Memories of childhood trips
and later voyages & ships
by Ted Ross
part 1 - MV Gulf Mariner
I remember my first trip to Texada Island. It was June 1949. I was five years old. My dad got me up for an early breakfast. We then took a ride downtown from our home on Capitol Hill in the neighbour's Ford. He dropped us at the Gulf Lines dock next to Union Steamships at the north foot of Main St in Vancouver.
To me this was a mysterious adventure.
MV Gulf Mariner
My dad took me into the ticket office where he got our passage. We went on board the Gulf Mariner which was still loading freight at the dock. With my dad I explored this ship, which was in fact the former HMCS Truro converted from wartime service to coastal fast passenger/freight service. Although she seemed huge to me in fact she was a little ship with passenger seating, a coffee shop and lots of space to stow freight with the onboard booms that had been added for the coastal service. There was a deck above the coffee shop and passenger lounge where you could enjoy the passing scene in the fresh air on a nice day, which we did.
We backed into the harbour and headed for the Lions Gate Bridge. Passing under that we rounded Point Atkinson and headed up the coast. We stopped several times in bays on the mainland coast and in the islands. Every little settlement had a wharf where we tied up. Lines were thrown off the ship to be caught by locals and secured to bollards on the wharf. Our arrival had been announced by a signature blast from the ship's whistle as we came into the bay. A gangplank was put in place for unloading passengers. The ship's booms sprang into action unloading freight for the grocery store or logging camp. Lines were attached to freight pallets and the loads would swing up from the ship's hold and over the rail to be set on the dock. There it was dealt with by the locals as the unloading carried on. To my young eyes this was just fascinating stuff. Another blast from the whistle would announce our imminent departure and off we would sail for our next stop.
By the time we reached Van Anda I was a tired kid but the excitement of sailing up to Van Anda Wharf, with its cars and shed and people all in a warm afternoon sun, ship’s whistle sounding, soon had me awake. The ship sidled up to the wharf where its thrown lines were secured. The gangplank was put in place. We disembarked. A little forklift was moving pallets into the warehouse as they were swung off the ship. My dad and I were picked up by Tommy Burroughs who had one of the cars on the wharf. He took us to his home where his wife, Alice, welcomed us. Today this house belongs to Judy Ferguson.
We stayed for a few days. Mr Burroughs took us out the track that was the road to Gillies Bay. There were summer homes and a logging camp at the head of the bay with a booming ground on the foreshore. A beach trail ran in front of the summer homes on the north side of the bay. The south side was occupied near the head of the bay. The rest was tall timber. My dad bought 50' of waterfront in that timber for $50 from Allan Bowles, a retired school principal from Vancouver who was doing the subdivision.
After my dad's business was done we caught the Gulf Mariner on a southbound trip at Van Anda Wharf. Again we stopped several times but now we were loading freight and picking up passengers for Vancouver. Somewhere around the south end of Texada I saw the glow of Vancouver's lights for the first time in my life. I scarcely remember our arrival in Vancouver but that was the end of my mysterious adventure.
part 2 - SS Princess Mary
SS Princess Mary
By the summer of 1951 my parents had purchased a small English car. This would be our second summer at our camp at Gillies Bay. Now we had a car which we could load with everything we would need. But Gulf Lines carried no cars. CPR was the way we would be travelling this summer.
CPR had their miniature liner, the SS Princess Mary, on a coastal route that made one stop a week at Blubber Bay. The ship left Vancouver late in the evening and steamed all night on its trip to Powell River. From there she steamed to Blubber Bay. From Blubber Bay she sailed to Comox where she overnighted. In the morning she did the return route. She also served Denman Island and other island ports in her travels. She was not a car ferry but she would carry a couple of cars as deck cargo as well as some freight. Staterooms were available for overnight travel. A fine silver service dining saloon was there for your sustenance.
We booked passage for a trip in early July 1951. We got down to the CPR Pier with our little Morris loaded to the gunnels with gear and mom and dad and the girl and boy. Our little car was driven by a crew member onto a rope cargo bag. The ship’s hoist took hold of the bag and hoisted it, with our car inside, onto the ship’s foredeck. The four of us boarded the ship over the gangplank where a porter took us to our stateroom. This neat little room had all the facilities and two bunk beds for the four of us to share. There was a button to call the porter which the kids were told to never touch, so of course my sister did. My mom had her talk to the porter!
We were allowed to stay up until the ship passed under the Lions Gate Bridge which we did about 11:15pm. Then we slept on the ship. My mom awoke me as we were crossing to Blubber Bay from Powell River. I had a bowl of oatmeal in that fancy saloon and then it was time to watch our landing.
We came in to the old federal wharf with its warehouse and large wooden deck. The remnants today are behind a chain link fence next to the ferry slip. Where today’s rock-loading facilities are, there were warehouses and bagging plants. There was much activity in the town. Across the bay the BC Cement operation was at work. Limestone was still being processed to finished products in Blubber Bay. Our car was hoisted onto the wharf and driven off the cargo bag by a deckhand. Then it was into my dad’s hands and away we went through Blubber Bay and the quarry (today’s Heisholt Lake) on our way to Gillies Bay.
Eventually my dad took the car back to Vancouver and his job while Mom and the kids stayed on for several weeks at Gillies Bay. We returned home on the Gulf Lines from Van Anda later in the summer.
Part 3 – MV Gulf Wing
When we left Van Anda that summer it was on the MV Gulf Wing. This was a smaller vessel than the Gulf Mariner. She had been in regular service between Vancouver and Powell River with stops at Van Anda and other places along the way since 1946. She berthed in Coal Harbour near Stanley Park in Vancouver.
That was my first trip on the Gulf Wing but I made many more over the years. There was a passenger lounge built on her stern. The coffee shop was down a steep ladder to a lower deck under the lounge. Freight was loaded and unloaded by onboard booms into a hold forward and onto the fore deck. She was a sleek ship who had seen high speed wartime service as a patrol vessel. Now, rebuilt, she was providing high speed coastal service. With a service speed of 17 knots she travelled from Vancouver to Van Anda in 4½ hrs, if there were no other stops, landing at the Van Anda Wharf to unload passengers and cargo before she went on to Westview.
We travelled on the Gulf Wing quite often. Some of the trips were memorable. Coming south one August we caught a fierce southeast gale. That little ship was good in the weather but she was lively. She rolled and pitched in a manner destined to make the most hardy seasick. We snuck into Welcome Passage as we made our way to a stop in Secret Cove. It was sheltered there and it was around lunchtime. Many people, feeling better in the smoother waters, ate their lunch. We left Secret Cove and headed past the south end of Texada into the heart of the gale. I’ll spare my readers the details, but I spent the rest of the passage out on the deck. It was not pretty in the lounge.
Beginning in 1955 I began spending my entire summer in Van Anda, staying with Cecil & Vida Woodhead and their family at the house on Marble Bay Road, home of Sheldon and Christie Poulin today. I had come up in 1955 with friends of my parents on the new ferry service which allowed one to drive to Texada from Vancouver. At summer’s end in ’55 & ’56 I went home on the Gulf Wing. Late in July ’56 David Woodhead & I went to Vancouver for a few days on that vessel. Although there was now a bus service operating between Powell River and Vancouver the Gulf Wing was the quick and convenient way to go to Vancouver from Texada and so we did, both south and return. By 1957 Gulf Lines had sailed into history.
Part 4 – SS Princess Elaine
SS Princess Elaine
The Princess Elaine was the first car ferry to serve Powell River and Blubber Bay. She looked more like a liner than a ferry but she had a car deck which loaded and unloaded through a large door in the side of her hull. She was built in 1928 in Scotland for the Vancouver – Nanaimo service. She was a triple screw steam turbine of 2125 gross tons with a speed of 20 knots. Her service speed was 18.5 knots. Her length was 291 ft with a width of 48 ft. In 1952 she was put on the Gulf Islands run but she was not suited to the small island ports so she was returned to the Nanaimo service in 1953. While on the island service she visited Powell River and Blubber Bay three times a week.
In 1952 we came to Texada with our little Morris loaded up with family and dog for the trip. We had driven downtown to the CPR wharf and joined the lineup inside the shed for the Princess Elaine. The tide was low and cars had to be loaded one at a time on a vehicle elevator which lowered the car to the car deck level of the Elaine, which was tied alongside the wharf. We were all in the car as this was happening. Once at the car deck level my dad drove through the large side doors of the ship and was guided to a parking space. We all got out of the car and headed for the stairway which would take us to the passenger level, leaving the pup in the car. Our dog was not happy at being left on the cardeck and he cried pitifully. Some well meaning but ill-advised soul decided to let him out of the car. His arrival in the white-linened dining room, paws on table, was quick. My dad laughed about it later but I think that day he contemplated the dog swimming the rest of the way! The Elaine carried about 50 cars. On my dad’s way home he was told in Blubber Bay that there were too many reservations in Powell River for him to go past there. My dad put that little car behind some pillar where the baggage cart would normally go and sure enough he went right through to Vancouver. That was for one summer only but it was a neat service while it lasted.
Part 5 – Black Ball & the MV Atrevida with
Memories of Sechelt Motor Transport
I made a late spring trip to Texada with my dad’s brother, Ian, in 1955. It was my first trip up the new highway connection between Vancouver and Powell River. It was also my first trip on the Atrevida, Texada’s new car ferry. We left Capitol Hill and headed across the 2nd Narrows Bridge, the old shared with rail span, to the north shore and then out Marine Drive all the way to Horseshoe Bay. After that long drive we boarded the MV Bainbridge, a wooden-hulled former Seattle harbour ferry now being operated by Black Ball Lines, on which we sailed to Gibsons Landing. The trip took 65 minutes and the ship carried about 50 cars & trucks. The slip was just below today’s Grandma’s Pub. From Gibsons we climbed the hill to follow the same highway as we use today. From Sechelt north the road was extremely winding and before too long there was no more pavement, just dusty, dusty gravel. After an all too quick for comfort drive we arrived at Earl’s Cove.
MV Qullayute
Our next ferry, MV Quillayute, another former Washington State ferry operated by Black Ball Lines between Saltery Bay and Earls Cove, was just coming into sight across the cove. In those days Black Ball had a signature whistle blast – a long, 2 shorts – which soon echoed across the waters. She came into what we call the “old slip” today. She unloaded and then the cars and trucks got on board for the trip to Saltery Bay, 1 hr 15 min away.
A long trip but that ferry had a great cafeteria with very edible food. We landed at Saltery Bay at the “old slip” and drove up to Powell River on a road much less scary than the one on the Peninsula. The most interesting spot was probably where you drove down the riverside bank to river level at the Eagle River and crossed on a low level bridge and then climbed up the bank on the other side. The high level bridge didn’t come for another 12 years.
MV Atrevida
We arrived at the Westview Wharf to find that the Atrevida, the ferry to Blubber Bay, was already in and we should get in line. We joined a line as the fourth car, that line heading into a wharf shed, but there was no ferry we could see. Another car slid in behind us. Then the line began to move ahead. We entered the shed, the cars ahead of us going through a door on the opposite side and disappearing somewhere. We proceeded until we passed through the door and then you could see the bridgeworks for a ramp that descended steeply, on this low tide, to a little ship tied on alongside. The ramp was resting on this ship’s wooden cardeck amidships. Forward of the ramp two cars could be stowed under the houseworks. Aft of the ramp were spaces for two cars on the stern of the ship under the lifeboat racks. This was the MV Atrevida, car ferry to Blubber Bay. Of the three cars ahead of us the first two had each been driven head first onto the stern and then had been backed into one of the spaces under the cabin. The third car was head first into one of the two spots on the stern. We were directed head first into the other space on the stern. The fifth car, behind us, parked straight across the ferry. A couple of 8x8’s were placed at either end of that last car to keep it in place. When we got to Blubber Bay we tied up at the Government Wharf from which a wood ramp, with no bridgeworks, would extend to the ferry’s deck to unload and load the vehicles. The reverse of the loading process took place with cars backing and shuffling after the cross ferry vehicle offloaded to line themselves up to drive off. That ramp was soon replaced with a much more substantial set-up. In the early days the Atrevida sailed from Westview to Blubber Bay with occasional trips to Van Anda. Only foot passengers were delivered to Van Anda. In the early days, as well, the ferry stayed in Marble Bay overnight.
By the time I arrived here to teach in 1966 the Atrevida was based in Blubber Bay at a dedicated slip with a hand-cranked ramp mechanism to raise and lower the works. Those works were not on a floating platform but fixed to the rock. Deckhands got their aerobics at work in those days. She was a wonderful sea boat who survived by rolling. The effect on passengers in the heated cabin in the bow ahead of the cars was to make them sick. If you were wise you travelled up in the unheated cabin behind the wheelhouse where the air was much fresher for the trip. With Capt Gus Liebich on the wheel, we sailed through everything.
After Gulf Lines went out of service a foot passenger had to travel by Sechelt Motor Transport coach to Powell River from the Vancouver Bus Depot on Georgia St. The coaches were old, but serviceable, rather like today. The bus went right on board both ferries and ended up in Powell River. A taxi ride to Westview Wharf took you to the last trip of the ferry Atrevida to Blubber Bay for the day. That might be the end of your trip as lots of people lived in Blubber Bay in those days. If you were going further you needed a ride. But you were picked up at Blubber Bay Wharf. The first pavement appeared on the island in 1952 from Blubber Bay to the quarry which today is Heisholt Lake. Later the road was paved from Van Anda halfway to Gillies Bay. The roads were not all paved until 1964. The stretch from Harold Diggon’s to Shelter Point was paved in 1966. The stretch from Shelter Point to the Staaf farm was paved in 1975. Crescent Bay Road was paved in 2001 to the golf course and later to the fox farm.
Part 6 – MV Island Princess
In 1958 a new ferry was launched at Allied Shipyards in Vancouver. Commissioned by Coast Ferries Ltd for service along northern Vancouver Island, MV Island Princess carried 20 cars, had loading booms for swinging freight or vehicles onto her main deck, had four staterooms available and could load as a drive through ferry from either end. Her house works were low enough over the car deck that over height vehicles could not pass through and were backed on or off the ship. The booms could also be used for loading and unloading vehicles – not a cargo bag but a vehicle sling on which the wheels rested on a firm platform.
In 1961 Coast Ferries operated a service for a time to Westview, Blubber Bay and Comox from Steveston BC in the mouth of the Fraser River. I was lucky enough to make one trip north and one south on that service. We left Steveston around 11pm. Being fledgling university students my buddy and I sat up all night playing the electric organ in the ship’s lounge. My pal was a good player and I knew my way around the 88 but I do feel sorry for anyone trying to get a night’s sleep on the way up. We made Westview early, unloaded people and vehicles at the slip the MV Atrevida used at Westview Wharf, and then sailed for Blubber Bay where we again used the Atrevida’s ramp. My friend and I were in Van Anda in time for breakfast. The Island Princess carried on to Comox on Vancouver Island. From Comox she ran back on the same route, ending up in Steveston BC late in the evening.
The Island Princess served northern Vancouver Island for many years. In 1969 Coast Ferries was purchased by BC Ferries. Because the Princess did not carry enough vehicles and because trucks could not be driven under the house, she was taken to the shipyard in 1971 for a major refit/rebuild. She was lengthened and widened. Her house works were raised and enlarged. Her mono hull was split from stem to stern and converted to catamaran hulls. She was re-engined and became the work horse of the north island highway
In 1974 another change came to the Princess. P&O Shipping wanted to register the name Island Princess for a cruise ship they had purchased. They asked BC Ferries to change the name of their catamaran. BC Ferries agreed when P&O sweetened the deal with some model ships. The ferry was renamed North Island Princess, a name that suited the area she was working.
North Island Princess
In 1979 the Vancouver Island highway was completed to Port McNeill and Port Hardy. A ferry from Kelsey Bay to Port McNeill was no longer needed. The Princess was moved south to the Blubber Bay/Westview route in the autumn of 1979. I was commuting to work in Powell River at the time and had been travelling on the Texada Queen for several months. The Texada Queen was heated with electric heaters which were off more than on. It was always cold on that first trip in the morning. One Tuesday in November we came into Blubber Bay after work and there was a large ferry tied up to the Government Dock next to the slip. That was my first view of the Princess since 1961 and she had changed! Her skipper since Coast Ferry days, Capt A S Fike, had come to the island with her. He took over the position of senior skipper for the Texada route. He jokingly called her, “The Playtex Princess, stretched in every direction!”
We crossed to Westview on the first sailing in the morning. We discovered that this ship had an oil furnace somewhere down below, was hot water heated and was warm! It was an instant love affair with the passengers. In those days she still had the full galley used in the north island service; still functional but no longer in use. In subsequent years all those areas have been removed to make the large lounge area she currently has, which fills weekday mornings and afternoons with young scholars. She has been our ship for over 30 years. She’s the second oldest, the slowest and the only catamaran in the fleet. She is an excellent ship for a route which can face intense storm winds. Her two hulls and banana boat shape let her take the weather. Even though she is getting old her navigational equipment is state of the art. She has been re-engined again while in Texada service.
Part 7 – Sunshine Coast
Powell River Queen
We have seen the ships change a number of times on the Sunshine Coast routes. A new ship, the Powell River Queen, was built in 1964 for the Jervis Inlet route. It was rebuilt twice to increase capacity and was eventually replaced by the Queen of Garibaldi, then by the Queen of Chilliwack.
Queen of Chilliwack
Queen of Tsawwassen
1990s; 2000s while the Queen of Chilliwack went north to do the mid-coast run.
The MV Bainbridge was in service when the BC Government bought Black Ball Ferries in 1962.
Island Sky
In 2009 the Island Sky went in service brand new from the shipyard in North Vancouver.The MV Bainbridge was in service when the BC Government bought Black Ball Ferries in 1962.
MV Bainbridge
She had been joined by a steam-powered ferry from Halifax. The former Scotian had been renamed the Smokwa and handled extra sailings on the route to Gibsons Landing.
When the route became BC Ferries in 1962 the landing was soon moved to Langdale. As new ships came on the Nanaimo route by 1964 the MV Chinook and the MV Khaloke, former Nanaimo ferries, became the Sechelt Queen and Langdale Queen and went into service on the Sunshine Coast route.
Langdale Queen
The Bainbridge moved north to Jervis Inlet renamed the Jervis Queen to ply between Saltery Bay and Earls Cove until that route’s new ship arrived. Later a double-ender ice breaking ferry was purchased on the St Lawrence River. The Pere Nouvelle was renamed the Sunshine Coast Queen
and sailed around through the Panama Canal to get to local waters. She served the route for a few years. The Queen of New Westminster was on for a time before she was rebuilt into a double-decker. Then the Queen of Coquitlam came on with the Langdale slip rebuilt to load over two ramps in 1982. Since those days the Queen of Surrey has become the regular ship on the route.
Part 8 – Texada Island
When you arrived in Powell River on that SMT coach you might have your taxi take you to the Westview small boat harbour. There you could board Ben’s water taxi which would take you directly to Van Anda wharf for 50 cents. In Van Anda the 20 passenger water taxi backed into the float attached to the wharf. With crew members’ help people clambered off. Next came their parcels, the mail bags and then the newspapers. People were there to grab all those things.
Ben Nicholas had three water taxis, Texada Moccasin, Texada Blue Bell and Texada Lady Slipper. They were powered by twin Marine V8 gas motors and could fly across the water.
When the wind was blowing they could give you a ride to match anything you’d been on before. Those days were not for the weak of stomach. You could spot the water taxi coming by looking for the moving column of white water out there as you waited. Even in good weather they pushed a large, white bow wave. On September 15, 1953 Terry Waterman was born on the Texada Lady Slipper. She was not quite quick enough that day!
Groceries, after Gulf Lines, came in by Vancouver Barge. Pulled by a tugboat the barge came three times a week with fresh groceries and produce. It also brought in heavy freight. When my house was being built in the early 70s we were still getting freight by barge at Van Anda Wharf.
Jocko Cawthorpe, who founded Texada Transfer, purchased a truck in the Atrevida days which would nicely fit the across deck space on the ferry. He would go over in the morning and come back in time to make deliveries on the island. Jocko could carry everything including produce and, later, mail in that truck. Before the coming of the Liquor Store in the 70s many a drop found its way to the island aboard that truck.
The Atrevida was our regular ferry until 1969. In 1969 a new ship, the MV Texada Queen was being built in a shipyard by the north end of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. She was not ready quite in time so the MV Comox Queen initiated the new service in 1969. The Texada Queen arrived in due course and did service on the route until 1979 when she was replaced by the MV North Island Princess, our current ferry. Robert Rudolph was born on the Texada Queen. The Comox Queen is today’s Tenaka. The Texada Queen is renamed Tachek.
Today all the ferries are operated by the BC Ferries Corporation.
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Bibliography
Gord’s Maritime Homepage The BCCS Fleet CP Coasters Club
Thompson, Bill Texada Island Powell River Heritage
Westcoastferries.ca
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