Fishing Vessel Miss Georgina, RIP

the end of life of a storied wooden fish boat

In 1977 my Dad bought the Miss Georgina. I was actually with him when he shook the hand of John Strand (then owner of the Miss Georgina) to close the deal. We were in Vancouver over the Christmas break that year. Dad and John had no contract, just a verbal agreement and a handshake. I was impressed with the boat. Dad was too of course, but he was also impressed with the price $275,000. It was a lot of money, about 5 or 6 times the amount he had paid for the much older Ala Wai II in 1967 (which was sold a year and half after buying the Miss Georgina for about $380,000 and whose license made the Pacific Baron a possibility).

Ala Wai II, circa 1970s, flanked by two other Co-op fishboats.

Dad bought his first boat, the Ala Wai II in 1967. That was a tough year. For political reasons, not fishy ones. Dad fished for the Prince Rupert Fishermen's Co-op and that year they went head to head in a labour struggle with the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union. I've written about that conflict in a paper called On Permanent Strike. It was a hard year to go from working on the deck of the Silver Bounty to skippering his own boat, but by the end of the 1970s Dad, with the whole family,  had made it work. 

Crew of the FV Silver Bounty, circa 1960s

Dad also ran the Lois N in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was owed by Nickerson’s (then a ship chandlery). Prior to that he worked on and ran a series of boats, his very first a small packer out of Butedale in his teens.  

FV Lois N at the dock in Prince Rupert.

With the Ala Wai, one of the first things my parents did was rebuild the wheelhouse on her. It was quite small. The work was done at the Wahl Brothers shipyard in Cow Bay (there is nothing there today). I was in grade one when they did that, but remember the plans my mother drew up with the boat builders. I also remember spending lots of time at the shipyard playing in the boat shed and on the boat as the wheelhouse was built.

Ala Wai II, 1967. Rigged for salmon table seining. Nort coast BC.

The Miss Georgina was a bigger, stronger, safer boat than the Ala Wai II (which had been built as a halibut longliner in the 1920s as the Kenn Falls). I felt so proud to work the boat with my Dad.

Ala Wai II, as Kenn Falls. Rigged for table seining.

The 1970s was a period of rapid expansion in BC's fishing industry. Fish prices jumped and lots of money was made and lost. Interest rates for boat loans were in the double digits. For a year and a bit Dad owned both boats, but being in charge of a 'fleet' wasn't my Dad's idea of a good time so when Ray Krause made him an offer to buy the Ala Wai II one lunch time at Amy's Fairview Cafe at the Co-op, it didn't take Dad long to agree to sell the Ala Wai II to Ray.

Since the early 1970s I spent every summer with Dad on his boat (well into the 1990s when I got hired at UBC).  I even spent a fishing season with Dad and his crew member Herbie when I was in grade five gill netting herring one winter (a four week holiday from school). Usually, my winter herring trips were restricted to the easter break so I didn't miss school.  In my grade twelve year I again took off an entire term of school to seine herring on the Miss Georgina. Mostly, I only went out in the summers. I hated having to step off the boat in the fall to return to school. I'll admit it, I even cried one September morning as the boat pulled away from the Co-op dock without me on it.  My late Uncle Fred Gamble took my place that time. 

I've written about how the time on the boat was more than just work, it was a transition into manhood and a culture of life that still clings to our coastline. I have a lot of memories on that boat. Memories of men who have passed away. Good times. Nasty times. Rough water, big fish trips. I learned about my father working with him and his crews. I sat many hours silent in the wheelhouse with him as we travelled the coast.

Miss Georgina, loaded at Rupert Fishermen’s Co-op Dock, circa 1985.

The boat itself was built by Matsumoto Shipyards in the early 1950s. It was originally built as a table seiner. Shortly thereafter it was converted into a drum seiner (as shown in the photo above, tied to the dock fully loaded in Prince Rupert).

Sometime in the 1970s then skipper John Strand tried to out run a storm fishing black cod off the Oregon coast. He took a big wave over the bow that knocked the wheelhouse loose and smashed all the forward windows. They made it back to port but then redid the wheelhouse with the raised up forward house I knew her with.  When Strand sold Dad the Miss Georgina he bought a bigger boat he then named Star Wars.

Boat launch at Matsumoto Shipyards, circa 1950s.

This past summer  (2022), Dad finally sold the boat. She had sat for almost a decade in Prince Rupert, tied to the dock at a local shipyard. Dad had planned on bringing the boat south. On his last trip he only made it to Namu (about midway between 'Rupert and Vancouver). The weather drove him into harbour.  The boat wasn't fairing well. After spending a tough night in Namu, he turned around and steamed to Shearwater / Bella Bella were he and his crew spent Thanksgiving. Once the weather calmed down he decided to return to Prince Rupert rather than continue heading south. That was his last time running the boat and neither of them -boat or man- were really up for travelling anymore.

Over the years the shipyard owner in ‘Rupert cared for Dad's boat. It came out of the water every year for inspection, but most everything else was left to the elements. From time to time I suggested Dad sell the boat.  For a number of reasons (fishing licences, nostalgia, emotion) he held off selling her. Then the shipyard was sold and the new owners wanted the boat gone. They had plans and those plans did not include old decaying fishboats owned by old men. The pandemic put everything in standstill for a couple years. But then this past year I convinced Dad it was time to sell the boat.

These things take time -about a year to be exact- but we had a buyer, the papers were signed and processed and then this summer the new owner took over responsibility for the Miss Georgina. 

Early this past October the Miss Georgina left Prince Rupert Harbour tied alongside the Star Wars. Their destination was a Mennonite farm in Masset Inlet, Haida Gwaii. For the boat owner trivia buffs, Star Wars was the boat that John Strand bought when he sold Dad the Miss Georgina. So it's kind of fitting that the Star Wars was the Miss Georgina's escort to her final berth.

This last voyage was in good weather, but hard on the old boat. The crew taking her over had an 'arduous' time of it. Sadly, she didn't fair well. Despite having got to her final resting place without serious mishap, she took on too much water while tied to the dock and found herself submerged over night (Oct. 8, 2022).

Port Clements dock, Oct. 8, 2022.

It was a sad state of affairs. It was a bittersweet moment. I was pleased to see the Miss Georgina heading out on her final journey. The pictures of her submerged at the dock left a sad feeling. No boat should face such an indignity. 

As of Thanksgiving Day, Oct. 10, 2022, the Miss Georgina was back above water and floating as she should be.

Back above water, Oct. 10, 2022.

The story doesn’t end here. A few days later the Miss Georgina was towed across the inlet to a Mennonite farm where she was disassembled for scrap.

Decommissioning FV Miss Georgina

Every possible piece of metal and wood was recovered for reuse. The engine and auxiliary, hydraulic pumps and values, were all pulled apart. Even the wheelhouse was saved to be turned into a guest house at the farm. By the time November came there was nothing very much left of the former fishing vessel Miss Georgina.

At a fisheries meeting I once attended, one participant said the only thing that stays the same in fishing is change. My father grew up and worked in a world quite different than mine. I personally have seen the fishing world of my youth transformed into something unrecognizable. It’s like living a cliche, but the end of the Miss Georgina is an end of a moment in BC’s history. I take heart that the boat remained of use even as it was taken apart. That is some small solace in a world of change.