Tag Archives: Vancouver

Mise Tales Thirty-Three

Art, British Columbia, Canada, Construction, Environment, Equipment, Foreign, History, Information, Light, Lighthouses, Movies, News, Photos, Reprint, United Kingdom, Videos, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

For an update on what a Mise Tale is then please see Mise Tales One.

 

Tell Tale Productions Inc’s. documentary “Lighthouses” – the film has been completed and has had its world broadcast premiere on CBC Television’s Land and Sea Sunday, November 24, 2013. If you missed it you can see it online on CBC Land and Sea.

Lighthouses Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-eyXSyl0Og&feature=youtu.be
 
Lighthouses Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/580960155309104/

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Another beautiful video called “Salmon Confidential” showing the life cycle of Sockeye Salmon, and the problems they are encountering now with salmon farms, and other unknown fish diseases. Thirty-six minutes long but well-worth the watch because of the beautiful photography of wildlife on the British Columbia coast, both above and below the water. 

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The Canadian Coast Guard HQ at Victoria, BC

 The Canadian Coast Guard HQ at Victoria, British Columbia–what a beautiful building! This view is from the Blackball Ferry deck on approach to the harbor. Those buoys look like Dreidels lined up on the rocks for Hanukkah! – posted on Facebook by author and friend of mine Elinor DeWire 

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Peters & May Commercial ships 30M hovercraft from UK to Canada

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Canada just acquired a new (used) hovercraft from England. It was shipped to Vancouver, British Columbia by the boat shipping company Peters & May. On their Facebook page they posted some wonderful photos of the loading of the hovercraft on one of their ships. Quite a feat! 

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 And from the Fisheries & Oceans Canada media website:

Ministers Shea and Wong Announce the Arrival and Name of a New Hovercraft

November 27, 2013

CCGS MoytelVancouver, British Columbia – The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Honourable Alice Wong, Minister of State (Seniors) and Member of Parliament for Richmond, today announced the arrival in Canada of the new hovercraft to be stationed at Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia – the CCGS Moytel. 

[private]“Our Government is committed to investing where it counts in the interest of the Canadian Coast Guard.  In fact, our Government has invested more in the Canadian Coast Guard than any government in Canadian history,” said Minister Shea. “We will continue to ensure the men and women of the Canadian Coast Guard have the equipment they need to do the important work we ask of them.”

Upon completion of construction, the new hovercraft was shipped to British Columbia and will soon travel to Sea Island. Following a period of training for Coast Guard staff and inspection to ensure the vessel’s optimal condition following shipping, the vessel will be accepted into the Coast Guard fleet.

“Our investment in the CCGS Moytel, a world-class modern hovercraft, is another example of our Government’s commitment to ensure the safety of fishermen, recreational boaters, and sailors in and around Vancouver Harbour,” said Minister Wong. “The name of the new vessel is in Halq’eméylem, in recognition of our First Nations’ contribution to the province’s history, culture and economy.”

The new hovercraft will be named the CCGS Moytel. Moytel is a Halq’emélem word meaning “to help each other.” Canadian Coast Guard vessels are given names that promote Canadian sovereignty, culture, geography and history. Names of vessels are selected to raise the profile of vessels and the work they do by honouring and celebrating people and places of regional and national significance.

As a replacement for the CCGS Penac, the new Moytel will be a heavy-duty, more versatile amphibious vehicle capable of patrolling inland waters. A larger more powerful vessel than the CCGS Penac, it has a greater range of capabilities and features including a bow ramp that will enable it to transport supplies such as rescue equipment and vehicles.

Since 2009, the Government of Canada has delivered over 100 vessels to the Coast Guard, including: 6 Hero-class Mid-Shore Patrol Vessels (CCGS Private Robertson V.C., CCGS Caporal Kaeble V.C., CCGS Corporal Teather C.V, CCGS Constable Carrière, CCGS G. Peddle S.C and CCGS McLaren); the hovercraft CCGS Mamilossa; 5 Search and Rescue Lifeboats; 2 Specialty Vessels; 3 Near-Shore Fishery Research Vessels; 30 environmental barges; and 60 small craft. [/private]

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And from a former lighthouse keeper and friend of mine, Chris Mills, comes this wonderful view of a Fresnel lens – photos and a video showing the lens in action.

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Reprint – A Light on the Past

Adult Memories, Automation, British Columbia, Coast Guard, Foghorns, History, Information, Keepers, Light, Lighthouses, Reprint, Stories, Visitors, Women, , , , , , , ,

A light on the past

with permission from Rosalind Duane, North Shore News, August 05, 2012

Elaine Graham remains the only resident among the historical buildings at Point Atkinson Lighthouse. Photograph by: NEWS photo, Lisa King

ELAINE Graham was raised in the slums of London, far from the multi-hued green of nature.

“There was nothing on my street when I was growing up,” she recalls. “I had lots of play-friends, loads of kids to play with, but there wasn’t even a geranium on a windowsill.”

Many years later, Graham is now surrounded by 75 hectares of the largest first-growth stand of coastal-elevation trees in the Lower Mainland. Her home is nestled among the remaining structures at the base of Point Atkinson Lighthouse, which stands on a craggy promontory at the edge of Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver.

She has spent half her life here, and is eager to tell the story of her neck of the woods.

Graham moved to the Point Atkinson Lighthouse station with her husband Donald and two young sons in 1980. Donald became the last of the lighthouse keepers at the site (along with senior keeper Gerry Watson) when the lighthouse was automated in 1996.

The Grahams stayed on in one of the two keeper’s houses, she as a park attendant and he as a groundskeeper. Continue reading Reprint – A Light on the Past →

Reprint – DFO Shutting Down Coast Guard Radio Stations, but Prince Rupert’s Will Be Expanded

Anti-Automation, Automation, British Columbia, Canada, Coast Guard, Communication, Environment, Equipment, Fisheries and Oceans, Fishing, Foreign, Government, Incidents, Lighthouses, Medical Emergency, Operators, Radio, Reprint, Search & Rescue, Ships & Shipping, Shipwrecks, Travel, Tsunami, Weather, , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

I wrote an article on January 04, 2012 entitled MCTS To Lose Staff To Save Money. After that date, the department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO or F&O) have changed their plans. They are now closing whole stations instead of a removing a few men! The news article below is well written and explains what is planned for the BC coast. If all goes through we will have only two (2) MCTS stations on the whole BC coast, relying on mountaintop repeaters to reply to ships at sea.

I can also see soon that their plans will include again trying to de-staff the lighthouses. Pretty soon the whole BC coast will be bare of any support for boaters!

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By Alan S. Hale – The Northern View
Published: May 18, 2012 4:00 PM
Updated: May 18, 2012 4:59 PM

The Coast Guard communication monitoring station in Prince Rupert will be even more important to ensuring the safety of seafarers. The Prince Rupert station will be one of only two “modernized” coast guard stations in the entire province – the other one being in Sydney. Continue reading Reprint – DFO Shutting Down Coast Guard Radio Stations, but Prince Rupert’s Will Be Expanded →

What’s Next For Brockton Point Lighthouse?

Anti-Automation, Automation, Government, Information, Lighthouses, Old Website, , , ,

 Automated in 1926, this video shows what some governments wish to do with automated lighthouses. They cannot just leave it alone as a lighthouse and a monument. No, they dream of turning it into a concession stand selling soft drinks and candy bars to the tourists! This was June 28, 2006. Luckily it was turned down by the public, but what comes next?

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Lighthouse Photos by Cyril R. Littlebury c. 1922-1932

Adult Memories, Advertisement, Books, Cruise Ship, History, Hobbies, Lighthouses, Old Website, Photos, Photos, Seaplanes, Ships, Ships & Shipping, Stories, , , , , , , , , , ,

Photos of British Columbia lighthouses by Cyril R. Littlebury in the years 1922 to 1932 with thanks to Dudley R. Booth for permission to publish – please visit Dudley’s new website at Historic Photos. There are many more photos there besides lighthouses.

When Dudley Booth developed some old negatives his father gave him he found a treasure trove of scenes from 1920s and 1930s Vancouver. 

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  Continue reading Lighthouse Photos by Cyril R. Littlebury c. 1922-1932 →

In Memorium – Donald Graham (1947 – 2003)

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Donald Graham (1947 – October 10, 2003) was a Cultural Conservation Coordinator for the Province of Saskatchewan prior to becoming a British Columbia lightkeeper in 1976. He worked at Bonilla Island in Hecate Strait, at Lucy Island near the mainland and east of the northern Queen Charlottes and finally at Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver. With an M.A. in history and adept at political science, he spearheaded the partially successful campaign to curtail replacement of manned lighthouses with strictly automated signals. His two books, Keepers of the Light and Lights of the Inside Passage, reveal that many of B.C.’s lightkeepers were under-paid working class heroes. The first title won the second Roderick Haig-Brown B.C. Book Prize in 1986. Graham continued to live at the Lighthouse Park light station after it was officially ‘de-manned’. Graham was also noteworthy for claiming on CTV national news that the Allies had deliberately shelled the Estavan Point Lighthouse on the West Coast of Vancouver Island in 1942 to whip up war fever. This attack, blamed at the time on a Japanese submarine, led to the expulsion of Japanese Canadians from the West Coast. Don Graham died of cancer in October, 2003. – ABC Book World

To include your memories in Don’s memorial please click this link.

Books published by Don Graham relating to lighthouses include

Keepers of the Light: A History of British Columbia’s Lighthouses and Their Keepers. Harbour Pub. Co., 1985. 
Lights of the Inside Passage: A History of British Columbia’s Lighthouses and Their Keepers. Harbour Pub. Co., 1986. 

 

In Memorium – Alexander McLeod (1891 – 1940)

In Memorium, Lighthouses, , , , , , ,

Alexander (Alex) McLeod (Abt 1891- July 15, 1940) took over the duties at Brockton Point station in 1936. One of his responsibilities was the firing of the 9 o’clock gun. On July 15, 1940 he was heading across the narrows in the harbour entrance underneath Lions Gate Bridge. He was in his dinghy with his dog Pal to service the Calamity Point beacon when he fell overboard and drowned a short distance from shore. He left behind his wife Velma and 18 year old son Gordon. – Carol (McLeod) Jeffrey (granddaughter of Alexander McLeod) 

To include your memories in Alex’s memorial please click this link. 

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In Memorium – George Alfred Harris (1858 – 1925)

In Memorium, Lighthouses, , , , ,

Leaving England in 1909, George Harris ( – March 16, 1925) moved to British Columbia for a new life. He had a Chief Engineer’s ticket from Liverpool but he had to sit for his 3rd and 2nd class Engineering tickets again because his Liverpool papers were not valid in B.C. He worked a few years as an officer on the steam tug S.S. “Proctor” on Trout Lake south of Revelstoke, B.C. He started working as an Engineer at the Anvil Island Brick Company in June 1913 but a week or two later he was given the First Narrows Light and Fog Station. He replaced Alex M. Rood who had left the station May 13, 1913. He worked alone on station as there was only room for a cot in the engine room. Later a house was erected for the keeper and his family which adjoined the lighthouse building. He became ill in Fall 1924 and died on station March 16, 1925. His wife, Dorothy, took over the running of the station until relieved by Alfred Dickenson in December 1925. – Dorothy Mawdsley (Harris) Harrop (daughter of first light keeper, George Alfred Harris of First Narrows Light) – Thanks to Alf and Maxine Harrop for permission to print. Alf is the grandson of George Harris.

To include your memories in George’s memorial please click this link.

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