Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the June edition of the South Cowichan Connector. Check out the July edition starting July 4.
Mother Nature provided beautiful weather for the momentous occasion on May 16, as the Cowichan Wooden Boat Society unveiled the million-dollar reconstruction of the 99-year-old heritage pier that has become the backbone of the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre.
“It’s been a long haul,” said CWBS board member Scott Sutherland. “It’s fabulous for all those who have been on this journey, and I think everyone is absolutely thrilled to have it open.”
There was much to applaud at last month’s unveiling. Folks from Pacific & Industrial Marine, major donors, as well as CVRD dignitaries and representatives of the major funders packed the patio porthole behind the centre. Several spoke during the ceremony with the common motif being that it took a special community, and a lot of hard work and dedication to complete this pier project. Sincere gratitude was expressed to all those who were essential in making it possible.
Members of the Cowichan Tribes drumming group performed with three songs speaking to the themes of an exciting day, new beginnings, and celebration.
The original pier was first built in 1925, and served as a fueling dock for Imperial Oil, and during that time was one of three oil docks positioned throughout Cowichan Bay. Once upon a time there were seven marine ways in Cowichan Bay, with one that ran from the pier to the warehouse where oils and lubes were stored.
“It serviced vessels that were going up and down the coast, and was a nice handy way for them to tuck or bunker in, fuel up, get their oil and whatever else they needed,” said Sutherland. “There was a marine railway for steel carts that ran along the 300-foot-long pier so that fishing boats, and small coastal cargo boats could wheel up a couple hundred pounds of 55 gallon drums back to their boat in the late 1920s. Commercial fishing eventually died off, and the heritage marine way was moved from the other side of The Masthead Restaurant to where it sits now. This move came after the fellow who owned the previous boat yard wanted out of the business and sold it. The marine way was then moved lock, stock, and barrel opposite the pier, and since has become an integral part of the revenue for the Maritime Centre.”
Chevron abandoned the pier in the early 1970s and it had become quite derelict by the time CWBS acquired it in 1988. Founding members of the society saw the pier as an opportunity to expand their boatbuilding school into their now established Maritime Centre that opened in June of 1989. The society, which is a non-profit, and a registered charity holds a lease with the province for both the pier and property where the centre is located. Sutherland who is a devoted wooden boat fanatic has been involved with the society for more than 20 years.
“It’s been a great experience,” said Sutherland. “I have loved being involved with a place that reveres wooden boats. I initially came on board because it was a place I could come and assist like-minded people. I helped a friend build a rowing boat from a kit that his wife bought from Pygmy Boats in Port Townsend. The kit sat in their garage for nearly three years so when I retired I talked them into coming up to the centre on Saturdays, and Wednesday nights, and together we built the boat.”
Sutherland who has fond memories of taking the centre’s dinghy courses says the number of boats that have been built at the centre over the span of 40 years is astounding, and well over 100. Membership to the centre is $45 per annum for individuals, $60 for families, and $10 for students. Some benefits include the use of both rowing and sailing dinghies, and access to workshops at posted rates. Kayak and lapstrake dinghy building courses are offered regularly and attendees can purchase the dinghy at the end of the course for roughly $3,000 which covers the cost of materials. More often than not the vessels are donated back to the society and raffled off at the annual Wooden Boat Festival.
“There are courses offered throughout the year for all ages and stripes and it does not even have to be boat related,” said Sutherland. “We run women’s woodworking workshops, and have offered a series of evening lectures in the past that often revolve around a nautical theme.”
It was the engineering analysis in 2018 that brought on some pier pressure proving to previous boards that the pier would have be replaced.
“Based on the engineering analysis of the pier we knew that it had to be rebuilt,” said Sutherland. “The money raising effort started before the insurance underwriters were no longer comfortable with giving us insurance to allow the public out on the pier in 2019. Society members could still go out on it but it put a great curtailment on the society’s museum function as we could no longer let the public out to see all of the exhibits in the pods on the pier. Then COVID happened and the whole world shut down and for two years we fought desperately to keep our heads above water.”
Plans and a major fundraising effort soon began for the rehabilitation of the pier that is coming up on its centenary year. Grants were submitted to the province for the project that would cost just under $1 million, and Pacific & Industrial Marine who were a well-known quantity were contracted to do the work. PIM also worked on the pavilion that was added to the pier years ago after the society received a big donation from BC Supercargoes Association for the project.
According to Sutherland volunteers took apart the top of the pier piecemeal so that PIM could bring in their barge, pile driver, and crew. Over the course of the project CWBS member Bob Fulton, who is now a retired engineer of 42 years, was there every single day to answer questions and offer up easier and more efficient ways of doing things, and with doing so according to Sutherland saved the society and the project tens of thousands of dollars.
“Pacific & Industrial Marine was absolutely fabulous,” said Sutherland. “I was living on my houseboat last year when a crew of two were working one night from 8 to 10 p.m., in minus nine conditions. They were out there with their chainsaws in the lowest possible tide, and like they say time and tide wait for no man. The walls and the actual planks of the pier all had to be moved so that they could bring in their crane and position their steel piles within centimetres of where they had to be. All of the steel that had been pre-ordered had to be put in under the existing pier. It was an incredible feat of marine construction — they had to temporarily support the pier deck on its structural members in order to bring the structural steel in and match it all up. It’s just an unbelievable job they did.”
Sutherland said that PIM began work on the pier in February 2023, which took five months to complete. It was intended to have it unveiled at last year’s Wooden Boat Festival, but there was still work to be done.
“We still had to put the pier back together,” said Sutherland. “The underpinning was there, but because the pier was taken apart, for all intents and purposes, to allow PIM to get in with their machinery, it was more cost effective not to remove some of the existing pier, because it all has to be disposed of, plus in the environmental world it is often best not to disturb things that are in place.”
Just in time for the warm weather, community members and visitors once again have a special place to soak in the sun. The pods on the pier, which is now about three metres longer are back open and the deck at the end of it was also slightly expanded. Each pod on the pier was built to offer interactive displays and exhibition space for visitors. There is an outboard engine collection in the third pod, an interactive and boatbuilding station in the second, the first pod will also have new exhibits and with taking positive steps towards truth and reconciliation has been re-named Snuhwulh’e’w’t-hw - The Canoe Shed.
Community researcher Diane Hinkley and Quw’utsun elder Wayne Paige were both instrumental in the development of the Snuhwulh’e’w’t-hw, and in keeping sacred canoeing traditions alive in Cowichan. Snuhwulh’e’w’t-hw will house exhibits focused on the ongoing process of learning the ways of the Quw’utsun Peoples’ and their ties to the land and waters. George Harvey who is of Sooke First Nation also has a display of his fishing boats in the pavilion.
“We want to connect more with the bay, and acknowledge the first peoples who have lived here for over 4,000 years,” said Sutherland. “It’s all part and parcel with getting to know your neighbours. I had the distinct honour of assisting with bringing over a heritage river canoe from the Maple Bay Yacht Club that will be stored in the new canoe shed. It’s huge that we get to be custodians of this canoe that is over 100 years old.”
Following the speeches on May 16, members of the society, alongside Cowichan Tribes chief Cindy Daniels and elders, were honoured with the raising of the Quw’utsun flag on the new pole that was erected on the pier’s deck at the end of April. The pole was a project Sutherland had started during the pandemic while still living up by the naval harbour in View Royal. After some misfortune in his personal life he brought his flag pole project to Cowichan Bay, and had Fulton’s help in completing his labour of love which now stands tall on the deck at the end of the pier.
The pier is now open for all community members and visitors to enjoy during museum hours. The Cowichan Maritime Centre is open to the public Wednesday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m., and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The pier as well as the patio porthole located behind the centre makes an ideal space for special events or to simply hang out.
“We want more people to know about this amazing facility, and that it is available for community use,” said Sutherland. “The pier is one of the best places in town to get a great vantage point of the bay, and of Mount Tzouhalem.”
