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The F.D. 3

by John MacFarlane and Pat Simon 2017

F.D. 3 (owned by George Quocksister) when she had a blue hull. (Photo from the Pat Simon collection.)

In 1944 she was built at Nanaimo BC by Newcastle Ship Building Co. Ltd. She was built as R.C.A.F. Stuart; then Stuart; then F.D. 3; then Northern Mist. 16.64m x 4.88m x 2.10m (54.6' x 16.0' x 6.9') Wooden hull 44.37gt 17rt. She was pwoered by a 180hp engine (1944) and repowered by a 220bhp diesel engine.

Northern Mist summer of 1997 (Photo from the Pat Simon collection.)

In 1943-1944 she was acquired by the RCAF for service with the Western Air Command Marine Squadron based at Vancouver BC. In 1944-1973 she was owned by The Minister of Fisheries, Ottawa ON. In 1974-1988 she was owned by George Quocksister, Campbell River BC. In 1989-1995 she was owned by James Walkus, Nanoose Bay BC. In 1997-2017 she was owned by Gary E. Simon and Patricia Simon, Delta BC.

Northern Mist with new superstructure 2013 (Photo from the Pat Simon collection.)

As an RCAF vessel she was based at Western Air Command, Vancouver, BC.

To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John M. and Pat Simon (2017) The F.D. 3. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/FD3.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.

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