Ship Details

Ballena (I)

Vessel image

Photo Credit: Vancouver Public Library VPL30295

 
 
Registry #1 100635 (Canada) Registry #2 Registry #3
IMO# MMSI# VRN#
 
Name 1 1892 Joan (II) Name 6
Name 2 1914 Ballena (I) Name 7
Name 3 Name 8
Name 4 Name 9
Name 5 Name 10
 
Year Built 1892 Place Haney Area BC Country Canada
 
Designer (nk) Measurement (imp) 176.6' x 30.9' x 11'
Builder Albion Boat Works Ltd. Measurement (metric) ?m x ?m x ?m
Hull Wood Displacement
Gross Tonnage 869 Type 1 Passenger Vessel
Registered Tonnage 577 Type 2
Engine 85hp compound 2-cylinder steam engine (1892) Engine Manufacture Albion Iron Works, Victoria BC
Repower Propulsion Twin Screw
Rebuilds Call Sign
Pendant  # Masters Captain Locke; Captain Ritchie (1892); Captain James E. Butler; Captain Wilson D. Owen; Captain John C. Foote (1903);
 
Owner(s)
In 1892-1901 she was owned by Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railwy Co. of Victoria BC she was owned by Robert Dunsmuir. In 1905 she was taken over by Canadian Pacific Railway Steamship Services. In 1905 she was put on the Vancouver - Nanaimo service. In 1914-1917 she was owned by Terminal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1922-1931 she was owned by Vancouver Dredging & Salvage Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC.
 
Fate Registry closed Date 0000-00-00
 
Named Features
Significance of Name
 
Anecdotes
100635 On November 13, 1920 this vessel was destroyed by fire out at CPR Pier H in Vancouver BC when early in the morning a fire was discovered by Marine Fireman, Lawrence Smith in the engine room caused by a 'blow-back'. Captain Larson, the night watchman, awakened a dozen of the sleeping crew who managed to escape safely over the bow to the dock. But four of the men were forced toward the stern eventually hanging off in a perilous state to escape the heat. Unexpectedly, a line handler, W.C. Hastings, accompanied by H.B. Hammersley, on his boat appeared at the stern and rescued the men. Hastings was awaiting the arrival of a liner at Brockton Point when he saw the conflagration and proceeded over to see if there was something he could do. this was a brave act as the fire had become intense and there was burning oil on the water. The Chief Engineer, Alex Perrie, had been asleep but made his way to the engine room through the smoke to start the pumps to try to save the vessel and had them working before he was driven out by the fire. Smith, the Fireman, tried to get his clothes before evacuating and was killed (perhaps suffocated by the smoke). The fire spread to the Bowena, laying alongside, which was damaged by her proximity to the fire. The Ballena sank at the wharf The Ballena was salvaged and later broken up by Vancouver Dredging & Salvage Co.
 
References
Transportation Safety Board of Canada (1993); Canada List of Shipping; Canada List of Shipping (1898); Wilson, Hill (2005) The Marine Pilots of Canada's West Coast; The Province (Vancouver BC) Saturday November 13 1920 page 1;
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