Confiscated Japanese-Canadian boats in Alert Bay during World War II

Confiscated Japanese-Canadian boats in Alert Bay during World War II.

The North Island Eagle newspaper's photo of the week depicts confiscated Japanese gillnet boats at the dock in Alert Bay during World War II.

Japanese settlers played a significant role in the settlement of the North Island in the early 1900s.  Many Asian immigrants found that there was less racism in BC's small coastal communities, and they found success in the logging, fishing, farming, and whaling industries and as the owners of small businesses. Strong friendships formed in many cases with local First Nations communities. Historic North Island communities have graveyards with Japanese grave sites dating to this period.

Following the Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour in December 7, 1941, those of Japanese heritage were rounded up and interned in camps in the BC interior. Their possessions were confiscated, and many, like these fishing boats, became property of the Canadian government and were used by the military for the remainder of World War II. 

Japanese residents never returned to the North Island in the numbers seen prior to the war.

Sea Otter Cove - Historical photo of the Week - February 10/17

Kathy at the new North Island Eagle newspaper has asked me to provide a weekly historical photo with a bit of a blurb.

Week 1 features a photo of Sea Otter Cove taken in 1914. Sea Otter Cove is just to the north of San Josef Bay in the Cape Scott area. The photo was taken from the homestead of Captain Henry Peterson by Major James Skitt Matthews.

During the early 1900s there were numerous pre-emptions on the North Island, many concentrated in the Cape Scott area and on the trail between San Josef and Holberg. Sea Otter Cove was not a popular anchorage due to a number of large rocks which impeded ships from entering the harbour. Captain Peterson piloted a number of ships in the area which supported the North Island settlers, and was the father of Les Peterson, author of "A Cape Scott Story." When he died he was buried in the small community of San Josef.

Sea Otter Cove was not named for the marine mammals currently making a comeback in the area, but was named by Captain James Hanna after his ship the Sea Otter, when he was exploring the area in 1786.

Sea Otter Cove in 1914 taken from the homestead of Captain Henry Peterson
City of Vancouver Archives  AM54-S4-: Out P1160.4

The Mysterious Wreck at Fisherman's Bay

I was recently asked by a long time Port Hardy resident if I could find any information about the wreck in Fisherman Bay, which is a small bay on the side of Nissen Bight, at Cape Scott.

An old wooden wreck has sat on the beach for almost 80 years. I have been asked if it was associated with the early Cape Scott settlement in the late 1800s, or perhaps with the radar station which stood near the lighthouse during World War II. Other people have asked if the ship was a victim of storms in the area.

Photo of the wreck from 2007 featured on blog: http://thepaperseed.com/?p=132 

I was able to locate some documentation about the wreck in the book "Historic Shipwrecks of Northeastern Vancouver Island" put out by the Underwater Archaeological Society of BC (UASBC).

As a part of an initiative to catalogue wrecks around BC, the UASBC enlisted the help of a reporter at the Times Colonist, Patrick Murphy, to try to find out about where this particular ship came from. Together they were successful in uncovering some of its interesting history. The information in this article is taken from this informative book, which is available through the Vancouver Island Regional Library.

The wreck on the beach at Fisherman's Cove is what little remains of the Pelican 1, previously known as the Oregon.

In 1917 this wooden vessel was commissioned under the name MV State of Oregon and it was first launched in Seattle by the Alaska Pacific Construction Company under the name Oregon. The boat originally measured 215 feet in length and was one of the first diesel powered ships.

The Oregon enjoyed about 20 years of working life on the Pacific coast. She was a freighter, primarily used to transport goods between Washington and Alaska.

The Oregon in its finer days.

Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society (HP#374-6) 

By 1936 she was deemed to no longer be seaworthy. Her engines were taken out and the freighter became a barge in 1939. In the early 1940s her name was changed to the Pelican 1.

On August 24, 1945 a resident of Victoria, Bill Dixon, incorporated the Fisherman Bay Limited company, capitalized at $100,000. Dixon had the idea to provide services to the commercial fishing fleet out of Cape Scott at Fisherman Bay on the North end of Vancouver Island.

Unfortunately, the harsh seas off Cape Scott did not provide any protected harbour in the immediate area, and so Dixon attempted to convince the government to fund a breakwater.

When the government wasn't receptive to his proposal, Dixon purchased the old shell of the Pelican 1 for $900 in July 1946. He filled it with gravel, brought it to the entrance to Fisherman Bay and blew holes in the hull with dynamite. The ship sank, but did not hold its location. By October of 1946 it had drifted onto the beach, and was left there to rot. Dixon disappeared and his shareholders were left trying to decide what to do about the company.

Surveying the wreck - June 1995. Photo courtesy of J. Marc of the UASBC.

The UASBC visited the wreck (at that time of unknown providence) in 1995 and catalogued what remained on the beach and in the nearby water. At the time there were still a number of pieces of the wreck on the bottom of the Bay.

The wreck is one of a number of interesting artifacts in Cape Scott Provincial Park that give a glimpse into the many attempts to live and do business in the remote and harsh environment at the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

Old Port Hardy in moving pictures

Straight from the archives - this amazing footage was taken in the 1920s, when the main community of Port Hardy was located on the south-east side of the bay.  At this time the newer community of Hardy Bay, located at the present townsite, was just starting to grow.

The short film provides a panorama of the community and the bay, as well as a brief glimpse at the clothing worn at the time as a couple of men walk by the camera as the panorama is being filmed!

Library and Archives Canada

Port Hardy in old photographs

Old Port Hardy was located on the East side of Hardy Bay.  Here is a photo of the Lyon's store in 1905.

• BC Archives A-05330

Lyon's store in 1905.  Photo shows Thomas P. Wicks on the wharf.    Photo by H. Helmsing.

City of Vancouver Archives - CVA 586-584

Old Port Hardy on the East side of Hardy Bay with the Lyon's store/hotel in 1907.

BC Archives A-05413

Port Hardy in 1911. Photo by H. Helmsing.

A bit more development in 1922.

BC Archives A-05347

In the mid 1920s the community moved to its current location on the West side of the Bay.  Originally the new community was called "Hardy Bay" to distinguish it from "Port Hardy."  Over time the community gradually moved to the Hardy Bay settlement.  No one ever officially changed the post office name when the post office moved from Port Hardy to Hardy Bay, and eventually Hardy Bay took on the name Port Hardy.

This photo of Hardy Bay is from the 1920s or early 1930s before the Cadwallader store was built.

• BC Archives D-02212 
 

Sketch of Port Hardy by Lindley Crease in 1937.  The building to the left of the wharf (the Hardy Bay Hotel) has a sign on it which says "Home Gas" and the Lyons store is up the street on the right side of the street with a "Store" sign on it.

BC Archives PDP07442

One of the smaller wharves in Hardy Bay in 1939.

BC Archives NA-11527

Log dump looking toward the area where Keltic Seafoods is today.  Photo from 1939 by the BC Forest Service.

BC Archives NA-11547

Hardy Bay view from the Steamship in 1941.

City of Vancouver Archives CVA 586-584

The Hardy Bay Hotel at the foot of the main wharf (eventually the Seagate).  Photo from the 1940s.

BC Archives E-05273

Looking down the wharf at the Hardy Bay Hotel.  Sign says 'licensed premises'.  Photo from 1939.

BC Archives NA-11562

View up the hill from the Government Wharf, including a General Store (left).  Date unidentified.  1939?

BC Archives NA-11527

The Port Hardy Hotel in the 1940s.

BC Archives E-05272

RCAF airmen posing with an old car, photos presumably taken during WWII, with the Port Hardy Hotel in the background of the first photo.

http://jakealoo.tumblr.com/post/54597228243/two-wwii-era-photographs-of-rcaf-airmen-in-port/embed

The Port Hardy main wharf (now the Seagate), in 1947.  Presumably the people on the wharf are waiting to get onto the steamship.

BC Archives I- 28374

Coming into the Port Hardy wharf 1947.  Cadwallader Store has been built along with a structure on the right side of the wharf.

BC Archives A-05330

The Port Hardy primary school in 1962.  This building was eventually moved to the intersection of Byng Road and Beaver Harbour Road and became the Old Schoolhouse Store.  Photo from 1952.

BC Archives I-31858

Port Hardy wharf 1963.

BC Archives I-28376

Old 8mm movies bring the historical North Island to life

A big shout out is due to Lindsey Pattinson, who has taken a number of his grandfather's old 8mm home movies and converted them to digital format.  They give a glimpse into what life was like on the old North Island.
Today on the blog we are featuring three of these movies:
https://vimeo.com/165743883
This video highlights logging in the Nimpkish area, from Woss to Beaver Cove, and includes footage of the historic rail line that transported people, equipment and logs all around the Nimpkish Valley from Rock Bay to Beaver Cove.
https://vimeo.com/164862542
The second video features fishing for salmon and herring on Canada's West Coast.  It features video of the fleet, the gear used, and the catches.
https://vimeo.com/164799300
Finally, a third video features footage of whaling off the West Coat of Vancouver Island and at the whaling station at Coal Harbour in Quatsino Sound.
I'm trying to figure out how to actually embed these videos, but for now you"ll have to click the links to access them.

The Adventurous Life of Lilian Bland

Published in the North Island Gazette May 11, 2016

There are so many surprising and interesting stories that intersect with the North Island. Recently a reader contacted me to suggest that I write a history article on Lilian Bland and her connection to Quatsino. Never having heard of Ms. Bland, I was intrigued.

________________________________

Lilian Emily Bland was born in Kent, England in 1878. Her mother died when she was young, and she was raised by her father. She was always a bit non-traditional and liked to push the boundaries of what was considered acceptable for women at the time.

Lilian became obsessed with airplanes after her father received a postcard commemorating the 1909 flight across the English Channel. She contacted the pilot to see if she could do a ride-along with him, and also had a boyfriend for a time who was a pilot, but she was not able to find anyone who would teach her to fly.



Determined to learn to fly, Lilian designed and built her own aircraft, called the "Mayfly." After a few close calls with a bull in a farmer's field she successfully flew her own powered airplane, the first woman to do so. She also looked into the commercial applications of air flight, but decided it was not as lucrative as the growing motorcar industry. Bland became the first female agent for the Ford Motor Co. in Ireland. She was also a reporter, writing for the London papers.

Lilian married her first cousin, Charles Loftus Bland. Charles, a younger son in a well-to-do family filled with successful army men, had trained for a career in the army but found it not to his liking. When he quit the Army his sister had him committed to an insane asylum for about seven months before he was released and went to work as a farm labourer picking potatoes in Ireland. By 1906 Charles's family had convinced him to move to California. Having an adventurer in the family, it seems, was preferable to having a potato picker.

By 1908 Charles was in Victoria, British Columbia, and hired himself out to work a trap line near Quatsino Sound. He met Alec Farmer, Joe Browning, and George Thorburn who were all taking up land at the Ingersoll River, and convinced his brother to lend him money to invest in an homestead nearby.

The Bland homestead at Johnson River (Kewquodie Creek)

After a brief trip home to Britain, Lilian and Charles were married in 1911 when she was 32 and he was 29. The couple kept their nuptials a secret, as they were worried their being first cousins would be looked down upon. Lilian set off to join Charles and to explore the wilds of Quatsino Sound in 1912. In 1913 the Blands had a daughter, whom they named Patricia.

Lilian took up photography during this period and took many wonderful photos of the homestead in Quatsino Sound on the Johnson River (now known as Kewquodie Creek). The farm was located on the south side of Quatsino Sound just west of Drake (previously known as Limestone) Island. Many of the photos which Lilian took in Quatsino have been published on a website dedicated to her life: http://www.lilianbland.ie/ .

Life on the homestead was hard, with rough physical labour required to remove the huge stumps and to plant gardens and build rough outbuildings. All wood had to be chopped by hand and hauled to the house. Trips away from the homestead in the small boat were at the mercy of the weather.

In 1917 Lilian's cousin Mary Madden, aged 15, joined the family in Quatsino to help out on the homestead.

The Blands were friends with the Varneys, also emigrants from Britain who had homesteaded in Varney Bay by the mouth of the Marble River.

During prohibition the Blands thought they would make some extra money by brewing loganberry wine and selling it to Ned Friggon's establishment, the Central Hotel on Limestone Island. Unfortunately Charles was caught by the Port Alice police and fined $300, in lieu of the 30 day jail term.

In 1929 the Bland's daughter Patricia died of tetanus at the age of 16 years. This was a tremendous loss and heartbreak for Lilian. Lilian and Charles' marriage was also a rocky one, and in 1930 Lilian returned to the United Kingdom, where she resumed her avant garde lifestyle, wearing trousers and gambling. She took up painting and landscape gardening and became well known for her garden in Cornwall. She died May 11, 1971 at the age of 91.

Once Lilian was gone, Mary returned to the homestead and lived there with Charles. They had four children, and their descendants still reside on the North Island.

References:

http://www.lilianbland.ie
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/journalist-photographer-crackshot-and-the-first-woman-to-fly-an-aeroplane-the-amazing-lilian-bland-28552187.html