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Clarence Edgar Carver Early Coastal Radio Man

by John MacFarlane (with Roy E. Carver) 2021

Clarence Edgar Carver

Clarence Edgar Carver (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

Roy E. Carver responded to my request about his Dad, Clarence Carver, who had been an early Pacific coastal radio operator. Roy E. Carver (in an email to me) stated "My father, Clarence Edgar Carver, emigrated to Canada (Victoria) from England as a boy, in 1913, with his father and an older brother. His mother and younger brother came out later."

He developed a passion for radio, and taught himself by building the radio components, and constructing and using one of the first amateur radios in Victoria. (His 1930s call sign was VE5EL). He owned a locksmith and small engine repair store in Victoria. He formed and played in a dance band. With his father, he started one of the first jitney services (taxi) in Victoria."

VE5EJ

The QSL card for station VE5EL used by Clarence Carver to acknowledge radio contacts made with other amateur radio stations. (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

Clarence joined the West Coast Radio Service, and he was posted up and down the Pacific coast in the 1920s, traveling on CPR ships and living and operating radio stations at remote locations. He was the first radio operator in 1923 at the station on Lennard Island. When that station closed, he assisted George Gilbert in the laying of a submarine telephone cable from Lennard Island to the Tofino Life Boat Station. He worked at the Tofino Life Boat station as the radio operator until 1925.".

In 1925–1927 he served at the Alert Bay Radio Station (VAF) as a Radio Operator.

Alert Bay Radio Station

The Alert Bay Radio Station (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

Alert Bay Radio Station

The operating console at Alert Bay Radio Station (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

Alert Bay Radio Station

The engine room at the Alert Bay Radio Station (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

Alert Bay Radio Station

A tramway was employed to carry goods from the waterfront up the hill to the station. (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

Later in 1929 Clarence decided to sign on to the Empress of Asia and did a few trans–Pacific voyages to the Philippines and Japan as a Marconi Operator. (The Marconi Company had the monopoly on operating radios on deep sea ships at the time.) He also worked for the British Columbia Telephone company in 1930 and worked at the Bamfield Cable Station."

In 1931 with the economy taking a major downturn Clarence decided he needed a job to see him through the hard times, so applied to be a light station keeper. He was accepted and assigned to the Quatsino Sound Light Station (at Kains Island) in the fall of 1933. He had his amateur radio station (ham radio) with him (call sign VE5RN)."

Kains Island Light

Kains Island Light (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

The building to the right of the main building is a utility shed, buildings to the left is the machinery building and the radio shack. Kains island is about 35 acres, with a very rocky shore line making it extremely difficult to land at any time. The light was 90 feet off the water and could be seen at about 15 miles. The light was a kerosene lamp with a large glass reflector assembly sitting in mercury in a basin, turned with a gear, by a hand wound spring that needed to be wound up twice a night to keep the lamp turning (similar to an old wind up record player).

The fog horn was blown by compressed air made by two sets of gasoline engines powering compressors keeping a large air tank full with compressed air. The horn was blown at set intervals by an air operated timing devise. There was no electricity in the main build or running water. There was a gasoline pressure lamp, kerosene lamps and candles. There was a cast iron water pump at the kitchen sink which the brought water up from a cistern below the floor where rain water was piped into it from the roof. A coal burning stove in the kitchen supplied the heat and the cooking. Father had radios that allowed communication between ships and the RCAF base at Coal Harbour, 15 miles away.

There was no flat ground in and around the station and most of the island, three 2 x 12 plank side walks allowed him to walk between the buildings and the approximately one quarter mile to the landing site, where there was a derrick that allowed the station boat to be put in the water, weather permitting. This is where the supply ship CGS Estevan brought ashore (once a year) supplies and goods for the keeper and family, dozens of cases of canned goods, and groceries. This was stored in a large warehouse building above the landing. Also 45 gallon drums of gasoline and lube oil for the machinery, and kerosene for the lamps. Also a few tons of coal was brought ashore, stored in large bins next to the warehouse for heat and cooking. The drums and any lumber was usually floated ashore. The rest was loaded in the Estevan’s 20 foot shore boat with the ship’s derrick, rowed ashore by four men on oars with a coxswain aft and a man forward to connect the landing derrick hook to the load. Often a cargo net lifted the stores out of the shore boat, onto the landing. From the landing all items would be loaded on to a rail trolley, pulled up by a gasoline motor/winch and then stored in a warehouse. All this was this was wheeled by hand cart over the board walk to the main building as needed. This transfer of goods from the Estevan often lasted two to three days and longer if the weather was bad. It was not unusual to stop the transfer and wait out a summer storm for a day or two.

In the late spring of 1934 Clarence’s fiance arrived at the station from Victoria and they were married at the station, a minister a friend and an RCMP constable attending from Port Alice. In July of 1935 a son was born in Victoria, in a nursing home on Cook Street. In May of 1938 a daughter was born in the Port Alice mill hospital. Occasionally the family would make trips to Vancouver and Victoria, traveling on the Union and CPR steam ships that traveled up and down the East and West coast of Vancouver Island."

Active Pass light

Active Pass Light (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

In 1940 Clarence developed an abscess in the left eyelid. On visits to doctors over time in Victoria no one knew how to treat the worsening ailment. So he asked for a transfer to a station location where it would be easier to see doctors. In 1944 he and the family was transferred in the C.G.S. Estevan (a buoy tender and light station supply ship) to the Active Pass light station (on Mayne Island) that allowed him to get off the island once a week to go to Victoria. It was a big change for the family, the C.G.S. Berens (buoy tender and light station supply ship) only supplied supplies and materials for the light station. Anything the family needed was obtained in the two stores on the island, plus items could be ordered and shipped in by steamer to the island. And there was a school for the children.

Lampson Street Station

Clarence’s final amateur radio station while living on Lampson Street in Esquimalt BC. (Photo from the Roy E. Carver collection.)

Over the years the abscess got much worse as the doctors couldn’t help him. In the spring of 1947 Clarence retired to property in Saanich BC and he passed away in the fall of 1949 from cancer in the left eye, which went to his brain."


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (with Roy E. Carver) (2021) Clarence Carver – Early Coastal Radio Man. Nauticapedia.ca 2021. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Carver_Clarence.php

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