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A Metis Man’s Dream: From Traplines to Tugboats in Canada’s North

Gower

The nautical history is, often much to the surprise of Canadians, is rich and diverse. It covers a huge geographic area of the world in which it does not occur to outsiders that ships are carrying the people and supplies that make modern life possible in the north. The ‘freshwater fleet’ is huge and some of the vessels have migrated to saltwater and can be found in other parts of Canada.

The author and historian Neil Gower has captured a detailed look into the life of a Metis man who created a modern marine industry in the north. Gordon Gill’s life traces his evolution to businessman, mariner and shipbuilder. Gower speaks with authority in the book as a lawyer involved in the business deals and operations and a longtime freind of the principal player in the story.

The book reads easily as a narrative which captures the spirit and feeling of the times. It is also a window into the aboriginal and Metis cultures which is often glossed over by the popular media. I felt a better understanding of some issues facing modern Canada after reading the book.

Besides being a pleasant and easy rea I highly recommend this book to any reader wishing to understand northern Canadian maritime heritage. It is like listening to the testimony of eye witnesses to a most remarkable story.

Published by Friesen Press, Altona MB. ISBN 978-1-03-914548-1 (paper). The book can be ordered directly from Friesen or through Amazon.


Nauticapedia

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.

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