This collection of Christmas cards and photographs from the 1910s and 1920s belonged to Joseph Dakers and Bill Mills. As the family lived in Victoria these photos are from Victoria and Vancouver Island.
The following information is provided by the donor, Elizabeth Stanlake. The two Christmas cards were sent to her grandfather, Joseph Dakers, as he was good friends with Harold Elworthy, who founded Island Tug and Barge as they grew up together. The original owners of the photos are unknown as they were found in the family home and either belonged to Bill Mills or Joseph Dakers. The photos of the tugs and the wreck of Kenkon Maru III were taken by a friend of Bill Mills named Arthur.
The fonds consists 11 items.
There are 2 series:
Christmas cards, containing 2 cards
Island Tug and barge, containing 3 photos
6 at the item level not in a series
The photos belonged to Bill Mills, and were taken by his friend Arthur. Although the dates of the photos are unknown, it was before the establishment of Island Tug & barge in 1924, with the ships being built in the 1910s.
The company was founded in 1924 by Harold Elworthy (1901-75), acquiring Gardner Towing in 1926, 1956 acquired Young & Gore and in 1958 acquired Victoria Tug, who remained the president of the company until 1970. It provided towing services to different local industries in Victoria and then expanded in World War II to deep-sea towing and salvage and pioneered the use of self-dumping log barges. One of their most famous was the “Sudbury” tug. The company is now known to offer bulk fuel transportation, specialty towing, marine logistics, submarine cable laying, commercial diving, and more. They are the marine transporter of choice for some of the world’s leading multinational oil companies. In 1960 McAllister Towing of Montreal, purchased the company in 1960. In 1968 it was acquired by Genstar Ltd, which in 1969 joined Dillingham Corporation. In 1970 Seaspan International Ltd. was created by the acquisition of the Vancouver Tug Boat Company and Island Tug & Barge through Dillingham. The name Island Tug and Barge was sold 1993. Seaspan has continued to purchase and merge with companies in the marine transportation and building business.
The photo shows the Kenkon Maru III being towed by a couple of boats. The annotation on the back: Kenkon Maru III being pulled off Belle Chain Reef January 1916. The photos has scuff marks. The donor states that the photo was taken by Bill Mill’s friend Arthur.
Kenkon Maru III originally built in 1890 in Scotland and in 1910 was owned by Inui Gomei Kaisha, Japan. In 1916 she left Seattle for Vladivostok, Russia via Nanaimo, she ran aground during a snow storm as there was a faulty compass. She was also carrying iron railway equipment for the Russian government.
This mounted photo shows the collapse of the Point Ellice Bridge because of an overfilled streetcar on its way to festivities for the celebration of Queen Victoria’s 76th Birthday and people in different boats rushing to assist with a crowd forming on the remainder of the bridge to watch. The annotation on the back gives the date of Tuesday May 26th 1896 and the name and address of Mrs A Haggart. The board did break so there is a bend in the photograph in the portion of the photo that is the sky.
Sem títuloThe photo shows the profile of HMS Hood with six tenders in the water with people in them.The postcard under the photograph provides the information regarding length (860’7”), beam (105’2.5”), displacement (44,600 tons) and complement (1,510.
Hood was built in Scotland in 1920. It was built as a warship for the British Royal Navy. Hood and Repulse visited on 25 June 1924.
This is a fairly blurry photo of one vessel in a harbour with rope connected to another ship. It was placed together with three other photos.
Sem títuloThe series contains 2 newspaper article clippings regarding the final Canadian voyage of the Princess Joan between Victoria and Vancouver in 1959.
The Princess Joan was built in 1930 in Scotland by the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. for the Canadian Pacific Steamships. Since the beginning of her trips she has had a number of collisions, including with the Bamfield (who was rum running), and the Squid (who was carrying 400 cases of dynamite to the Britannia Mine), both who sank. Princess Joan was withdrawn from service in 1959 and sold to a company in Cyprus.
George Mortimore wrote for the Daily Colonist from 1945 to 1962, and from 1950 he did a portion of the newspaper called “All Aboard” that continued for 11 years were he wrote profiles on many different types of people. From the time of his return from serving in the military until he moved to Toronto to write in The Globe and Mail. He would later go on to teach anthropology in universities in Guelph, Edmonoton, Vancouver and Victoria.
The article by GE Mortimer titled “Princess Joan’s Last Trip: Three Sad Blasts And She Was Gone” discusses the events and conditions around the last midnight run from Victoria to Vancouver for the vessel under Captain George Black with comments from the captain. It also discusses the capacity during the day and the night for the ferry. The last voyage only had 100 passengers, 14 cars and almost no freight. The newspaper article does not include the date or name of the newspaper from which it came from.
Sem títuloThe fonds consists of photos, ship plans, maps, and lists and paperwork. Besides the maps, the rest of the material is related to Princess Marguerite and Princess Patricia, except for the 9 items below.
The fonds consists of:
2 series-Princess Marguerite; Cartographic
5 subseries-Princess Marguerite Manuals, Ship Plans, Reference Lists, Inspection Photos, Evacuation Raft Photos
9 items
Items: 0014-18, 0028, 0059, 0066, 0084
0014: 1 photograph : b&w ; 37.5 x 49.5 cm
Photo of 21 people on the deck but only 4 people’s faces are visible. The four are in uniform standing in front of a 6” gun behind the guardrail of the ship. There are people and a ship in the background that are blurs because they were moving at the time the photo was taken. There is a noticeable black hole in the hull of the ship and marks in the photo that transferred from the print making from the negative where it had been burned. The photo was made from a negative from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum Photographic Archive that was within the Harland & Wolff Collection.Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company who is most famous for their ocean liners, including the Titanic.
0015: 1 technical drawing : b&w mylar ; 37 x 50 cm
The technical drawing is the general arrangement of the TSS Cardena. The Cardena was built in 1923 and was broken up in 1961 by Capital Iron & Metals Co. Ltd.
0016: 1 technical drawing : 28 x 62 cm
This drawing from 1 September 1941 shows the repairs to the Williamshead Port Angeles Sub. Cable that was copied from the BC Telephone Blueprint No.-D14256. Submarine cables were laid on the seabed to carry telecommunication signals across the ocean. They were first used in the 1850s and have changed over time with developing technology.
0017: 1 map : b&w, annotations ; 61 x 49 cm
The 1948 map shows the William Head Port Angeles Cable Route that was taken from marine chart 6382. Submarine cables were laid on the seabed to carry telecommunication signals across the ocean. They were first used in the 1850s and have changed over time with developing technology.
0018: 1 booklet : 28 x 23 cm
The Diving Apparatus Manual from the John Date
John Date Diving company was the only diving company that produced diving helmets in Canada in the early 1800s onwards. The manual has a stamp from Brown, Fraser & Co., Ltd., who are the succesors to Dominion Equipment & Supply Co., Ltd for Mining, municipal and Contractors’ Machinery and Supplies.
It has 56 artist renderings that accurately depict the several types of diving related equipment that was once sold by the John Date Company. These period depictions show Helmets, Pumps, Helmet fittings, Diving dresses, Diver telephonic apparatus, Air hose and fittings, Weights and boots, Submarine electric lamps and lanterns, and other interesting items.
0028: 1 print: b&w and some colour; 42.5 x 35.5 cm
The print of a steering wheel and steering gear and part of rudder stock is a drawing adapted from A. Cambell Holms, Practical Shipbuilding (London, New York, Bombay and Calcutta: Longmans, Green & Co, 1908). On the print there is also information about a Steering Wheel from the Riversdale built by W. Hamilton & Co. at Port Glasgow, Scotland in 1894; and Steering Gear and Part of rudder stock from the ship Blairmore built by A. McMillan & Son in 1893 in Scotland. These were donated somewhere by Crown Zellerbach Corporation, and Morris Greene Industries and Capital Iron & Metals, Ltd. respectfully.
0059: 1 photograph : b&w ; 39.5 x 50 cm on card
This photo printed on a board shows a ferry in the water from above. The name is illegible because of the blur.
0066: 1 card: 15 x 23 cm
The card has a copy of the painting of “Pacific Swift” by Harry Heine on the front, with information about the artist and the ship on the back, with a blank interior. The painting was made in 1986, which is the year the ship was built, and it shows the square topsail schooner Pacific Swift at sea with a ferry in the background. The vessel was built as a working exhibit for Expo ’86 in Vancouver and was the newest addition to the SALTS fleet
The 1986 copyright for the image belongs to SALTS.
0084: 1 card: 15 x 23 cm
The card has a copy of the painting of “Swift” by Harry Heine on the front, with information about the artist and the ship on the back, with a some writing inside. The Swift depicted is a replica of the original (1778) which was built in 1938. Provided from the card: The Swift of Ipswich has voyaged successfully for many years and this rendering of her depicts many vessels of the period which first penetrated the rock-bound coves and inlets of British Columbia.
Inside is a note on a SALTS auction to someone who donated an oil lamp to the auction from John Darling on behalf of SALTS.
The 1986 copyright for the image belongs to SALTS.
The instructions and manuals in this series covers a wide range of machinery that was a part of the ship. For example the Maintenance Instruction Books and Winding Details provides an index of all the maintenance instructions for more than 22 machines including searchlights, loudaphones, portable vacuum cleaner, lift motors, turning motor, etc. The items in this series are clearly labeled or were in an envelope that was labelled with other Princess Marguerite items.
The manuals are:
Instructions for Using Water Testing Cabinet
Sturtevant No 3 Turbine Vacuum Cleaner Directions for Operating
Drayton Regulator & Instrument Co Ltd Working Instructions
Instructions for Installing, setting and maintaining Drayton Ms Simplex Automatic Temperature and pressure regulators
Installation and operating instructions motor operated mono recorder type “E” simplex (marine) analysis: c02, range 0-20%
Installation and operating instructions motor operated mono recorder type “E” simplex analysis: c02, range 0-20%
Description of Tests for Fuel Oil and Diesel
Westinghouse Air Brake Co 3YC Repair Part List IDR-9402-3.30
Princess Marguerite and Princess Patricia Maintenance Instruction Books and Winding details. Owner’s copies
Installation and Operation Tags tied together