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The R.F.M.

by Drew Clarke and John MacFarlane 2017

The RFM (Photo from the Drew Clarke collection.)

The R.F.M. was built in 1922 at Beach Avenue Shipyard (Arthur Moscrop) Vancouver BC as the T.G.H., later R.F.M., later Francis Lynn II, later Brora Thor, later Merrie Ellen. She is 23.1m x 6m x 3m (75.9’ x 19.8’ x 12.4’) wooden hull 96.47gt 64.04rt. She was powered with a 33hp 3–cylinder triple expansion surface condensing steam engine by W. Beardmore & Company, Coatbridge UK. Over the years she was repowered with 300hp engine (1945); 300bhp Imperial engine (1968); 90bhp CAT diesel engine (1988c).

The R.F.M. (Photo from the Drew Clarke collection.)

In 1922–1958 she was owned by Marpole Towing Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1960–1961 she was owned by Evans Coleman & Evans, Vancouver BC. In 1962 she was owned by Bert Booth, Port Coquitlam BC. In 1965–1968 she was owned by George W. O’Brien, New Westminster BC. In 1968 she was owned by Ante Bakica, Vancouver BC. In 1969 she was owned by Lady Valentine Charters, Vancouver BC. In 1976–1979 she was owned by Wayne M. Pinkeston (MO), Vancouver BC. In 1982–1999 she was owned by Brian W. Holshoe, New Westminster BC and registered at Vancouver BC. In 2000 she was owned by Ralph I. Higgins, Cowichan Bay BC. In 2005 she was owned by Curtis Forsyth, Lac La Hache BC. In 2007–2017 she was owned by John & Jill Holbert, Brinnin WA USA.

The R.F.M. (Photo from the Drew Clarke collection.)

This vessel spent the first part of her life as a tugboat, named for Richard Friedrich Marpole. In 1988 she was rebuilt as a schooner by Brian Holshoe.

To quote from this article please cite:

Clarke, Drew and John MacFarlane (2017) The R.F.M.. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/RFM.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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