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Burrard Dry Dock

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Coordinates: 49°18′32″N 123°04′46″W / 49.309000°N 123.0795°W / 49.309000; -123.0795

The remains of Burrard Dry Dock
The remains of Burrard Dry Dock
Women shop stewards at the Burrard Dry Dock in 1942
Women shop stewards at the Burrard Dry Dock in 1942

Burrard Dry Dock Ltd. was a Canadian shipbuilding company headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Together with the neighbouring North Van Ship Repair yard and the Yarrows Ltd. yard in Esquimalt, which were eventually absorbed, Burrard built over 450 ships, including many warships built and refitted for the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy in the First and Second World Wars.

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Geographic coordinate system

Geographic coordinate system

The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various spatial reference systems that are in use, and forms the basis for most others. Although latitude and longitude form a coordinate tuple like a cartesian coordinate system, the geographic coordinate system is not cartesian because the measurements are angles and are not on a planar surface.

North Vancouver (city)

North Vancouver (city)

The City of North Vancouver is a city on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. It is the smallest in area and the most urbanized of the North Shore municipalities. Although it has significant industry of its own – including shipping, chemical production, and film production – the city is considered to be a suburb of Vancouver. The city is served by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, British Columbia Ambulance Service, and the North Vancouver City Fire Department.

British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia, commonly abbreviated as BC, is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains, and borders the province of Alberta to the east, the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north, and the US states of Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of 5.3 million as of 2022, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria and its largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver is the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada; the 2021 census recorded 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver.

North Van Ship Repair

North Van Ship Repair

North Van Ship Repair, later known as Pacific Dry Dock was a shipyard in the city of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which built many of the Bangor-class minesweeper, Fort ships and Victory ships for Britain and Canada during World War II. Located just west of Lonsdale Avenue adjoining the Burrard Dry Dock, it was eventually absorbed into Burrard. The site was pulled down in the early 1980s and became the Lonsdale Quay and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) building.

Warship

Warship

A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are typically faster and more maneuverable than merchant ships. Unlike a merchant ship, which carries cargo, a warship typically carries only weapons, ammunition and supplies for its crew. Warships usually belong to a navy, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Navy

The Royal Canadian Navy is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submarines, 12 coastal defence vessels, eight patrol class training vessels, two offshore patrol vessels, and several auxiliary vessels. The RCN consists of 8,570 Regular Force and 5,100 Primary Reserve sailors, supported by 3,800 civilians. Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee is the current commander of the Royal Canadian Navy and chief of the Naval Staff.

History

  • 1894 – Alfred "Andy" Wallace begins building wooden fish boats at False Creek area of Vancouver, British Columbia.[1] These boatworks burned down in 1909 and was abandoned.
  • 1905 – Wallace Shipyards is incorporated. The following year the company establishes a new, larger shipyard at the foot of Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver.
  • 1911 – July 11, the shipyard is destroyed by fire but is immediately rebuilt.
  • 1914–18 – During the First World War, Wallace Shipyards is contracted to make shells for 18-pounder guns, then builds 6 large cargo schooners and 3 freighters – the first deep-sea steel-hulled ships built in Canada[2] – for the merchant marine. To build the wooden schooners, Number 2 Yard is established west of the Squamish Indian Band reserve (now the site of the North Shore Auto Mall). In 1917, Wallace leases Number 2 yard to the William Lyall Shipbuilding Company, which ultimately built 27 wooden ships there before it closes in 1920.
  • 1921 – Wallace Shipyards becomes Burrard Dry Dock Company. Four years later, the company installs the first floating drydock in Vancouver.
  • 1928 – Burrard Dry Dock builds the St. Roch, the first ship to travel the Northwest Passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, and the first ship to circumnavigate North America.
  • 1929 – Clarence Wallace becomes president following the death of his father Alfred.
  • 1940–45 – Burrard Dry Dock becomes the busiest Canadian shipyard during the Second World War, building 109 "Park" and "Fort" Liberty-class freighters, along with assorted corvettes, minesweepers and LSTs, and several Admiralty maintenance ships, such as the Beachy Head class. The company opens a second shipyard, South Yard, at the foot of McLean Avenue in Vancouver to help meet the wartime demand. Burrard Dry Dock also converts and outfits 19 escort carriers for the Royal Navy. Employment peaks at 14,000 workers, including 1,000 women.[3])
  • 1946 – Yarrows Ltd. of Esquimalt, BC is acquired from Yarrow Shipbuilders of the United Kingdom.
  • 1951 – The adjacent North Vancouver Ship Repairs shipyard is acquired.
  • 1967 – In a move to consolidate the shipbuilding industry on the Pacific Coast, Burrard Dry Dock acquires the assets of Victoria Machinery Depot in Victoria, British Columbia and immediately closes its shipyard.
  • 1972 – The Wallace family sells the shipyard to Cornat Industries, part of Vancouver-based and privately held Canadian Forest Products (Canfor) conglomerate.[4][5] The ship yards were consolidated and renamed Burrard-Yarrows Group, later Burrard Yarrows Corporation.[6]
  • 1982 – Panamax class drydock, related cranes, and machine shop are completed in North Vancouver.[7]
  • 1985 – Burrard-Yarrows Corporation becomes Versatile Pacific Shipyards
  • 1992 – Cancellation of the Polar 8 Project leads to bankruptcy of Versatile Pacific Shipyards. The North Vancouver shipyard is closed and the last employees are laid off. The floating drydocks along with support buildings at the eastern end of the shipyard are acquired by a new company, Vancouver Drydock, which is still in operation today.
  • 1993 – The Esquimalt shipyard closes. The following year its assets are taken over by Victoria Shipyard, which is now part of Seaspan Marine Corporation.
  • 1997 – City of North Vancouver study recommends mixed-use development on the site.
  • 2000 – Real estate developer Pinnacle International creates a plan for the site involving multiple condo towers, hotel, commercial space and public amenities. Three of the former shipyard buildings, two shipyard cranes and the stern and steam engines from the former HMS Flamborough Head (HMCS Cape Breton), which was built here in 1944, are to be preserved as part of the development.
  • 2006 – The City of North Vancouver announces a plan for a new National Maritime Museum of the Pacific with federal and provincial funding to be located on the property. The city also negotiates with Pinnacle International for increased density and building heights in return for approving development of the site and to make room for the museum.
  • 2010 – The National Maritime Museum project is shelved after the provincial government failed to commit funding. The continued vision for site, to be housed inside the former Machine Shop building, is for a resident and tourist destination including a regional attraction and supporting retail uses. The Machine Shop building is temporarily dismantled and removed during site construction, while the former Pipe Shop and Coppersmiths Shop have been restored for retail use. The shipyard cranes have been restored and now tower over the development, one above Shipyard Plaza and one above Craneway Plaza. Signs and dioramas around the site tell the history of the former shipyard.

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False Creek

False Creek

False Creek is a short narrow inlet in the heart of Vancouver, separating the Downtown and West End neighbourhoods from the rest of the city. It is one of the four main bodies of water bordering Vancouver, along with English Bay, Burrard Inlet, and the Fraser River. Granville Island is located within the inlet.

St. Roch (ship)

St. Roch (ship)

RCMPV St. Roch is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, the first ship to completely circumnavigate North America, and the second vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. She was the first ship to complete the Northwest Passage in the west to east direction, using the same route that Amundsen on the sailing vessel Gjøa had traversed east to west, 38 years earlier.

Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage (NEP). The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from Mainland Canada by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages, Northwestern Passages or the Canadian Internal Waters.

Clarence Wallace

Clarence Wallace

Clarence Wallace was a Canadian shipbuilder and the 18th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Park ship

Park ship

Park ships were merchant steamships constructed for Canada’s Merchant Navy during the Second World War. Park ships and Fort ships were the Canadian equivalent of the American Liberty ships. All three shared a similar design by J.L. Thompson and Sons of Sunderland, England. Fort ships had a triple expansion steam engine and a single screw propeller. Fort ships were ships transferred to the British government and the Park ships were those employed by the Canadian government, both had the similar design. Park ships were named after local and National Parks of Canada. A few Park ships were launched as "Camp ships", named after Canada military camps, but were quickly renamed after Parks. Jasper Park was the first Park ship lost to enemy attack, in the Indian Ocean after a torpedo attack from U-177 in the Indian Ocean, South of Durban, South Africa.

Liberty ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the Liberty ship came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output.

Beachy Head-class repair ship

Beachy Head-class repair ship

The Beachy Head-class repair ships were a class of 21 depot, maintenance and repair ships constructed for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All of the ships in the class were constructed in Canada of which only five served in British waters during the war. Based on a modified mercantile design, five of the class were completed as merchant vessels after the war's end. Following the war, the majority were converted for mercantile use, with a further two ships ending up in service with the Royal Canadian Navy and another with the Royal Air Force.

Escort carrier

Escort carrier

The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier, also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft carrier used by the Royal Navy, the United States Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II. They were typically half the length and a third the displacement of larger fleet carriers, slower, more-lightly armed and armored, and carried fewer planes. Escort carriers were most often built upon a commercial ship hull, so they were cheaper and could be built quickly. This was their principal advantage as they could be completed in greater numbers as a stop-gap when fleet carriers were scarce. However, the lack of protection made escort carriers particularly vulnerable, and several were sunk with great loss of life. The light carrier was a similar concept to the escort carrier in most respects, but was fast enough to operate alongside fleet carriers.

Victoria Machinery Depot

Victoria Machinery Depot

Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd. was a historic metalworks and shipyard in Victoria, Canada.

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The city of Victoria is the 7th most densely populated city in Canada with 4,405.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,411/sq mi).

Polar 8 Project

Polar 8 Project

The Polar 8 Project was a Canadian shipbuilding project intended to provide the Canadian Coast Guard with a large and heavy class icebreaker capable of operating year-round in the Northwest Passage. The project was developed as a means to assert Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic Ocean. It commenced in 1985 but was cancelled in 1990 while still in the final design stage. It was Canada's direct response to the unauthorized transit through the Northwest Passage in summer 1985 by USCGC Polar Sea, a United States Coast Guard icebreaker. Polar 8 refers the capability of the ship in ice of that thickness in feet, in this case 8 feet (2.4 m). Initiated in 1985, the vessel was never constructed and the project was cancelled in 1988.

Mixed-use development

Mixed-use development

Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some degree physically and functionally integrated, and that provides pedestrian connections. Mixed-use development may be applied to a single building, a block or neighborhood, or in zoning policy across an entire city or other administrative unit. These projects may be completed by a private developer, (quasi-) governmental agency, or a combination thereof. A mixed-use development may be a new construction, reuse of an existing building or brownfield site, or a combination.

Ships built

(for a complete list, see [8])

Gentleman's Yachts
  • MY Fifer 30m motor yacht 1939
Warships
Navy repair ships
Beachy Head-class repair ships
Coast Guard icebreakers
Canadian Government Ships fisheries patrol vessels
Coast Guard Research vessels
Coast Guard patrol vessels
RCMP auxiliary schooner
Ferries
Cargo liners

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HMCS Fraser (DDH 233)

HMCS Fraser (DDH 233)

HMCS Fraser was a St. Laurent-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces from 1957–1994. Fraser was the last survivor of the St. Laurent-class destroyer, which were the first Canadian designed and built warships.

HMCS Columbia (DDE 260)

HMCS Columbia (DDE 260)

HMCS Columbia was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1959 to 1974. Columbia was the seventh and final ship in her class and is the second Canadian naval unit to carry the name HMCS Columbia. Following her service, she was kept at Esquimalt in an altered condition, no longer capable of sailing. During the summer of 1974 she along with her sister ship HMCS Chaudiere served as the base of operations for the Esquimalt Sea Cadet Camp while being docked at the DND jetty in Colwood. This location was across the harbour from the main site of CFB Esquimalt. Columbia was sold for use as an artificial reef and sunk off the coast of British Columbia in 1996.

HMCS Cape Breton (ARE 100)

HMCS Cape Breton (ARE 100)

HMCS Cape Breton was a Royal Canadian Navy Cape-class maintenance ship. Originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Flamborough Head in 1944, she was transferred in 1952. Upon her commissioning she was the second ship to bear the name Cape Breton. She served operationally from 1953–1964, when she was laid up. She was used as a floating machine shop until the late-1990s, before being sold for use as an artificial reef off the coast of British Columbia.

Beachy Head-class repair ship

Beachy Head-class repair ship

The Beachy Head-class repair ships were a class of 21 depot, maintenance and repair ships constructed for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All of the ships in the class were constructed in Canada of which only five served in British waters during the war. Based on a modified mercantile design, five of the class were completed as merchant vessels after the war's end. Following the war, the majority were converted for mercantile use, with a further two ships ending up in service with the Royal Canadian Navy and another with the Royal Air Force.

CCGS George R. Pearkes

CCGS George R. Pearkes

CCGS George R. Pearkes is a Martha L. Black-class light icebreaker and buoy support vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard. Named for Victoria Cross-winner George Pearkes, the ship entered service in 1986. Initially assigned to Pacific region, the vessel transferred to the Quebec region. George R. Pearkes was assigned to her current deployment, the Newfoundland and Labrador region in 2004.

CCGS Henry Larsen

CCGS Henry Larsen

CCGS Henry Larsen is a Canadian Coast Guard Improved Pierre Radisson-class icebreaker serving in the Newfoundland and Labrador region and based in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Entering service in 1988, Henry Larsen is the fourth ship and of an improved design over the rest of the ships in her class. The ship operates in the Arctic Ocean during summer months.

CCGS Pierre Radisson

CCGS Pierre Radisson

CCGS Pierre Radisson is the lead ship of her class of icebreakers. Constructed and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, the vessel is based at Quebec City on the Saint Lawrence River. The ship was constructed in British Columbia in the 1970s and has been in service ever since. The vessel is named for Pierre-Esprit Radisson, a 17th-century French fur trader and explorer.

CCGS Terry Fox

CCGS Terry Fox

CCGS Terry Fox is a Canadian Coast Guard heavy icebreaker. She was originally built by Burrard-Yarrows Corporation in Canada in 1983 as part of an Arctic drilling system developed by BeauDril, the drilling subsidiary of Gulf Canada Resources. After the offshore oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea ended in the early 1990s, she was first leased and then sold to the Canadian Coast Guard.

CGS Kestrel

CGS Kestrel

CGS Kestrel was employed as a Government of Canada Fisheries Protection vessel on the Pacific Coast. Completed in 1899 by Alfred Wallace shipyards in Vancouver, British Columbia she entered into service in 1903 and remained in government service after the creation of the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910 until she was sold in 1912. The vessel was broken up in 1931.

CCGS Parizeau

CCGS Parizeau

CCGS Parizeau was a Canadian Coast Guard research vessel that served from 1967 to 2001. Initially serving on the West Coast of Canada from 1967 to 1991, in 1992, the ship transferred to the East Coast of Canada. Taken out of service in 2004, the ship was later sold and converted to a yacht and unsuccessfully used for drug smuggling as Destiny Empress.

CCGS Vector

CCGS Vector

CCGS Vector is a hydrographic survey vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship was constructed in Canada and entered service in 1967 as a coastal research vessel on the West Coast. The ship is currently in service, based at Canadian Coast Guard Base Patricia Bay in Sidney, British Columbia.

CCGS Gordon Reid

CCGS Gordon Reid

CCGS Gordon Reid is an offshore fisheries patrol vessel of the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel entered service in 1990 on the West Coast of Canada and is still in active service. In 2014, Gordon Reid responded to the distress signal of MV Simushur which had lost engine power off the coast of Haida Gwaii in British Columbia.

Ships repaired or refitted

Source: "Burrard Dry Dock", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 16th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrard_Dry_Dock.

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Further Reading

HMCS Yukon (DDE 263)

Yarrow Shipbuilders

HMCS Cape Breton (ARE 100)

Seaspan ULC

Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard

Davie Shipbuilding

SS Prince Rupert

HMCS Saguenay (DDH 206)

Victoria Harbour (British Columbia)

HMCS Saskatchewan (DDE 262)

Halifax Shipyard

HMCS Columbia (DDE 260)

HMCS Prince Rupert (K324)

DGS Naden
References
  1. ^ Francis Mansbridge, 2002. Launching History: The Saga of the Burrard Dry Dock. Harbour Publishing.
  2. ^ City of North Vancouver: How we Worked Retrieved June 13, 2011 Archived July 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ For King and Country: The wartime history of Burrard Dry Dock, North Vancouver. Retrieved June 13, 2011 Archived August 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ S.C. Heal, Memories of Burrard Dry Dock Company, Mariner Life, August 2007. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
  5. ^ M. Patricia Marchak, Green gold: the forest industry in British Columbia, UBC Press, 1983, p.103
  6. ^ Roland H. Webb, Burrard Drydock Co. Ltd.: The Rise and Demise of Vancouver's Biggest Shipyard, The Northern Mariner, Vol. Vi, 1996. Retrieved October 10, 2010
  7. ^ Roland H. Webb, Burrard Drydock Co. Ltd.: The Rise and Demise of Vancouver's Biggest Shipyard, The Northern Mariner, Vol. Vi, 1996. Retrieved October 10, 2010
  8. ^ Burrard Drydock, North Vancouver. Retrieved June 10, 2011 Archived August 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
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