Burrard Dry Dock
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
shipbuilding company headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia (city)
North Vancouver, British Columbia (city)
The City of North Vancouver is a waterfront municipality on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, directly across from Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the smallest of the three North Shore municipalities, and the most urbanized as well...
. Together with the neighboring North Van Ship Repair
North Van Ship Repair
North Van Ship Repair, later known as Pacific Dry Dock was a shipyard in North Vancouver, British Columbia which built many of the Bangor class minesweepers and Victory ships for Britain and Canada during World War II. Located just west of Lonsdale Avenue adjoining the Burrard Dry Dock, it was...
yard and the Yarrows Ltd. yard in Esquimalt
Esquimalt, British Columbia
The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the...
, which were eventually absorbed, Burrard built over 450 ships, including many warships built and refitted for the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
in the First and Second World Wars.
History
- 1894 - Alfred "Andy" Wallace begins building wooden fish boats at False CreekFalse CreekFalse Creek is a short inlet in the heart of Vancouver. It separates downtown from the rest of the city. It was named by George Henry Richards during his Hydrographic survey of 1856-63. Science World is located at its eastern end and the Burrard Street Bridge crosses its western end. False Creek is...
area of Vancouver, British Columbia. This 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 gunsOrdnance QF 18 pounderThe Ordnance QF 18 pounder, or simply 18-pounder Gun, was the standard British Army field gun of the World War I era. It formed the backbone of the Royal Field Artillery during the war, and was produced in large numbers. It was also used by British and Commonwealth Forces in all the main theatres,...
, then builds 6 large cargo schooners and 3 freighters - the first deep-sea steel-hulled ships built in Canada - 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 PassageNorthwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, and the first ship to circumnavigate North America. - 1929 - Clarence WallaceClarence WallaceClarence Wallace was a Canadian shipbuilder and the 18th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he fought in World War I and was wounded at Ypres. After the war, he became the president of his father's business, Burrard Dry Dock...
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"Park shipPark Ships were merchant steamships constructed for Canada’s Merchant Navy during World War II. Park ships were the Canadian equivalent of the American Liberty Ships and the British Fort ships. All three shared a similar design by J.L...
and "Fort" LibertyLiberty shipLiberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
-class freighters, along with assorted corvettes, minesweepers and LSTs, and several Admiralty maintenance ships. 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. ) - 1946 - Yarrows Ltd. of Esquimalt, BC is acquired from Yarrow ShipbuildersYarrow ShipbuildersYarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...
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 DepotVictoria Machinery DepotVictoria Machinery Depot Ltd. was a ship builder located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.This was a historic metalworks and shipyard in Victoria, Canada. From the late 1850s on, with the Fraser Canyon and Cariboo Gold Rushes British Columbia was dependent upon Californian supplies and ships...
in Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria, British ColumbiaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
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. The ship yards were consolidated and renamed Burrard-Yarrows Group, later Burrard Yarrows Corporation.
- 1982 - Panamax class drydock, related cranes, and machine shop are completed in North Vancouver.
- 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, 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.
Ships built
(for a complete list, see )Gentleman's Yachts
- M.Y. Fifer
Warships
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Navy Repair Ships
HMS Flamborough Head
Coast Guard icebreakers
- CCGS George R. PearkesCCGS George R. PearkesThe CCGS George R. Pearkes is a light icebreaker and buoy support vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard.George R. Pearkes is a High Endurance Multi-Tasked Vessel Light Icebreaker and Buoy tender. She was built in 1986 by Versatile Pacific Shipyards Limited of Vancouver, BCGeorge Pearkes' home port is St...
- CCGS Henry LarsenCCGS Henry LarsenCCGS Henry Larsen is a Canadian Coast Guard T1200 Class Medium Arctic icebreaker serving in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region and based in St John's, Newfoundland....
- CCGS Pierre RadissonCCGS Pierre RadissonThe CCGS Pierre Radisson is a T1200 Class Medium Arctic and Gulf icebreaker of the Canadian Coast Guard.She is designated as a "Medium Gulf Icebreaker. Her winter home port is Quebec City at the mouth of the St Lawrence River in the Gulf of St...
- CCGS Terry FoxCCGS Terry FoxCCGS Terry Fox is a Canadian Coast Guard Heavy Gulf icebreaker.Named after the late cancer research activist Terry Fox, the vessel was built in 1983 as MV Terry Fox by Burrard Yarrows Corporation in Vancouver, British Columbia. Terry Fox, along with her sister ship MV Arctic Kalvik supported Gulf...
Coast Guard Research vessels
- CCGS ParizeauCCGS ParizeauCCGS Parizeau was a Canadian Coast Guard Ship that served as an Offshore Research and Survey Vessel from 1966 to 2001.-Construction:Named for Canadian Hydrographic Service hydrographer Henri Dalpe Parizeau, she was built at Burrard Dry Dock, North Vancouver in 1966 and was commissioned as CSS...
- CCGS VectorCCGS VectorThe CCGS Vector is a Hydrographic Survey Vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard.She was built in 1965 in Yarrows Shipyard in Victoria, British Columbia and is station at Canadian Coast Guard Base Patricia Bay in Sidney, British Columbia...
Coast Guard patrol vessels
- CCGS Gordon ReidCCGS Gordon ReidThe CCGS Gordon Reid is a Mid-shore Patrol Vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard. She operates on Canada's West Coast with a home port of Patricia Bay, British Columbia...
- CCGS Martha L. BlackCCGS Martha L. BlackCCGS Martha L. Black of the Canadian Coast Guard fleet was built in 1986 in Vancouver by Versatile Pacific Shipyards Limited. This ship was part of the CG Program Vessels and was mainly designed as a high-endurance and multi-tasked boat. Her crew is composed of 25 members of the Canadian Coast...
RCMP Auxiliary Schooner
St. Roch
Ferries
- Hull 309 MV Queen of Tsawwassen - The second vessel built for BC Ferries
- Hull 311 MV Queen of Vancouver
- Hull 320 MV Queen of the IslandsQueen of the IslandsM/V Queen of the Islands was a RORO ferry operated by BC Ferries between 1963 and 1991. Although the passenger areas provided for an enjoyable travel experience for the general public, she was much maligned by the crews that worked on her, and the Queen of the Islands quickly garnered a reputation...
- Hull 219 MV Queen of CoquitlamQueen of CoquitlamM/V Queen of Coquitlam is a C class vessel in the BC Ferries fleet, launched in 1976. She first operated on BC Ferries' Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay route. For most of her life, she has been a replacement/relief vessel on all the major routes serving the Greater Vancouver Regional District...
- Hull 100 MV Queen of SurreyQueen of SurreyM/V Queen of Surrey is a double-ended C class roll-on/roll-off ferry in the BC Ferries fleet. The long, 6969 ton vessel has a capacity for 362 cars and over 1,500 passengers and crew. She normally operates on BC Ferries' Horseshoe Bay to Langdale route...
- The second of that name (the first became the Queen Of The North).