Out and about
Yesterday was the UASBC's annual shipwreck conference, and a ticket to the event was my birthday present to myself. During the day session, we heard about wet site preservation, the lost communities of Stanley Park, the legacy of the native Hawaiians who settled in BC, and the history of sternwheelers on the Fraser River.
During the lunch break, some of us went on a tour of the Samson V, the last sternwheeler to operate on the river. It was a snagpuller, and it operated from 1937 until 1980.
The Samson V
The steam winch
The winch was passed from ship to ship, a common practice. The Samson V boilers were used on the Samson II, III, and IV, along with the ship's wheel and many of the components of the paddlewheel.
The paddlewheel
A crew cabin. I am smushed against the doorjam. In the corner to my left is a locker. There are closets bigger than this.
The wheel and the...direction signal thing. I don't know what it's called. But the wheel is from 1910!
R2-D2 in the wheelhouse. Toot!Toot!
The evening portion consisted of dinner and a lecture. For some reason, I assumed that the lecture would happen during the dinner. But of course it didn't, because that would be silly. And so I realized that I had unwittingly stumbled into...a social situation. I didn't know anyone else there, and the process of trying to find a table to sit at brought back unpleasant memories of junior high. I found myself sitting off in the corner at an empty table wishing I was one of the cheerleaders, before being joined by various other people, all of whom turned out to be biologists. So dinner was spent hearing about UBC's leatherback turtle program, the rehabilitation of sea otters, the status of shark populations, and the reintroduction of the burrowing owl to the province. I was eating with people who were working to preserve life on earth. Woah.
After dinner, we got to hear all about the history and excavation of Port Royal. Pirates! Everyone loves pirates.
And then I staggered off home, because it had been a long, if edifying, day.
During the lunch break, some of us went on a tour of the Samson V, the last sternwheeler to operate on the river. It was a snagpuller, and it operated from 1937 until 1980.
The Samson V
The steam winch
The winch was passed from ship to ship, a common practice. The Samson V boilers were used on the Samson II, III, and IV, along with the ship's wheel and many of the components of the paddlewheel.
The paddlewheel
A crew cabin. I am smushed against the doorjam. In the corner to my left is a locker. There are closets bigger than this.
The wheel and the...direction signal thing. I don't know what it's called. But the wheel is from 1910!
R2-D2 in the wheelhouse. Toot!Toot!
The evening portion consisted of dinner and a lecture. For some reason, I assumed that the lecture would happen during the dinner. But of course it didn't, because that would be silly. And so I realized that I had unwittingly stumbled into...a social situation. I didn't know anyone else there, and the process of trying to find a table to sit at brought back unpleasant memories of junior high. I found myself sitting off in the corner at an empty table wishing I was one of the cheerleaders, before being joined by various other people, all of whom turned out to be biologists. So dinner was spent hearing about UBC's leatherback turtle program, the rehabilitation of sea otters, the status of shark populations, and the reintroduction of the burrowing owl to the province. I was eating with people who were working to preserve life on earth. Woah.
After dinner, we got to hear all about the history and excavation of Port Royal. Pirates! Everyone loves pirates.
And then I staggered off home, because it had been a long, if edifying, day.