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A Gallery of Early Canadian Dredges on the British Columbia Coast
by John MacFarlane 2017
Fruhling (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
In 1907 she was built at Danzig Germany as the Fruhling. She was later renamed as the P.W.D. No. 303. 187.0’ x 34.6’ x 15.2’ steel hull 910gt 410rt. She was originally powered by a 14hp steam engine. She was repowered around the Second World War with a 270ihp steam engine.
In 1914 Otto Fruhling patented revolutionary designs for the cutter heads for suction dredging equipment which was particularly effective in 'tenacious' or 'heavy' ground.
Fruhling (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
In 1931–1961 she was owned by The Minister of Public Works, Ottawa ON. In 1967 she was owned by British Columbia Bridge & Dredging Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC.
Ajax (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
Ajax (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
Ajax at Nanaimo BC (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
The Mudlark dredge tender sunk as a result of an accident. (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
The Mudlark was a steam tug that acted as a dredge tender. On 13/11/1915 she was sunk.
The Mudlark dredge tender sunk as a result of an accident. (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
King Edward (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
In 1901 she was built as King Edward in New Westminster BC (later renamed as P.W.D. No. 305) 146.5’ x 33’ x 6.3’ Steel hull 449gt 145rt She was a sternwheeler powered by a 17hp steam engine. She was rebuilt to 127.6’ x 33’ x 7’ 543gt 543rt and repowered with a 500hp engine.
King Edward dredge (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
In 1901-1958 she was owned by The Minister of Public Works, Ottawa ON. In 1961 she was owned by Tide Bay Dredging Co. Ltd., New Westminster BC. (In 1922 she worked on the Sumas Lake reclamation project.)
King Edward Dredge (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
Dredge Bucket (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
Lobnitz Rock Cutter No. 1 (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
She was designed and built at Renfrew Scotland by Lobnitz & Co. shipbuilders. The original design for Lobnitz rock breakers was patented in the late 19th century, and Lobnitz & Co. was very successful with over 100 vessels supplied to contractors all over the world. a Lobnitz rock breaker as it proved to be cheaper and more effective than the alternative method of rock blasting by explosives. The cutters weigh between 6 and 22 tons and their special steel points penetrate the hardest rock. The Lobnitz patent underwater guide, in the form of a vertical tube enables the rock-breakers to work to depths of about 20 metres.
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John M. (2017) A Gallery of Early Canadian Dredges on the British Columbia Coast. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Dredges.php
Site News: April 19, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,229 vessel histories (with 15,629 images and 13,195 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).
In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!
My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.