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The B.C. Surveyor
by John MacFarlane and Joanna Lipsey 2017
The B.C. Surveyor (Photo from the Joanna Lipsey collection.)
Joanna Lipsey’s father served in the B.C. Surveyor.
In 1939 the B.C. Surveyor was built at Marpole BC by George Askew as the Leola Vivian. She was originally powered by a 110hp gas engine (by Vivian Engine Works, Vancouver BC). 17.0m x 4.4m x 2.5m (55.8’ x 14.3’ x 8.2’) wooden hull 46.92gt 31.91rt. In 1947 she was renamed as B.C. Surveyor. In 1949 she was rebuilt at the Forest Service Maintenance Depot and re–engined with a 230hp engine. In 1968 she was renamed as Oliver Clark II.
The B.C. Surveyor (Photo from the Joanna Lipsey collection.)
In 1939 she was owned by Will Vivian, Vancouver BC. In 1941–1942 she was owned by Vivian Engine Works, Vancouver BC. In 1942 she was a Canadian Naval Tender to H.M.C.S. Burrard chartered to the Royal Canadian Navy and later purchased on November 30, 1942. In 1947–1961 she was owned by Minister of Lands and Forests Victoria BC. In 1967-1983 she was owned by Minister Lands and Water Resources, Victoria BC. In 1983–1989 she was owned by James A. Burroughs, Surrey BC. In 1993–2011 she was owned by Jed F. Currie, Halfmoon Bay BC.
The B.C. Surveyor (Photo from the Joanna Lipsey collection.)
During World War Two the B.C. Surveyor was a Canadian Naval Tender to H.M.C.S. Burrard. In October 2015 she hit a rock and the owner was ejected from the wheel house into the water. The boat righted itself and kept on going. Some jerry cans fell off the stern of boat and served as flotation devices for the skipper who was later saved.
The dinghy tender of the B.C. Surveyor. (Photo from the collection.)
The crew of the B.C. Surveyor. (Photo from the collection.)
Survey party coming ashore from the boat. (Photo from the collection.)
A survey party departing to a remote location to carry out surveying operations. (Photo from the collection.)
Survey marker built ashore by one of the survey crews. (Photo from the collection.)
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John M. and Joanna Lipsey (2017) The B.C. Surveyor. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/BC_Surveyor.php
Site News: December 21, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,824 vessel histories (with 16,274 images and 13,929 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).
Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 45,000 processed so far this year (2024).
The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).
Thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of vessel histories in the database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.