| In 1930 this vesselwent ashore at the Lions Gate during a fog. In 1939 this vessel was used for towing logs on Fraser River for several years. In 1948 this vessel towed the largest Davis raft ever to pass under the Second Narrows Bridge (raft of cedar from Kelley Logging Co., QCI). On September 9, 1964 this vessel collided with and sank the US seiner Ozzie R., owned by Parr Reece, Seattle WA, in the Gulf of Georgia during the summer fishing season. In 1972 Captain Bill Dolmage and Les Withey towed concrete caissons to Jedway Mines, Port McNeil BC. In 1980 the federal Government gave a grant of $550,000 to the Ivanhoe Heritage Foundation, Vancouver BC. The Foundation spent $750,000 restoring the vessel. In 1998 the housework was rebuilt and extended as the kayaker mothership for a summer lodge in Nootka Sound BC. Robert Hanna reports (Email 23/12/2014) that Ron Smith told him that "Ivanhoe was built for Kingcome Navigation in 1907 to tow booms to the mill at Powell River. Engine from Ivanhoe went into the Moresby in 1937, triple expansion, original engines in Moresby & Massett were too small. Massett & Moresby built by Dawe Shipyards on Lulu Island 1917 for the Imperial Munitions Board. After WWI sold to Dominion Tug & Barge. M. R. Cliff tugboat company bought Moresby and Masset from DTB in 1930s, and Burrard Shipyard & Engineering Works on West Georgia did conversion in 1937 (as per photos). A Union 560hp 6 cylinder diesel was put into the Ivanhoe, and is still in her presumably. Burrard Ironworks was agent for Union Engines. Remains of Moresby are in Green Bay on Nelson Island in Jervis Inlet. Vandale Logging bought Masset & Moresby after Cliff was bought out by Rivtow, who would not run steam tugs. In mid to late 1950s Ivanhoe/Moresby engine probably sold for scrap by Vandale when Moresby was converted to floating camp. Don Napier and couple of others had shares in Ivanhoe in 1960s or 1970s sold to someone who added to housework to try to do fishing charters. On display at Expo, engine torn apart. Burrard put it together again, owners couldn’t pay, Ivanhoe was seized. Some group cruised around as an art gallery at one point, now possibly tied up at Allied." Kyle Stubbs (British Columbia Nautical History Facebook Group 18/02/2017) reports that "this vessel was broken up in 2016 at Arrow Marine Services, Richmond BC." John Dolmage (British Columbia Nautical History Facebook Group 28/04/2020) stated "The original owner went broke when the boat was new and Powell River Pulp & Paper Co. bought her to tow spruce booms out of Kingcome Inlet at the beginning and that’s how Kingcome Navigation came about! this vessel was never owned by another towing company after Kingcome. Les Withey, Don Napier and then I lost track of her owners after them. M&B wanted to get rid of her when they took over in ‘63 but Dad wouldn’t agree and made sure this vessel got the good easy, money making jobs. There was a stipulation though which M&B made which was no more was to be spent on her than normal maintenance cost and Dad knew her stern was getting very soft and was trying to figure how to rebuild the stern but hide the costs somewhere else. Well one day Ivanhoe was running light out of the Harbour and a deep sea ship ran into her stern so the ships insurance paid for the whole stern to be rebuilt, Fad retired in May of ‘71 and the Ivanhoe cracked a cylinder head in Teakern Arm in I think late June. They had the same Union sitting in the parking lot which had come out of the Kingcome the year before but that was enough for the penny pushers to tie her up and sell her off. This vessel was a good log tower and the guys loved working on her and kept her polished and painted to the nines always. Lots of brass on her too!" In 2023 Jeanette Holden of Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge to Barbara Liska stated "No unfortunately no we don’t have it anymore. Now camp is fully built out I believe the boat is no longer afloat as we named the bar the Ivanhoe after the boat and numerous parts from the boat have been used for the Lodge i.e. porthole windows are now in the guest toilets and the anchor is left on the front lawn outside the Cookhouse as a decoration piece." Norm Jones (Email to Nauticapedia 26/02/2024) stated "My brother Buddy Jones was captain for Kingcome for many years. He was the last captain of Ivanhoe from 1965 to 1970 when she was retired from service for Kingcome. One of Dolmage's stories is inaccurate. He claims the Ivanhoe towed the concrete from Jedway to Port McNeill in 1972. That is incorrect. MacMillan Bloedel moved their operation from Port Hardy to Port McNeill in 1973. I was contracted to build the stiff legs for the booming ground at that time. In early August the tug Active came in with the concrete which was to be a breakwater. What it had been before going to Jedway was part of a highway in Seattle WA." |
