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The Golden Spruce

by John MacFarlane 2022

Golden Spruce

The Golden Spruce (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)

The Golden Spruce was built in 1950 by John Manly Ltd. at New Westminster BC Canada. In 1971 she was renamed as Haida Yarder, then in 2004c as North Coast Yarder and finally in 2010c as Rapid Hawk. 29.2’ x 11.1’ x 5.6’ (8.90m x 3.38m x 1.71m) steel hulled 9.78gt 6.65rt. She was powered by a 275hp engine by Cummins Engine Co., Columbus IL USA. She was later re–powered by a 220bhp diesel engine.

Golden Spruce

The Golden Spruce (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)

In 1950–1959 she was owned by Kelly Logging Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1959–1966 she was owned by Alice Lake Logging Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1966–1970 she was owned by Martin Paper Bags Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1971–1972 she was owned by Frederick J. Whitcroft, Vancouver BC. In 1973–1978 she was owned by W.H. Cudmore, Vancouver BC. In 1979–1985 she was owned by Mitchell Island Towing Ltd., Port Coquitlam BC. In 1986 she was owned by Inter Island Piledriving Ltd., Pender Island BC. In 1987–1989 she was owned by Pacific Pile Driving Ltd., Sidney BC. In 1990–1999 she was owned by Logex Trading Ltd., Terrace BC. In 2001 she was owned by Fraser River Pile & Dredge (NWT) Ltd., New Westminster BC. In 2003 she was owned by Auchter Trucking Ltd., Skidegate BC. In 2004 she was owned by North Coast Log Handling Ltd., Terrace BC. In 2010–2018 she was owned by the Rapid Towing Co. Ltd., Nanaimo BC. (Her Canadian Register closed in 2018.)

Simon Hill (Email to Nauticapedia 07/02/2019) notes that "Note that the Rapid Hawk, (ON 193512), was actually scrapped in 2016. So although she was still in the register she was already scrapped. When the vessel was scrapped in 2016, its aluminum wheelhouse was saved and transferred to the Exporter, (ON 327814), replacing the Exporter’s plywood wheelhouse. Presumably the wheelhouse was a refitted unit.":


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (2022) The Golden Spruce. Nauticapedia.ca 2022. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Golden_Spruce.php

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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