. Included is the “Eva” a twenty-eight foot wooden gillnetter built in 1939 at the “Kishi Boatworks” down river in Steveston. This boat is powered by an original two-cylinder “Easthope” engine.
“Easthope” was a local company that manufactured some of the first gas engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Also donated was a float containing a rare net-soaking tank made of cedar. It was used to keep linen gillnets from falling apart by soaking them in a Blue Stone (copper sulphate) solution.
This was before the advent of nylon nets and environmental awareness. They are in the process of creating a living museum by restoring and maintaining these and other heritage features. The Slough is bounded on the Fraser River side by Gilmore Island and on the north by a dyke built to protect Richmond.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always sincerely appreciated.
Sonja
Cap Sante Marina, Fidalgo Bay, Anacortes.
65′ Blanchard Custom
"PASPATOO was originally commissioned by the U.S. Army and constructed by the Blanchard Boatyard on Lake Union, Seattle in 1942. Designed by famed naval architect Ralph Winslow. Paspatoo was given a “keel up” retrofit at Easom Boatworks Sausalito, and Admiral Boatworks, Port Townsend WA. Retrofit designed by Eden & Eden Architects , San Francisco, CA."
Richmond, BC Canada
EVA, is a wooden gill-netter built in 1937. She is powered by an original two cylinder Easthope engine. Easthope was a local company that manufactured some of the first gasoline engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Eva was built from good quality materials – Western Red Cedar, Yellow Cedar and Douglas Fir to name a few.
She is probably the only vessel in existence to have been exchanged for an exact replica of herself. In 1997, Al Mason, a former resident made an interesting trade with Gus Jacobson, a Finnish fisher with long ties to Finn Slough. Al agreed to trade a working scale model (25.5 inches) of the Eva for the real thing (29.5 feet). Gus had been looking for a good home for the boat ever since he transferred the Eva’s fishing license to his present gill-netter because of a change of the fishing regulations around 1993 when area fishing was set up on the West Coast. Gus knew if a wooden boat was left unused it will deteriorate. Al, a shipwright who had repaired Eva in the past, had his eye on the boat for years and jumped at the chance to take ownership. When Al moved away from the Slough he made sure the Eva went to the Finn Slough Heritage and Wetlands Society. Kevin, another Finn Slough resident has upgraded her moorings among many other things.
Recently, local fishers have considered donating several historic fishing vessels and buildings to the Heritage & Wetland Society for preservation. Included is the “Eva” a twenty-eight foot wooden gillnetter built in 1939 at the “Kishi Boatworks” down river in Steveston. This boat is powered by an original two-cylinder “Easthope” engine.
“Easthope” was a local company that manufactured some of the first gas engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Also donated was a float containing a rare net-soaking tank made of cedar. It was used to keep linen gillnets from falling apart by soaking them in a Blue Stone (copper sulphate) solution.
This was before the advent of nylon nets and environmental awareness. They are in the process of creating a living museum by restoring and maintaining these and other heritage features. The Slough is bounded on the Fraser River side by Gilmore Island and on the north by a dyke built to protect Richmond.
**Information posted at Finn Slough
Image best viewed in Large screen. Thank-you for your visit, and any comments or faves are much appreciated! ~Sonja
Built c1912 by Capital Boatworks, Laurier Ave, Ottawa.
Acquired from the MacGregor Farm estate, Carleton Place.
Dated though the four-digit phone number on the maker's decal.
Clinker-built, planked in eastern white cedar, with butternut rubbing strake, white oak stem, stern and ribs. Mahogany seats.
Before outboard motors became common, St Lawrence Rowing skiffs like this were very popular for recreation in central Canada, along with St Lawrence Sailing skiffs.
The black stripes on the oars are carbon fibre reinforcing - not period-correct, but allowed making them lighter.
Bill and Teddy G. took it to numerous antique boat events, including this one at Clayton, NY.
RIPTIDE was enroute Everett WA from Port Ludlow WA.
Greg Gilbert photo.
RIPTIDE was built in 1927 by Frank E and William J Schertzer, owners of Schertzer Brothers Boat and Machine Company, which was then located on the north end of Lake Union near the foot of Stone Way in Seattle. Tantalizing hints in her lines suggest she may have been designed by the Seattle firm of Lee, Brinton and Wayland.
RIPTIDE is 47 feet 1-inch long with a beam of 11 feet 10-inches and a draft of five feet. She is planked in port orford cedar copper-riveted to white oak frames over an apitong backbone, originally with western red cedar houses. She displaces just over 12 tons, relatively light for a boat this size.
RIPTIDE carries her Coast Guard documentation number 226242 carved into the interior face of both port and starboard bilge stringers. She hails from Port Ludlow, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
She is powered by a remanufactured Cummins B210 5.9 liter turbo-charged diesel of 210hp. Her cruising speed is a sedate 8 knots at 1500 rpm. She carries 300 gallons of diesel fuel.
RIPTIDE is fortunate to have been owned by knowledgeable and caring owners throughout her long life, particularly Russell G. Gibson and, successively, the brothers Richard F. and Roger Billings. She’s hosted at least three marriages and dozens of family outings from Olympia WA to Juneau AK and beyond over her long and happy life.
RIPTIDE has been extensively upgraded since 2015 to return her to her cruising trim, primarily by the skilled shipwrights and technical experts at the Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op, and by Diane Salguero of Salguero Marine Services, who has managed her paint and varnish.
in 2015, she was overhauled by the Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-Op in Port Townsend WA, where 35 frames were replaced, she was largely replanked above the water line, new decks and transom installed, a new electrical system and hydraulic steering installed, and was completely recaulked by John Zimmer of Palouse Boatworks before her exterior was painted and varnished by Diane Salguero of Salguero Marine Services. Later that year, her pilothouse-mounted exterior steering station, not original to the boat, was removed, as was her old freshwater tank when a persistent leak through the stern strut was corrected.
2016 work included sorting out her running gear and realigning her engine and shaft after she had settled back into the water after her lengthy 2015 overhaul.
2017 work included replacing the aft portion of the pilothouse, adding six new bronze portlights forward (made for RIPTIDE by the Port Townsend Foundry) and repainting the boat, in addition to her annual engine maintenance.
2018 work included replacing the forward portion of the pilothouse, overhauling the aft cockpit, and adding a fresh water system and composting head.
2019 work included a new water tank and piping, and seven new keel bolts in addition to replacing the worm shoe.
2020 work included a new deck and interior bulkheads in the pilothouse, a new pilothouse dashboard, and a small woodstove, as well as an air compressor to power the two horns.
2021 work by Compass Boatworks in Port Townsend included completing the paneling in the pilothouse, adding a wood stove in the galley, adding port and starboard brass guards, and a number of other tasks, including painting the above water and underwater hull. In September, 2021 RIPTIDE returned to the Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op to have her trunk cabin top and stem iron replaced, work that had been planned for several years.
2022 work by the Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op included removing the galley wood stove (found to be impractical) and replacing it with a diesel stove, a new hot water tank, and a shower, among other improvements. The mast, built by the owner, was added and the Co-op built and installed the boom, crosstrees and lights, rigging all temporarily with dyneema line. A Garmin navigation system was added. The underwater hull was not painted, to see whether such painting could be accomplished every two years.
2023 work by the Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op included a new refrigerator and associated cabinetry, and a few minor electrical light installations. An aluminum frame was built around the engine, and the frame wrapped in noise reduction and fire-resistant blankets. The underwater hull was again sanded and painted, since it was found that doing so annually would be best for the vessel. Interior painting is generally done in the January-March time frame, while the owner maintains paint and varnish as needed during the year.
Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-Op shipwrights Jeff Galey and Paul Stoffer have done the majority of work on the boat, with electrical work by Matt Henderson, while Arren Day and other experts have been instrumental in her return to life. Maggie Day has contributed her expertise to RIPTIDE’s canvas, engine blankets, cushions and mattresses. The expert support provided by the Co-Op has been invaluable.
Salguero Marine owner Diane Salguero has painted and varnished RIPTIDE throughout her restoration, patiently teaching her owners how to properly maintain her finishes. Diane also works to maintain and improve the boat’s interior during the January-March timeframe.
Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-Op:
www.facebook.com/PortTownsendShipwrightsCoOp?fref=ts
Salguero Marine:
a href="http://salgueromarine.com/" rel="nofollow">salgueromarine.com/
www.facebook.com/marinefinishes
Port Townsend Foundry:
(20+) Port Townsend Foundry LLC | Facebook
Seen at Coniston Water in the Lake District - Cumbria.
Operated by Coniston Launch who operate two boats on circular tours around the lake.
This from the Coniston Launches website.
New on the water in 2011, Campbell (previously Exonia) was bought from a ferry company operating in Portsmouth. She has undergone a total re-build (apart from the hull) by Patterson Boatworks in Hawkshead. Pattersons converted her from a sea-faring vessel to a traditional lakeland launch.
Campbell can cater for up to 63 passengers and is currently our main launch.
909 3rd Street.
The building is now part of Fidalgo Dance Works. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Originally located on Commercial Ave. between 3rd and 4th Streets.
It was moved to this site in 1929. Over the years, it served as grocery store, tavern, wine house, and apartments.
Britannia Heritage Shipyards
Richmond, BC Canada
THE SILVER ANN, a 33-foot wooden gillnetter, lived a hard life fishing off the west coast of British Columbia. She battled the elements for years, but held strong until the day an electrical shortage caused her pumps to fail, sinking her at the dock where she was moored. When she was pulled from her watery confines she was piled up in the shipyard and left for several years. The city of Richmond acquired her in 2001 and donated her to the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Society. For the next four years she sat outside Richmond Boatworks in the Britannia Heritage Shipyards, uncovered, filling with rain, buried in leaves, aging more with each passing season.
Now, two shipwrights and a handful of volunteers are restoring the Silver Ann. They are using the same techniques and tools that Sadajiro Asari used in 1968, when he built the boat for Richmond fisherman George Osaka. Asari, who once owned Kishi Boatworks on Richmond’s Sea Island, was in his late seventies when he built the Silver Ann. Asari put a lifetime of boat building experience into her construction.
“The labour and craftsmanship to build a boat like this was pretty exceptional,” says Colin Duffield, one of two shipwrights involved in the Silver Ann restoration. “It took [Asari] five months to originally build it. We’ve been working on it a year and a half now and we’re not even half way done.”
The Silver Ann signified the end of an era for the Britannia Shipyards. It was the very last boat built on the site and when it was launched, 60 years of boat-building history was launched with it.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
The Boatwright's Shed
Arena Cove, The City of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California
camera: Nikon F4 SLR
lens: AF Nikkor 28-105mm 1:3.5-4.5 D
filter: Nikon L37c
film: Fujicolor Pro 160S (expired)
metering: TTL matrix
support: hand held
scan: NCPS
software: ACDSee Ultimate 9 (64 bit)
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©2016 Chris Grossman, all rights reserved
Britannia Heritage Shipyards
Richmond, BC Canada
GIKUMI was built to tow logs for the Telegraph Cove sawmill. She also served as a coastal pilot boat and cargo vessel all along British Columbia’s coastline before becoming B.C.’s first whale watching vessel in 1980.
Built: 1954, Bisset & Gilstein, North Vancouver
Gross Tonnage (t): 43.12
Net Tonnage (t): 29.32
Construction Material: Wood
Vessel Length (m): 16.15
Vessel Breadth (m): 5.00
Vessel Depth (m): 1.89
Engine: 1 x Caterpillar 3406 Diesel, 310 Horsepower
Speed (knots): 11.0
Propulsion Method: 1 x 50 inch 3 blade
Shaft: 3 inch aquamet
Gear: Twin disc MG514, 2.7/1
Genset: 3 cylinder Yanmar with 8.5 kw Kohler
THE SILVER ANN, a 33-foot wooden gillnetter, lived a hard life fishing off the west coast of British Columbia. She battled the elements for years, but held strong until the day an electrical shortage caused her pumps to fail, sinking her at the dock where she was moored. When she was pulled from her watery confines she was piled up in the shipyard and left for several years. The city of Richmond acquired her in 2001 and donated her to the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Society. For the next four years she sat outside Richmond Boatworks in the Britannia Heritage Shipyards, uncovered, filling with rain, buried in leaves, aging more with each passing season.
Now, two shipwrights and a handful of volunteers are restoring the Silver Ann. They are using the same techniques and tools that Sadajiro Asari used in 1968, when he built the boat for Richmond fisherman George Osaka. Asari, who once owned Kishi Boatworks on Richmond’s Sea Island, was in his late seventies when he built the Silver Ann. Asari put a lifetime of boat building experience into her construction.
“The labour and craftsmanship to build a boat like this was pretty exceptional,” says Colin Duffield, one of two shipwrights involved in the Silver Ann restoration. “It took [Asari] five months to originally build it. We’ve been working on it a year and a half now and we’re not even half way done.”
The Silver Ann signified the end of an era for the Britannia Shipyards. It was the very last boat built on the site and when it was launched, 60 years of boat-building history was launched with it.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
Richmond, BC Canada
EVA, is a wooden gill-netter built in 1937. She is powered by an original two cylinder Easthope engine. Easthope was a local company that manufactured some of the first gasoline engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Eva was built from good quality materials – Western Red Cedar, Yellow Cedar and Douglas Fir to name a few.
The Eva (#13K3752) was built in 1937 at the Suzuki Brothers Boat Yard as a Japanese–style double–ended gillnetter. She is 29.6’ x 8.0’ x 3.0’ carvel plank construction, cedar over oak. She was originally owned by Henry Jacobson, from Finn Slough BC. She required rebuilding by the Kishi Brothers Shipyard in the 1950s. In the 1960s she was owned by Gus Jacobsen (Henry’s nephew), also of Finn Slough BC. In late 1990s Al Mason, a highly skilled model builder and shipwright, traded a beautifully constructed scale model of the Eva for the vessel herself. She fished commercially to 1993 with fishing licence #23653.
She is probably the only vessel in existence to have been exchanged for an exact replica of herself. In 1997, Al Mason, a former resident made an interesting trade with Gus Jacobson, a Finnish fisher with long ties to Finn Slough. Al agreed to trade a working scale model (25.5 inches) of the Eva for the real thing (29.5 feet). Gus had been looking for a good home for the boat ever since he transferred the Eva’s fishing license to his present gill-netter because of a change of the fishing regulations around 1993 when area fishing was set up on the West Coast. Gus knew if a wooden boat was left unused it will deteriorate. Al, a shipwright who had repaired Eva in the past, had his eye on the boat for years and jumped at the chance to take ownership. When Al moved away from the Slough he made sure the Eva went to the Finn Slough Heritage and Wetlands Society. Kevin, another Finn Slough resident has upgraded her moorings among many other things.
Recently, local fishers have considered donating several historic fishing vessels and buildings to the Heritage & Wetland Society for preservation. Included is the “Eva” a twenty-eight foot wooden gillnetter built in 1939 at the “Kishi Boatworks” down river in Steveston. This boat is powered by an original two-cylinder “Easthope” engine.
“Easthope” was a local company that manufactured some of the first gas engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Also donated was a float containing a rare net-soaking tank made of cedar. It was used to keep linen gillnets from falling apart by soaking them in a Blue Stone (copper sulphate) solution.
This was before the advent of nylon nets and environmental awareness. They are in the process of creating a living museum by restoring and maintaining these and other heritage features. The Slough is bounded on the Fraser River side by Gilmore Island and on the north by a dyke built to protect Richmond.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always sincerely appreciated.
Sonjaand maintaining these and other heritage features. The Slough is bounded on the Fraser River side by Gilmore Island and on the north by a dyke built to protect Richmond.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always sincerely appreciated.
Sonja
The Lord Nelson Victory Tug is a brand of recreational trawler designed by James Backus and produced by Lord Nelson Yachts, Inc. based in Seattle, Washington. She is a rare trawler with terrific authentic tugboat looks. It was a nice harbor decoration in the evening sun at Camden, Maine. The crane is part of Wayfarer boatworks.
Clipper City Topsail Schooner on the Hudson River in New York City New York U.S.A.
The 1984 replica of the Clipper City
History: United States
Name: Clipper City
Operator: Manhattan by Sail.com
Ordered: 1984
Builder: Haglund Boatworks, Green Cove Springs, Florida
Homeport: New York, NY
Identification: 688904
Class & type: Topsail Schooner
Tonnage: 99.5
Displacement: 200 tons
Length: 158 ft (48 m)
Beam: 27.5 ft (8.4 m)
Height: 135 ft (41 m) from waterline
Draft: 14 ft (4.3 m) w/ centerboard, 6 ft (1.8 m) w/o
Propulsion: Sail; auxiliary engine
Sail plan: Two-masted square-topsail gaff schooner, 9,836 square feet (913.8 m2) total sail area
Capacity: 150 persons (not including crew)
Crew: 9
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Taken during my regatta on Coniston in June 2012- the dinghy used in the 1970's film 'Swallows and Amazons'. She was restored last year by Patterson Boatworks and is now touring the Lakes as often as possible to raise awareness of S&A and dinghy sailing to kids of today.
Britannia Heritage Shipyards
Richmond, BC Canada
GIKUMI was built to tow logs for the Telegraph Cove sawmill. She also served as a coastal pilot boat and cargo vessel all along British Columbia’s coastline before becoming B.C.’s first whale watching vessel in 1980.
Built: 1954, Bisset & Gilstein, North Vancouver
Gross Tonnage (t): 43.12
Net Tonnage (t): 29.32
Construction Material: Wood
Vessel Length (m): 16.15
Vessel Breadth (m): 5.00
Vessel Depth (m): 1.89
Engine: 1 x Caterpillar 3406 Diesel, 310 Horsepower
Speed (knots): 11.0
Propulsion Method: 1 x 50 inch 3 blade
Shaft: 3 inch aquamet
Gear: Twin disc MG514, 2.7/1
Genset: 3 cylinder Yanmar with 8.5 kw Kohler
THE SILVER ANN, a 33-foot wooden gillnetter, lived a hard life fishing off the west coast of British Columbia. She battled the elements for years, but held strong until the day an electrical shortage caused her pumps to fail, sinking her at the dock where she was moored. When she was pulled from her watery confines she was piled up in the shipyard and left for several years. The city of Richmond acquired her in 2001 and donated her to the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Society. For the next four years she sat outside Richmond Boatworks in the Britannia Heritage Shipyards, uncovered, filling with rain, buried in leaves, aging more with each passing season.
Now, two shipwrights and a handful of volunteers are restoring the Silver Ann. They are using the same techniques and tools that Sadajiro Asari used in 1968, when he built the boat for Richmond fisherman George Osaka. Asari, who once owned Kishi Boatworks on Richmond’s Sea Island, was in his late seventies when he built the Silver Ann. Asari put a lifetime of boat building experience into her construction.
“The labour and craftsmanship to build a boat like this was pretty exceptional,” says Colin Duffield, one of two shipwrights involved in the Silver Ann restoration. “It took [Asari] five months to originally build it. We’ve been working on it a year and a half now and we’re not even half way done.”
The Silver Ann signified the end of an era for the Britannia Shipyards. It was the very last boat built on the site and when it was launched, 60 years of boat-building history was launched with it.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
(Steveston) Richmond, BC Canada
The Britannia Shipyard was designated a National Historic Site in 1991 by the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The 3.3-hectare park located along the Steveston Channel of the Fraser River consists of a community of workshops and dwellings that served the shore-based salmon fishery during its boom years from 1890 to 1913. Built over water, the shipyard is part of Steveston’s Cannery Row extending from Garry Point and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery to London Heritage Farm. Many of the buildings on the site were built in 1885.
The property includes the Britannia Shipyard and two boatworks operated by Japanese-Canadians. Labourers and craftsmen of Chinese, European, First Nations and Japanese descent lived in houses on site, and worked in salmon canneries, on the fishing boats, and in the boatworks.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always sincerely appreciated.
Sonja
Britannia Heritage Shipyards
Richmond, BC Canada
GIKUMI was built to tow logs for the Telegraph Cove sawmill. She also served as a coastal pilot boat and cargo vessel all along British Columbia’s coastline before becoming B.C.’s first whale watching vessel in 1980.
Built: 1954, Bisset & Gilstein, North Vancouver
Gross Tonnage (t): 43.12
Net Tonnage (t): 29.32
Construction Material: Wood
Vessel Length (m): 16.15
Vessel Breadth (m): 5.00
Vessel Depth (m): 1.89
Engine: 1 x Caterpillar 3406 Diesel, 310 Horsepower
Speed (knots): 11.0
Propulsion Method: 1 x 50 inch 3 blade
Shaft: 3 inch aquamet
Gear: Twin disc MG514, 2.7/1
Genset: 3 cylinder Yanmar with 8.5 kw Kohler
THE SILVER ANN, a 33-foot wooden gillnetter, lived a hard life fishing off the west coast of British Columbia. She battled the elements for years, but held strong until the day an electrical shortage caused her pumps to fail, sinking her at the dock where she was moored. When she was pulled from her watery confines she was piled up in the shipyard and left for several years. The city of Richmond acquired her in 2001 and donated her to the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Society. For the next four years she sat outside Richmond Boatworks in the Britannia Heritage Shipyards, uncovered, filling with rain, buried in leaves, aging more with each passing season.
Now, two shipwrights and a handful of volunteers are restoring the Silver Ann. They are using the same techniques and tools that Sadajiro Asari used in 1968, when he built the boat for Richmond fisherman George Osaka. Asari, who once owned Kishi Boatworks on Richmond’s Sea Island, was in his late seventies when he built the Silver Ann. Asari put a lifetime of boat building experience into her construction.
“The labour and craftsmanship to build a boat like this was pretty exceptional,” says Colin Duffield, one of two shipwrights involved in the Silver Ann restoration. “It took [Asari] five months to originally build it. We’ve been working on it a year and a half now and we’re not even half way done.”
The Silver Ann signified the end of an era for the Britannia Shipyards. It was the very last boat built on the site and when it was launched, 60 years of boat-building history was launched with it.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
Early morning shot on my way home.
I used a combo of slight HDR and level adjustment with some dodging.
The 2015 Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend had a wide variety of boats from kayaks on up to big schooners. Pacifica, a 48-foot Sparkman and Stephens yawl built in 1947 is a modern rig built for speed. She has sailed and raced extensively she was given a major restoration by Traditional Boatworks (now in Port Townsend). The winds were brisk, the yawl sail is not set and the mainsail is furled a bit.
From the dock at Pease Boatworks, which makes beautiful dories like this.
Shot with a medium format Seagull 109, 6cm x 6cm Medium Format Twin Lens Reflex Camera with Built-in 75mm f/3.5 Lens.
© Christopher Seufert Photography.
This was RIPTIDE's last day at her long-time Port Madison home, as the owners sold their property. I am grateful to the Billings Family for allowing me to keep her at their float for five years, and for sharing their extensive knowledge of her and the area so generously.
RIPTIDE's home port is now Port Ludlow, Washington.
RIPTIDE was built in 1927 by the Schertzer Brothers Boat and Machine Company, then located on the north end of Lake Union near the foot of Stone Way in Seattle.
She is 44 feet long between perpendiculars, and 47 feet 1-inch long overall with a beam of 11 feet 1-inch and a draft of five feet 3-inches. She is planked in port orford cedar, copper riveted to white oak frames over an apitong backbone with a marine plywood pilothouse and a western red cedar trunk cabin.
Documented as 21 gross tons and 17 net tons (both of which are measures of volume), RIPTIDE actually displaces 12 tons of water (roughly equivalent to her weight), relatively light for a boat her size. She has carried her registration number, 226249, deeply carved into her port and starboard bilge stringers, since new.
Although there are no records extent confirming her designers, tantalizing hints in her lines suggest she may have come from the boards of the Seattle firm of Lee, Brinton & Wayland.
She was registered as NOKARE by her first owner, Carl C Marts, 84 Jackson Street, Seattle, WA.
Sometime between July 1st 1929 and June 30th, 1930, she was sold to G. Donald Bradley of 314 Seneca Street, Seattle, and renamed NEREID. (In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors.)
Russell G. Gibson purchased her from Mr Bradley sometime between July 1st 1931 and March 31st, 1932. Mr Gibson retained the name NERIED for the boat, and was to own her for at least the next thirty-two years, through mid-1964.
Sometime between 1934 and 1936, Mr Gibson changed her name to RIPTIDE, the name she carries today. With few exceptions, she was listed annually in the Merchant Vessels of the United States through 1964 under Gibson’s ownership.
RIPTIDE’s guest book from 1930-1936 survives, and indicates she was used and enjoyed extensively, cruising on Lake Washington, through the Ship Canal, and as far north as Victoria, BC, often carrying quite a number of guests.
RIPTIDE was extensively modernized in 1936, and pictures and a description of the improvements appear in the June, 1936 edition of Pacific Motor Boating.
Russ Gibson, a member of the Seattle Yacht Club, appears to have been particularly interested in predicted log racing, a type of cruising race from one port to another where the racers predict their arrival time based on a fixed speed. RIPTIDE carries four plaques from such races. This type of racing was quite popular from the mid-1920’s to the mid-1950’s. Comments in issues of Pacific Motor Boating magazine throughout this period indicate she was also cruised extensively.
After Russ Gibson sold her, probably sometime in 1964, she was briefly owned by Sue Goodwin, a resident of Vashon Island and an antiques dealer in Seattle. (Richard F Billings remembers his father telling him that RIPTIDE spent the winter of 1964-65 anchored off Vashon Island in the open).
She was purchased in 1965 by Richard F. Billings, who took her north that year, where she was used as a cruiser, U.S Forest Service crew boat, and live-aboard in Southeast Alaska. She was listed under her documentation number in the 1968 Merchant Vessel volume as a fishing boat with a homeport of Juneau, Alaska. There are a number of pictures of her from Richard’s ownership of RIPTIDE in Alaskan waters, occasionally under quite severe conditions, and cruising in company with DUNLIN, another vessel owned by the Billings family and with her own long history in Pacific Northwest waters.
Roger Billings, Richard’s brother, purchased RIPTIDE in 1968 upon her return to the Puget Sound. Roger Billings owned her through early 2015, when she was purchased by her current owner.
RIPTIDE is fortunate to have been owned by knowledgeable and caring owners throughout her long life, particularly Russell G. Gibson and, successively, the brothers Richard F. and Roger Billings. She’s hosted at least three marriages and dozens of family outings from Olympia WA to Juneau AK and beyond over her long and happy life.
As a documented vessel, RIPTIDE carries documentation number 226249 carved into the interior face of both port and starboard bilge stringers. She is documented at 21 gross tons and 17 net tons. While 47 feet 1-inch long overall, her documentation papers indicate she is 44 feet 2-inches long (the length between the forward end of her hull planking and the aft end of her rudder post) and 11 feet 1-inch wide. (The change from her first documented tonnage in 1927 of 18 gross and 14 net tons, and a beam of 10 feet 4-inches may just have been due to a change in Federal measurement regulations).
She was originally powered by a 130 hp Stearns 6-cylinder 4-cycle 5 1/2-6 1/2 gas engine. By 1959 she had an eight cylinder Chrysler Crown gas engine of 141 horsepower, a common engine of the time, most likely added in the late 1940's while under Russ Gibson’s ownership. That engine was removed in 1967 by Richard Billings when RIPTIDE was re-powered with a brand-new new 1967 Volvo MD-70A diesel engine, the first such engine installed in Alaska. The Volvo engine was in turn removed in early June 2015 by her current owner and replaced by a remanufactured Cummins B210 5.9 liter diesel of 210hp. While her top speed is over 14 knots at 2400 rpm, her cruising speed is a much more sedate 8 knots at 1500 rpm. She carries 300 gallons of diesel fuel, and burns just over one gallon an hour.
It was obvious that RIPTIDE’s configuration has been changed several times. The June 1936 issue of Pacific Motor Boating magazine noted the extensive interior work Russ Gibson had accomplished, observing that he’d “…found an additional eight feet” in the boat” - and what that means remains a mystery. Certainly her interior arrangement, while of the same materials as other Schertzer-built boats, particularly her galley, is unique among existing Schertzers. Sometime prior to 1965 she had a flying bridge installed, which constrained her pilothouse space, and it is evident that at one point, probably while in Alaska in the mid-1960’s, she had a stove in the fore cabin.
She was overhauled by the Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-Op in Port Townsend WA between April 8th and September 16th, 2015. The Co-Op replaced 35 frames, then replanked much of her hull above the waterline. They installed a new transom and decks, replaced her engine, fuel, and exhaust system, and installed a modern electrical system. Finally, a new anchor windlass and chain was installed. RIPTIDE was completely caulked by John Zimmer of Palouse Boatworks that year, and repainted by Diane Salguero of Salguero Marine Finishes.
The outside steering station and flying bridge were removed in December, 2015 at the Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op while the water tank and aft deck were removed to correct a persistent leak through one of the strut bearing bolts.
2016 work by the Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op included unexpected work on her shaft and strut bearing, as significant realignment was needed after she’d settled into the water. She made her first visit with her new owner to Seattle’s Bell Harbor Marina that year, in company with other vessels of the Classic Yacht Association.
2017 work by Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op included replacing the pilothouse aft of the pilothouse doors as well as the first two feet of the trunk cabin, and adding the six bronze portlights cast by the Port Townsend Foundry for her. Diane Salguero and crew painted her exterior as well.
2018 work by Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op included a complete rebuild of the forward two-thirds of the pilothouse, and a complete reconstruction of her aft cockpit. A fresh water system was added for the galley, and a new 130-gallon fresh water tank built in Bellingham WA. An Airhead composting toilet was added, and the aft head paneled, as well as other work such as the foredeck hatch, handrails, toerails and so forth. Diane Salguero and crew painted her exterior superstructure and underwater hull and varnished her windows, pilothouse interior and cockpit.
2019 work included replacement of seven keel bolts, two floors (structural elements that connect frames across the keel), and a new worm shoe (which protects the keel from teredo worms that eat wood). The teak swim step, two air horns (one original to the boat) and an air compressor, the new water tank and associated piping were also installed. Most of the vessel’s interior was painted by Diane Salguero and the owners. Two new mattresses were made by Maggie Day of the Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-Op, one for the fore cabin and one for the trunk cabin, and a new canvas cover for the cockpit and another for the anchor windlass was made and installed.
The Port Townsend Shipwright’s Co-op, has accomplished the vast majority of restoration work on RIPTIDE and maintains her systems, while Diane Salguero of Salguero Marine Services maintains the paint and varnish work for RIPTIDE, assisted by her owners.
All of the new bronze fittings in RIPTIDE, including her new fore cabin portlights, have been cast by Pete and Kathy Langley at the Port Townsend Foundry.
RIPTIDE's hailing port is Port Ludlow WA. After well over sixty years in the central Puget Sound, most of it in Port Madison, Bainbridge Island, she is now moored in Port Ludlow WA. Her owners are members of the Classic Yacht Association and the Port Townsend Yacht Club.
Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-Op:
www.facebook.com/PortTownsendShipwrightsCoOp?fref=ts
Salguero Marine:
a href="http://salgueromarine.com/" rel="nofollow">salgueromarine.com/
www.facebook.com/marinefinishes
Port Townsend Foundry: www.porttownsendfoundry.com/
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Richmond, BC Canada
EVA, is a wooden gill-netter built in 1937. She is powered by an original two cylinder Easthope engine. Easthope was a local company that manufactured some of the first gasoline engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Eva was built from good quality materials – Western Red Cedar, Yellow Cedar and Douglas Fir to name a few.
She is probably the only vessel in existence to have been exchanged for an exact replica of herself. In 1997, Al Mason, a former resident made an interesting trade with Gus Jacobson, a Finnish fisher with long ties to Finn Slough. Al agreed to trade a working scale model (25.5 inches) of the Eva for the real thing (29.5 feet). Gus had been looking for a good home for the boat ever since he transferred the Eva’s fishing license to his present gill-netter because of a change of the fishing regulations around 1993 when area fishing was set up on the West Coast. Gus knew if a wooden boat was left unused it will deteriorate. Al, a shipwright who had repaired Eva in the past, had his eye on the boat for years and jumped at the chance to take ownership. When Al moved away from the Slough he made sure the Eva went to the Finn Slough Heritage and Wetlands Society. Kevin, another Finn Slough resident has upgraded her moorings among many other things.
Recently, local fishers have considered donating several historic fishing vessels and buildings to the Heritage & Wetland Society for preservation. Included is the “Eva” a twenty-eight foot wooden gillnetter built in 1939 at the “Kishi Boatworks” down river in Steveston. This boat is powered by an original two-cylinder “Easthope” engine.
“Easthope” was a local company that manufactured some of the first gas engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry. Also donated was a float containing a rare net-soaking tank made of cedar. It was used to keep linen gillnets from falling apart by soaking them in a Blue Stone (copper sulphate) solution.
This was before the advent of nylon nets and environmental awareness. They are in the process of creating a living museum by restoring and maintaining these and other heritage features. The Slough is bounded on the Fraser River side by Gilmore Island and on the north by a dyke built to protect Richmond.
**Information posted at Finn Slough
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and any faves or comments are always sincerely appreciated.
Sonja
Britannia Heritage Shipyards
Richmond, BC Canada
GIKUMI was built to tow logs for the Telegraph Cove sawmill. She also served as a coastal pilot boat and cargo vessel all along British Columbia’s coastline before becoming B.C.’s first whale watching vessel in 1980.
Built: 1954, Bisset & Gilstein, North Vancouver
Gross Tonnage (t): 43.12
Net Tonnage (t): 29.32
Construction Material: Wood
Vessel Length (m): 16.15
Vessel Breadth (m): 5.00
Vessel Depth (m): 1.89
Engine: 1 x Caterpillar 3406 Diesel, 310 Horsepower
Speed (knots): 11.0
Propulsion Method: 1 x 50 inch 3 blade
Shaft: 3 inch aquamet
Gear: Twin disc MG514, 2.7/1
Genset: 3 cylinder Yanmar with 8.5 kw Kohler
THE SILVER ANN, a 33-foot wooden gillnetter, lived a hard life fishing off the west coast of British Columbia. She battled the elements for years, but held strong until the day an electrical shortage caused her pumps to fail, sinking her at the dock where she was moored. When she was pulled from her watery confines she was piled up in the shipyard and left for several years. The city of Richmond acquired her in 2001 and donated her to the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Society. For the next four years she sat outside Richmond Boatworks in the Britannia Heritage Shipyards, uncovered, filling with rain, buried in leaves, aging more with each passing season.
Now, two shipwrights and a handful of volunteers are restoring the Silver Ann. They are using the same techniques and tools that Sadajiro Asari used in 1968, when he built the boat for Richmond fisherman George Osaka. Asari, who once owned Kishi Boatworks on Richmond’s Sea Island, was in his late seventies when he built the Silver Ann. Asari put a lifetime of boat building experience into her construction.
“The labour and craftsmanship to build a boat like this was pretty exceptional,” says Colin Duffield, one of two shipwrights involved in the Silver Ann restoration. “It took [Asari] five months to originally build it. We’ve been working on it a year and a half now and we’re not even half way done.”
The Silver Ann signified the end of an era for the Britannia Shipyards. It was the very last boat built on the site and when it was launched, 60 years of boat-building history was launched with it.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
GYRFALCON has just been settled onto her keel blocks, and is waiting for the yacht stands to be put in place. At 88 feet in length, she is a very impressive sight both in and out of the water!
classicyacht.org/boats/gyrfalcon
GYRFALCON is a member of the Pacific Northwest Fleet of the Classic Yacht Association (CYA).
The Classic Yacht Association promotes and encourages the preservation, restoration and maintenance of fine old power driven pleasure craft. Additional objectives of the Association are to promote, sponsor, and develop yachting activities for the Association and to cultivate a spirit of friendship among the members.
For more information about CYA, check out their website at www.classicyacht.org and their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/classicyacht/?fref=photo
For GYRFALCON's blog, see gyrfalcon88.wordpress.com/
Richmond, BC Canada
Length Overall 85 ft
Beam 19.5 ft
Tonnage 225
Power Triple Expansion Steam Engine
Propeller 8′ – 9 pitch
Horse Power 330 hp
Normal Cruise 7 knots @ 100 rpm
The MASTER is the sole Moscrop built tug that is still close to her original design and which still operates with her original steam engine, a Royal Navy World War 1 surplus engine built in 1916. While several of Moscrop’s hulls are still around, they have been heavily modified structurally and all have been re-engined. Moscrop went on to design and build a large number of outstanding wood hulled tugboats for coastal use. He also supervised the construction of the R.C.M.P.’s Arctic explorer, the ST. ROCH.
The MASTER’s original cost is believed to have been around $34,000. Captain Thorsen retained full ownership until 1927 when the Master Towing Company was incorporated and took title of the ship along with a mortgage for $23,000, back to Thorsen. This mortgage was transferred to the Home Oil Company in 1933.
First working for Fraser Mills and later chartered to the Lamb Logging Company, she put in general log and barge towing service from up coast to the mills in False Creek and elsewhere. In 1940, she was purchased by the Marpole Towing Company, joining her sister ship, the R.F.M. The stack was painted with the Marpole colours, black diamonds on a white band on an orange stack. Master wears these colours to this day. The black diamonds, which had been the insignia of the firm since shortly after the turn of the century, signified the towing of coal barges from Vancouver Island to the company’s plant in Coal Harbor, Vancouver.
In 1947, control of the Marpole Towing Company was assumed by Evans, Coleman and Evans – although actual title to the ship was not transferred until 1959. Around 1951, she had become part of the operations of the Gilley Bros. fleet, another subsidiary of Evans, Coleman but her Marpole colours remained unchanged. By 1959, the parent company decided to dispense with its old timers and tied up a clutch of them, including the MASTER, at the mouth of the Brunette River and left them.
Dilapidated and stripped, she was finally put up for sale or scrap, “Where is, as is”, in 1962. Here she was spotted by some members of the World Ship Society of Western Canada, a branch of an English based organization of ship-lovers. They decided to rescue and restore her as a tribute to the tugboat industry of British Columbia. For the full payment of $500, raised quickly among some members, the Society took over the MASTER on August 14, 1962.
Thousands of hours of volunteer labor, scrounged and donated materials, along with money raised by all sorts of means, resulted in the ship being cleaned up and repaired, equipment restored and replaced and steam being raised on April 23, 1963, the first time in several years. The Master now commenced a new career as the Society’s flagship, bringing to the public an awareness of the now vanished era of marine steam.
________________________________________________
THE SILVER ANN, a 33-foot wooden gillnetter, lived a hard life fishing off the west coast of British Columbia. She battled the elements for years, but held strong until the day an electrical shortage caused her pumps to fail, sinking her at the dock where she was moored. When she was pulled from her watery confines she was piled up in the shipyard and left for several years. The city of Richmond acquired her in 2001 and donated her to the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Society. For the next four years she sat outside Richmond Boatworks in the Britannia Heritage Shipyards, uncovered, filling with rain, buried in leaves, aging more with each passing season.
Now, two shipwrights and a handful of volunteers are restoring the Silver Ann. They are using the same techniques and tools that Sadajiro Asari used in 1968, when he built the boat for Richmond fisherman George Osaka. Asari, who once owned Kishi Boatworks on Richmond’s Sea Island, was in his late seventies when he built the Silver Ann. Asari put a lifetime of boat building experience into her construction.
“The labour and craftsmanship to build a boat like this was pretty exceptional,” says Colin Duffield, one of two shipwrights involved in the Silver Ann restoration. “It took [Asari] five months to originally build it. We’ve been working on it a year and a half now and we’re not even half way done.”
The Silver Ann signified the end of an era for the Britannia Shipyards. It was the very last boat built on the site and when it was launched, 60 years of boat-building history was launched with it.
The Britannia Shipyards are in Steveston, a small area at the mouth of the Fraser River, in the southwest corner of Richmond, British Columbia. In the late 1800s, Steveston became the largest fishing town on B.C.’s coast and boasted the most canneries in the British Empire. Immigrants from around the world heard of the jobs available in Steveston. The city quickly became one of the more multicultural places in Canada. European, Chinese, First Nations and Japanese people all gravitated to its fishing industry.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja