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The Wreck of the C.C.G.C. Rider

by Nick Newell 2014

Rider

CCGC Rider (Photo from the CCG collection. )

In 1989 my ship’s log for the Lemuria shows we rounded Solander Island south bound in heavy seas, est. 22 foot waves – blowing NW 35 knots, gusting to 54. Running before the wind, Lemuria with a hull speed of 8 knots, was surfing at 15 knots. My crew and I pulled into Columbia Cove on the Brooks Peninsula (west coast of Vancouver Island BC) at 11:25 AM to get out of the wind storm and discovered the wreck of the Rider on the rocks at the entrance. It looked like the boat had been beached there intentionally and someone was going to return to refloat her.

Rider

The view from the wrecked Rider’s wheel house. (Photo from the Nick Newell collection. )

Later when I returned to Vancouver I heard she had been sold to a logging company to be used as a floating camp. While being towed to a new location the tow line parted during a storm and the boat could not be recovered.

Marine historian Clay Evans recalls, "I would say the Rider was wrecked around 1989. I sailed in her about 1982. She was the former Fisheries Patrol Vessel Hunter Point. Because she sat for a couple of years and deteriorated somewhat before being transferred to the fledgling CCG, she was always the black sheep of the R–Class fleet. Unlike the CCGC Ready and CCGC Racer, she never received a mid–life refit and re–engined (this may have been the point when it was decided to sell her). I last remember seeing her across from Esperanza about 1989 when I was working on the Ready. She had been purchased by some hand–loggers who were using her as a bunkhouse and if memory serves me right, they had actually tied a high–line to the old tow post aft and were slinging logs down the hill–side towards her. I believe it was these same chaps that were trying to tow her, possibly around Brooks Peninsula, to a new logging site when they lost the tow and she ran aground.".

Rider

That afternoon we went to explore the wreck, she appeared to be a fairly ‘fresh’ wreck – no barnacles growing on her. (Photo from the Nick Newell collection. )

Built as the Hunter Point she was part of the Canada Department of Fisheries 1963–1969, Ottawa ON before being taken over by the Canadian Coast Guard.

In 1969–1979, renamed as the Rider she was owned by the Minister of Transport (for Canadian Coast Guard), Ottawa ON. She was renamed as the 500 and sold. In 1995–2004 she was owned by Coast Cone Logging Ltd., Vancouver BC.

Rider

The Rider as we found her on the beach. There was evidence of a parted tow line on the bow. The wreck had been stripped and the name had been painted over but through the paint we could see the name Rider Inside the engines were still there but the heads had been stripped off, most of the interior had been removed as well. There was a large crack in the hull along her keel maybe twenty feet long and six inches wide in places. I was surprised to see the props were still on the shafts but I think both the rudders were gone.(Photo from the Nick Newell collection. )

Rider

The wreck is slowly disintegrating, most likely from punishing winter storms. It will soon disappear altogether. (Photo from the Google Earth collection. )

Here is a link to Nick Newell’s video of the wreck


To quote from this article please cite:

Newell, Nick (2014) The Wreck of the C.C.G.C. Rider Nauticapedia.ca 2014. http://nauticapedia.ca/Articles/Rider_Wreck.php

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