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Captain Anthony Toxopeus

by John MacFarlane with Captain Tony Toxopeus 2021

Captain Tony Toxopeus

Captain Tony Toxopeus (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)

The marine world of British Columbia is populated with some truly fascinating characters. One name that keeps popping up for me is Captain Tony Toxopeus. I’ve never met him in person but have carried on an email correspondence for some years. He has authored a couple of articles in the Nauticapedia and contributes pictures for the database.

Captain Tony Toxopeus is a Licensed Master (500 GRT) with Transport Canada. He has served as Master (Captain) and Coxswain on numerous lifeboats, ships and Hovercraft. He also held a Dynamically Supported Craft Captains license Unlimited (Specialized certification high performance vessels including SWATH, Hovercraft, Air Cushion Vehicles, ACVs, Hydrofoils); He holds a United States Coast Guard Surfmans Certificate (Heavy Weather and Surf Operations) and a Canadian Coast Guard Coxswains Certificate. He spent more than ten years gaining experience and was a founding instructor at the Canadian Coast Guards Rigid Hull Inflatable Offshore Training School (RHIOT School). Overall he has more than 30+ years experience Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue B.C. Coastal waters on Rigid Hull Inflatables Lifeboats Ships and Hovercraft; He is currently an Accredited Marine Surveyor (SAMS 096) 1988 to the present

Klass Toxopeus

Captain Klaas Toxopeus (Photo from the Dirk Septer collection.)

In his own words he says, "My grandfather Anton, his brothers Mees and Klaas were all very involved in the KNRM (The Royal Dutch Rescue Company) Uncle Mees is actually credited with having developed the first self–righting lifeboat the Insulinde which was at the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam, (but I think she is now alongside at the KNRM Museum in Den Helder). The British argued about this and they claim that they developed a "self righter" one year earlier than the Dutch (I disagree on this point). This was the topic of many discussions when I represented Canada at the 175th anniversary of the KNRM. I was aboard the Insulinde, and it is a wonderful piece of marine engineering. It is built like a submarine, with her shafts built up into the hull which was ideal for dealing with the shallow rough seas off the coast of Holland. Klaas Toxopeus also wrote several books about the rescues that they completed titled Wild Water, Flying Storm and Omnibus. I was told that Flying Storm was actually required reading in grade 5 or 6, many years ago in the Netherlands. So my odd Greek name is actually quite well known in the Netherlands."

"My career in the CCG started with Capt. Pieter Kalis in 1979. I remember when I became Coxswain in Charge of the Bull Harbor Lifeboat (CCG 106). The first time I went over Nahwitti Bar at night to help a fishing vessel off Mexicana Point that was taking a beating so badly that her rails had been torn off the decks. It was a a really bad day on the bar, if my crew had only known how scared the Coxswain was when we laid her over past 90 degrees and the wheelhouse was partially underwater on the bar that night they would have quit. Those old steel 44 MLBss were great boats though and my confidence grew quickly. Bull Harbour was also one of the last transmitting 500kHz morse code stations (as VAG) and I was there the night they sent out her last Morse transmission. I used to love watching the radio operators keying away at an incredible speed, it was truly an art and something wonderful to witness."

Captain Pieter Kalis

Captain Pieter Kalis CCG (Photo from the Tony Toxopeus collection.)

In his own words he says, "I have been very lucky and had an amazing life with many great adventures at Sea. I started fishing on Draggers and Trollers around 17 years old then on a staysail schooner the Blackeyes as the Mate amd Divemaster. She had a moon pool and big JMAR air compressor and we used to take 12 to 20 divers out for weekends in the Gulf Islands on diving trips. That winter we took a group of 20 First Nations fisherman from Ahousat herring fishing with their skiffs in tow all the way from Nanaimo to the Queen Charlotte Islands."

"That Spring I heard the Canadian Coast Guard was hiring and found myself standing on the dock at Kitsilano CCG Base with a bag of cloths a toothbrush and my dive gear… In those days the Captain would hire the Seaman right off the dock as needed, I got lucky, I had a radio certificate, first aid ticket and I was a Diver, and the Captain told me to see the Oiler (Andy Johnson) and he would show me my bunk. That began an adventure / career in Search & Rescue that lasted 32 years. We fought fires, we scuba dived on capsized or sunken vessels looking for survivors, searched for missing boats, maintained navigational aids, worked on oil pollution incidents and we helped getting the CMRA volunteers organized and trained all over the BC Coast."

"Around 1985 or so a group of us "Coasties" from the Inshore Rescue Boat Program began developing and training the Coast Guards RHIOT School program in Bamfield B.C. A bunch of us "Young Salts" instructed there, fixed broken boats, and developed new ideas and gear. The School is now an internationally recognized and respected school teaching high performance rescue craft operations to the Coast Guard and many other agencies from numerous countries. The last 10 years of my career was spent mainly focused working as First Officer and Captain at the Hovercraft Units at Parksville and then Sea Island and on surveying boats on my days off."

"In 1988 I went to school at Chapmans School of Seamanship in Florida and became an Accredited Marine Surveyor (the first one with that qualification in Canada) that began a secondary career as a Marine Surveyor, I worked for a year as a Steamship Inspector in New Westminster after Captain Geoff Harris retired and then in the Vancouver office before I went back to the Coast Guard. They were getting the new AP–188 Hovercraft and I really wanted to get my license to drive them."

"I always worked on my days off surveying, fishing, tugs or whatever came up, just after Expo ’86 I had the privilege of helping out Sam Sullivan the soon to be Mayor of Vancouver getting the Disabled Sailing Association’s (DSA) boat going, it was a mess, I built a trailer, I rebuilt the boat and then we tested it with Brent Foote their first disabled sailor, (something I am very proud to have been a part of) it was the Disabled Sailing Association’s first boat that was a gifted from Margaret Thatcher to Rick Hansen. Now that program is a big deal and many disabled persons are getting out on the water almost everyday."

"I am still very active working as Marine Surveyor and delivery Captain, I just finished Surveying the Seiners Nordic Queen and Cape Knox II for Canfisco. During the Covid crisis I have been delivering many vessels between the USA and B.C. and just about every day I get to meet and help many great people and mariners, on just about anything that floats."

Captain Toxopeus states "CCGS Rider was considered to be the black sheep of the R–Class Cutters. The Rider was stationed at the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station in Vancouver, the CCGC Ready and CCGc Racer were stationed in Victoria at the old Transport Canada base under the Johnson street bridge. Crew changes were always a hustle and bustle affair at Kitsilano as we did not have the same support that the other two cutters had at the main CG Base, The Rider was different from the other cutters as we had large boat deck that we built without CCG permission in Lyall Harbor one summer. It had two swinging davits for the rescue boat and work boat, a Dutchman bar across the stern which replaced the teak taffrail. It was not pretty but made towing stricken vessels much easier."

CCGC Rider

CCGC Rider (Photo from the Tony Toxopeus collection.)

"The CCGC Rider had a state of the art ISIS room which was like a 1960s computer that was supposed to monitor the propulsion engines, the ISIS was usually the part of the ship that created problems when charging off to a rescue call, the turbo chargers would glow bright red and the alarms would start going off and the Chief Engineer would be pleading with the Captain that the "Dilithium Crystals were going to blow!" just like Scotty on the Starship Enterprise. We shipped out two weeks on then two weeks off and would usually circle Vancouver Island, follow the fishing fleet around the mid coast and occasionally off to the Queen Charlottes."

"The crews consisted of 12 back then a Master, Mate, four Seaman (two were Divers) the Chief Engineer, 2nd Engineer and two Oilers, the all important Cook and we even carried a Steward in those days who served meals and took care of the beds in the Officers cabins. The cook set the mood for the trip… bad cook long trip, a good cook made the trips much easier to enjoy. Three crewman in each aft cabin shared small cabins about 7’ by 12’ so you had to be very good sharing space with others. The crew cabins were right on top of the propeller shafts so you always knew what was going on even when you were sleeping. The ships primary task was Search and Rescue, but we also spent quite a bit of time repairing aids to navigation, and confirming buoy positions with horizontal sextant angles before GPS took that task away."

He reflects on his career. "When I was young I never planned to have a career in the CCG but I had no choice to go to sea, that was inevitable it was in the blood. My 32 year career was almost exclusively search and rescue work – something I am proud of and enjoyed. Rough seas were my favorite rescues, it’s always a challenge, and that’s when it really felt like you had been able to help someone who wasn’t likely going to make it home."


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John and Captain Anthony Toxopeus. Nauticapedia.ca 2021. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Toxopeus.php

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