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Fish Camp Disaster at Sooke BC
by John MacFarlane and Douglas MacFarlane 2017
Nelson Brothers Fisheries Ltd. barge being towed by tug Demac II from Becher Bay (Photo by Irving Strickland from the Victoria Times 08/1967. )
Nelson Brothers Fisheries Ltd. fish camp being moved ashore. (Photo from the Douglas MacFarlane collection. )
A two storey fish camp owned by Nelson Brothers Fisheries Ltd. fell off a barge and sank in water 100 metres off shore. Captain Douglas MacFarlane took out his tug Demac II and salvaged the structure. He towed it slowly and gently to shore and into shallow water in Becher Bay BC. At low tide it was repaired and pulled onto dry land. It was reloaded onto a barge and resumed its voyage to Port Renfrew BC.
Captain Douglas MacFarlane 2015 (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection. )
Douglas MacFarlane was born in Sooke BC in 1927. He is the son of the well-kmnown marine engineer Arthur Francis MacFarlane and Annie Elaine Hill (who settled the land at Milnes Landing on the banks of the Sooke River). He was a tug skipper towing logs in and around Sooke Harbour BC 1955-1995. When the Lamford Forest Products mill in Sooke closed his harbour towing business also closed. He is currently (2017) a retired resident at Milne's Landing near Sooke BC. He is very knowledgeable and a long time enthusiast for the logging and towing heritage of the west coast of Vancouver Island and a great supporter of the Sooke Museum.
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John M. and Douglas MacFarlane (2017) The MacFarlane Tug Boaters at Sooke BC. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/MacFarlane_Sooke.php
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