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The Tug Boat C.G.S. Petrel
by John MacFarlane 2018
The Petrel (Photo from Nauticapedia collection. )
In 1906 she was built by the Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd. at Victoria BC. 86.4’ x 17’ x 12.3’ steel hulled 134gt 58rt She was powered by 23rhp compound 2’cylinder steam engine built by the Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd.
The Petrel with a spoil barge. (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )
In 1906–1933 she was owned by The Minister of Public Works, Ottawa ON. In 1934 she was owned by Herman Thorsen, Vancouver BC. In 1939–1943 she was owned by Canadian Tugboat Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1946–1952 she was sold to Coastal Tugboat Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC.
The Petrel in Victoria Harbour. (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )
In 1906 she was in service as the tug attached to dredge Ajax. In c1907 she foundered in Ladysmith Harbour but was later refloated.
Detail of the stern of the Petrel while on the shipyard ways. (Photo courtesy of the MMBC. )
On December 28th, 1952 she left Vancouver for the booming ground at Gowlland Harbour with threatening weather. She sailed up the Georgia Strait and approached Cape Mudge around midnight in a southeast gale with flood tide from the north. The sea overwhelmed the tug and on December 29th, 1952 and she foundered and sank in turbulent waters off Cape Mudge Quadra Island BC. (Seven lives were lost.)
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John M. (2018) The Tug Boat C.G.S. Petrel. Nauticapedia.ca 2018. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Petrel.php
Site News: April 24, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,289 vessel histories (with 15,634 images and 13,293 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.