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The Original Uchuck

by John MacFarlane 2019

The Uchuck (ON 154652) at anchor with an excellent view of her tender. (Photo by Cyril Tweedale.)

Cyril Tweedale, took photographs and saved them in family albums which were recently sent to me. They each tell short stories of the British Columbia coast.

In 1928 she was built in Vancouver BC as the Uchuck, later re–named in 1941 as the Surfco and then in 1945 as Columbia. 38.3’ x 11.0’ x 5.6’ steel–hulled 117gt 11rt. In 1938 she was rebuilt to 47.6’ x 11.3’ x 5.6’ 24gt 16rt. In 1940 she was rebuilt to 50.1’ x 11.4’ x 5.6’ 22gt 15rt.

In 1928 she was owned by The Packers Steamship Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1935 she was owned by British Columbia Packers Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1936 she was owned by Richard Dorritt, Port Alberni BC. In 1941 she was owned by Surf Inlet Consolidated Mines Ltd. (NPL), Vancouver BC. In 1943–1945 she was owned by Ethelbert D. Stone, Vancouver BC. In 1945–1954 she was owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, Montreal QC. In 1958 she was owned by Ivan Horie, Castlegar BC.

To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (2019) The Original Uchuck. Nauticapedia.ca 2019. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Uchuck.php

Site News: April 17, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,205 vessel histories (with 15,628 images and 13,173 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.

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