BY ORLANDO DELANO
Special to the News
“Who knew when we watched the Swan being pulled out of Sproat Lake in November of 2015 that it would be the beginning of another adventure for the Swan under the wing of the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society,” says Kenn Whiteman, President of the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society.
The society has as their mission to present, preserve and promote maritime history and heritage of Port Alberni, the Alberni Inlet, Barkley Sound and the West Coast.
According to society archives, the history of this steam launch Swan goes back to the late 19th century, built around 1890 and used to transport merchandize, people and mail to west coastal communities, such as Banfield. Then, during the late 1920s, this 36-foot, six-inch long vessel was moved to Sproat Lake and used to transport workers to the Sproat Lake Saw Mill as well as moving some lumber. Also, as stated by the late Ken Hutcheson, founder of the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society, and Art Skipsey, a former Industrial Arts School teacher and Mayor of Qualicum, both scout masters at that time, they used the Swan to transport the scouts on the lake.
Based on information provided by Alberni Valley historian Frank Holm, after decades serving the lake mill, the Swan’s fate came to an end as she was sunk to the bottom of Klehkoot Arm in 1951. Skipsey, who had owned the vessel, helped with its sinking for one apparent reason; gasoline motors took over where steam once prevailed and the Swan was outdated.
However, years later in 1994, Skipsey decided to raise the boat from the bottom of the lake floor she had been resting for over 40 years and it became a retirement project for Art. The process of bringing the Swan up from the depths of Sproat lake was performed with the assistance of local residents including Curt Smecher, Ken Watson, Geo Monrufet, Joe Skipsey and Steve Oaks. This also included the making of a boiler, made from scratch with the assistance of his friend John Super and Pete Geddes.
Art Skipsey donated the vessel to the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society in the late fall of 2015. Kenn Whiteman, who has been a well-known figure in our community and has dedicated most of his life to supporting and leading important projects for the benefit of the people of Port Alberni, has enthusiatically worked to make the Swan project a reality and after two and a half years the Swan is ready for viewing at the Ken Hutcheson Gallery on Lighthouse Pier.
Whiteman explains that one of the first steps the society took to get the restoration project in motion was to raise funds and develop working partnerships with sponsors and like-minded individuals. During the winter of 2015 and early spring of 2016 they received funding from the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, which allowed the society to purchase yellow cedar timber from the McLean Mill National Historic Site in order to start the construction of a shelter over the Swan and protect it from the harsh winter months. Soon after, and thanks to former mill manager Neil Malbon, the society got the material for its construction at a fair deal. The volunteer role of carpenter fell to Sandy Fizpatrick and with a group of volunteers they have compiled close to 690 hours of volunteer time completing the restoration on June 16, 2018.
The final goal for this project was to add a plaque “to commemorate not only the Swan in its final resting place, but to all those volunteers, funders and businesses in Port Alberni who contributed to this project and believed in saving this unique vessel,” adds Whiteman.
He invites the general public to view this historic steamboat that once served both on the ocean and at Sproat Lake by visiting the Port Alberni Maritime Discovery Centre.
