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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 18, 2008 20:03:15 GMT -8
Flugel.. Sam is a long time friend of mine and ex CEO of BCFC. he actualy figures the Hind made it all the way to Alaska. I read the proofs of his book which I found facinating. He lives in Vesuvius. Thanks for mentioning that personal-connection, Kerry. I really enjoyed his book. What I found most fascinating is the "careening" of the ships that was done many times during the long adventure voyages. I was envisioning a type of dry-docking on the beach, to do the underside repairs. Obviously, the crew & ship were very vulnerable during those times. Too bad that the floating dry-dock at WMG wasn't available.... ;D
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2008 23:11:28 GMT -8
I remember a time when there was no such a Company called BC Ferries. We had to travel to the mainland on the CP ships. Many times we got a state room with a couple of bunks, so we could sleep. My Dad worked for CP for a few years, and sometimes he worked on the ships, so he was on them a lot. I remember the Princess Pat and Marguerite II, and both were fairly new ships(under 10 years old) when I was riding them. We sometimes did the Vancouver to Naniamo Route as well---Princess of Vancouver--I believe. We did not go on CP Ships after BC Ferries came into being.
I do not recall being on the Kalakala, but I have ridden the Coho many times.
Traveled on the Mill Bay, many times when I was young.
I think that i might have been on the Motor Princess in the mid 1960's---we did a tour of the Gulf Islands, shortly after BC Ferries bought the Gulf Island ferries.
Members of my family have helped build, all the BC Ferries(except for the Fast Cats) that have been built here in Victoria. I have been on all of them, except for the Queen of Prince Rupert and the Fast Cats. My Dad used to give us a guided tour of all the parts that he made for the V'S.
I have toured the SS Sicamous, which is now a museum in Penticton, and have been on the Princess Mary---the restaurant. WE rode on the Pirate Ship and Paddle Wheeler at Disneyland.
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Post by kerryssi on Dec 19, 2008 20:25:17 GMT -8
Flugel...you probably know the origins of "Between the devil and the deep blue sea" and " At loggerheads" or " The devil to pay".
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 19, 2008 20:44:34 GMT -8
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Post by kerryssi on Dec 20, 2008 17:58:08 GMT -8
Yup...the devil was the seam closest to the keel. If they had to pay (calk) it in mid ocean they would have to shift the cargo over to the other side then sail abeam the wind to lift the seam. It was the hardest to calk. A sailor, usualy the most unpopular one on board, would be sent over the side on the end of a rope to "pay the devil" He realy was between the devil and the deep blue sea. A drop in the wind or a shift of the wheel and he was done for. Now how about ... Three sheets to the wind. Scuttlebutt. Grogg. Not enough room to swing a cat. Flogging a dead horse.
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Dec 21, 2008 4:15:09 GMT -8
Not enough room to swing a cat. This one, I'll take. Not enough room to swing a cat refers to being in tight quarters and originates from the cat-o-nine-tails, or the whip used to flog errant sailors. If the ship's deck was cluttered or small, it would be hard to maneuver the whip to beat the sailor, and the cat wouldn't break the skin...thus the punisher wouldn't have enough room to swing the cat... Or grog, a mix of weak beer and rum used to make water sources palatable after they grew algae during voyages. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grog As an aside, IPA was also designed to be transported long distances; the bitter, hoppy taste an indicator of the method used to achieve this...significantly more hops shifts the balance of the chemistry and keeps IPA from going "skunky". Refers to a state of drunkenness, likely associated with the craziness a sailor would link with running a lot of sail during a storm. After reading the entry on grog, I would even conjecture that the number of sheets is loosely related to the number of rum rations a sailor had hoarded before going on a bender... Ye olde office water fountain gossip... ;D en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScuttlebuttActually, the saying here is "working a dead horse", and refers to the practice of getting pay in advance, spending it, and then still having to earn it. Some credence may be placed in the idea that "flogging a dead horse" would have been used to describe the fact that sailors "working the dead horse" might need additional flogging to motivate them...the term "horse" likely came from the "Horse Latitudes" which were usually reached about one month after leaving England, thus sailors were working to reach the "Horse", the point where they would start receiving compensation again. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flogging_a_dead_horse
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Post by kerryssi on Dec 21, 2008 10:53:35 GMT -8
Much the same. The ref I have says that "Dead Horse" was an old English term for a debt. The sailor would sign up on a ship and get a months advance in pay so he would be working the first month for "free". At the end of the month a straw image of a horse would be thrown overboard and the debt was gone. "No point in flogging a dead horse" meant you were not likely to get much work out of that individual until the dead horse was gone. The horse latitudes were an area where there was very little wind and a ship would become becalmed. Ships tried to avoid that area. If they were caught,in order to conserve water any horses (real ones, not debts) would be thrown overboard. Hence the horse latitudes. Back in the good old days each sailor got served a pint of neat rum. He had to drink it then and there. No wonder England ruled the seas, they were all pissed. The admiral, I forget his name now, in charge of the Caribbean sea always wore a heavy coat made of a cloth called grogram. He became known as "old Grog". He had the rum ration watered down with a quart of water and the sailors were still served a pint. They did not like this and called the watered down drink "Grog". They found if they drank it fast enough they could still get "Groggy" Forgot to add that the "sheet" is the line which controlls the trim of a sail. If you loose the sheet it runs out and is flying in the wind. If you loose 3 sheets you have lost control of three sails and are nearly out of control...like a drunken sailor. The sheet attaches to the "clew" on the sail. If you are clewless you are helpless
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Dec 23, 2008 12:01:55 GMT -8
Alright, after much hunting I managed to dig up some photos of the oldest boat I've been on. West Coast TugsOwned and worked by Capt. Alf Talbot for years, I have been lead to understand the Swan was one, if not the oldest working tug on the West Coast. She was left to the care of a friend of mine after Capt Talbot past away, and since then she has been donated to a museum, hopefully to be restored. Once I get a little more history and hopefully an update on her fate, I'll add to her background.
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Post by bcferryfan87 on Jan 19, 2009 22:35:08 GMT -8
I guess for a voyage it was Vancouver Island Princess in 89 (aka princessof Vancouver); dockside, I was on both SS Prince George and Princess Patricia at New West in 86.
IF anyone has any pics specifically from onboard the Princess Marguerite II (aka the one that ran until 89), I'd love to see them posted.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2009 6:16:39 GMT -8
The oldest ship I have been on is the HMCS Oricale. and the Mill Bay.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Apr 9, 2011 16:34:41 GMT -8
MV Lady Rose - built in 1937
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Post by SS San Mateo on Apr 9, 2011 17:31:47 GMT -8
Active: SS Virginia V (1922) Dockside: Wawona (1897)
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Post by Mike on Apr 9, 2011 17:49:28 GMT -8
The oldest West Coast ship I've been on would be the Lady Rose.
As for the oldest ship I've been on, that distinction falls to the SS Moyie, as it was launched in 1898.
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Post by SS Shasta on Apr 9, 2011 17:58:33 GMT -8
WSF MV Chippewa - 1900. WSF MV Leschi - 1913.
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mrdot
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Post by mrdot on Apr 9, 2011 18:59:42 GMT -8
:)the oldest ship that I actually took the wheel on was Langdale Queen,ex Asbury Park, of 1903, i was relief seaman on a repositioning from Esquimalt dry dock back to Swartz Bay, late 69, or thereabouts. She was the most difficult ship to steer, that I ever came across! but what a rebuild job Yarrows of Esquimalt did transforming her into the modern Kaloke of 1953, that was when we had considerable shipbuilding skills here in BC, Yarrows having just completed the brand new Prince George, transforming the old Motor Princess into a reletively modern Pender Queen, as well as a modern Kaloke,not to mention all the St.Laurent class frigates built here! :)mrdot.
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Post by lmtengs on Apr 9, 2011 19:20:22 GMT -8
The oldest ship that I've been on that I can think of right now is the SS Sicamous, in Penticton, which was built in 1914.
In service, I'm really not sure. It could very well be the Mark Twain Riverboat in Disneyland. (built in 1955)
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mrdot
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Post by mrdot on Apr 9, 2011 22:23:19 GMT -8
:)I guess I'll have to amend my oldest ship, as I too have frequented the hallowed decks of Moyie, a wonderful stop in historic Kaslo, someone asked the best steering vessel. I ever put hand to, and hands down it was Queen of Sidney, which along with the QPR, had those wonderful Merrlees engenes! :)mrdot.
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piglet
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Post by piglet on Apr 10, 2011 6:58:31 GMT -8
I would say my oldest would H.M.S. Victory in Portsmouth in England. In Canada it would be the Moyie.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Apr 10, 2011 7:15:45 GMT -8
For those doing latecomer replies to this thread, the intent was for a west-coast ship that you had traveled on. ie. the ship was operational when you were on it. - see the first few posts in this thread, to get an idea.
- So, for those Moyie people, was anyone on it when it was still running on Kootenay Lake? just curious.
For those who are interested, reading this thread from start-to-end is pretty interesting. - the Washington State members had access to older ships, in general.
The typical BCer experience was the MV Mill Bay, the North Island Princess, or the Princess of Vancouver.
My oldest-ship was the "Princess of Vancouver", until a few weekends ago.
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Post by Northern Exploration on Apr 10, 2011 18:08:50 GMT -8
For me the abosulte oldest has to be the USS Constitution now moored in Boston Harbor. Launched in 1797, served in the war of 1812, Civil War, and then preserved as a Museum Ship, it is still in sailable condition.
The second oldest being the USS Olympia now moored in Philly. Launched in 1892 it was in the Spanish American War.
Queen Mary now moored in Long Beach.
Also various ships moored at the Southstreet Seaport in NYC with the oldest being from 1885 if I remember correctly.
I have been on a number of WWII era subs, destroyers and battleships at Battleship Cove in Mass and the Battleship North Carolina in North Carolina.
I think the oldest Canadian major ship is HMCS Haida a pre-WWII destroyer.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Apr 10, 2011 18:12:14 GMT -8
For me the abosulte oldest has to be the USS Constitution now moored in Boston Harbor. Nothing to do with this particular thread, but what is the oldest west-coast ship that you've been on, while it was operational (ie moving with you as a passenger on the west coast) ? (ps: next time I start a new thread, look for the 100-word explanation in the thread title....haha ;D).
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Post by Northern Exploration on Apr 10, 2011 18:42:34 GMT -8
The problem when you respond to the last 80 posts and don't look at the thread itself. I got carried away and forgot about the West Coast. Princess Margeurite for sure. I was also on a smaller very old ship once that visited Vancouver Harbour around 1967. All I remember was port holes in the pilot house and the pistons of the steam engine. I was in Cubs and we did a half hour turn around the Second Narrows area. Two points to whoever knows what it was. No luck in Google .
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Post by uricanejack on Apr 11, 2011 22:44:39 GMT -8
The Oldest Ships I have been on.
HMS Victory. I cant say it was actualy afloat. but I have heard it was built about 50 years before trafalgar. HMS Belfast built in the 30s was afloat but hasn't moved for decades.
The oldest on the west coast. the St Rock. again not actualy afloat.
The Vancouver Island Princess the oldest west coast ferry.
The oldest BC Ferry the MV Mill Bay
I was on a Washington State Ferry from Port Townsend back in the early 90s it was pretty old
The Waverly on the Clyde. 1947 last sea going side paddle wheeler.
The oldest actualy in regular service passenger ferry was the original Queen Mary built in 1933. I was on her in the Mid seventies just before she was taken out of service. perhaps she shouldnt count as the oldeset she was at the time only 40 to 44 years old mot as old as some curently operational BC Ferries I guess that makes me pretty old. At the time she had just returned to her original name having given it up for the famous ocean linner whic I have never been on.
What was the old cable ship turned in fish and chip reseraunt at Fanny Bay
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piglet
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Post by piglet on Jul 6, 2011 19:55:17 GMT -8
The old cable ship in Fanny Bay is the Brico.
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Post by swartzbaydreaming on Jul 17, 2011 15:12:23 GMT -8
Hi everyone, a few many years ago now in the early 90's I had a chance to work in the engineering areas on the MV Anscomb for a couple of months with a work experience program in my highschool. She was an oldie but a goodie built in 1944 for service across Kootenay Lake. She had steep staircases up to the passenger deck but the climb was always worth it.
A small snack bar/gift shop was at the back, and a unique lounge that enjoyed one of the best views of kootenay lake I have ever seen, (except from the bridge when I was allowed to take the wheel for a while, once. Pure magic to a 16 year old kid!).
She was the oldest ship I have been on and have many great summer memories of crossing the lake, and some almost terrifying trips across when the wind picks up causing swells that got the old girl rocking pretty wildly, especially in the winter. The Osprey 2000 is nice as well but in a way it is like comparing apples and oranges.
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