It was a nice warm sunny day. We weren’t able to paddle around Newcastle Island and the narrows, between Protection & Newcastle Islands due to the 13 km winds.

There were twenty-three (23) of us in twenty-one (21) kayaks: (Pat Ashton, Isy Azzopardi, Mariane Cardiff, Eileen Edwards, Cormack Gates, Bruce Gilbert, Lil Harm, Linda Hays, Walt Ilenseer, George Mosley, Norm Patzer, Michelle Patzer, Penny Vanson, Linda Watson, Jo Winner, Linda Winner, Liz Campbell, Gord Ball, Shari Ball, Tom Corsie, Peter Law, Mila Wendt and myself).

A Commercial Barge approached the Brechin Point Launch just before 10:00 am. Thanks to our punctual group, we were ready to paddle before 10:00 am to be out of its way.

We cruised north by the Departure Bay Ferry, to admire the Rock Formation around the Northern tip of Newcastle. We had to turn back at Shaft Point due to the rough waters.

We saw a few Cormorants as we paddled the Westside of Newcastle. Across from Brechin Boat Launch (our launching site) on Newcastle Island, there is a large Stone Column laying there on the edge of one of the Island’s Quarries. The other column is at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

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Check out the story:

Have you ever wondered what the big sandstone column outside the Vancouver Maritime Museum is?

by Jaclyn Pollock | May 10, 2020

Many passers-by at Vanier Park have noticed the inconspicuous 38-tonne column on the grass outside the Vancouver Maritime Museum, and many stop by to ask us what it is. Well, despite its most common use as a climbing wall for adventurous kids and adults, the column’s intended home had been an American mint built in the late 19th century. The column is one half of a pair mined from the sandstone quarry on Newcastle Island in Nanaimo. The columns were finished in 1872 and were meant to be used to support the entrance of the new San Francisco Mint. On February 12, 1872, the two columns were aboard the Zephyr and on their way to San Francisco.

The Zephyr was a 200-foot, three-masted barque and was well up to the challenge of carrying thousands of pounds of stone down the Pacific coast. In addition to the two 38-tonne columns, the ship was carrying five large stone slabs weighing nearly 2 tonnes each. The ship set off on its voyage in the cold, clear winter. By the time it had reached Active Pass on February 13, it was dark and a snowstorm had set in. The crew kept a sharp eye out, weaving the ship to avoid land and obstacles in their path. But the blinding snow made it nearly impossible to distinguish the land from the sea.

Tragedy struck when the Zephyr struck a rock and damaged the starboard bilge. The crew leapt into action and the pumps were put to work, but their efforts were in vain. The water level in the hold continued to rise. The crew began preparations to depart the ship at first light, but before they could abandon ship, at 5:00 a.m. it suddenly heeled over. All but four men managed to make it to the lifeboat before the ship sunk. Those unfortunate men were the captain, the cook and two crewmen. While the cook was fished from the water and one crewman, Philip Gough, was recovered on the beach, both Captain Hipson and crewmen J. Stewart were lost.

The two sandstone columns and stone slabs went down with the ship where they spent over a century on the sea floor.

The wreck of the Zephyr was discovered off the rocky coast of Mayne Island in 1976, resting in 40 feet of water between Edith Point and David’s Cove. Divers recovered the capstan, chronometer and other pieces from the ship from beneath a century’s worth of undisturbed sand. But the biggest feat of recovery was raising the two sandstone columns.

After mapping and inventorying the wreck, the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia (UASBC) retrieved the two columns and five stone slabs in 1987. Four of the stone slabs went to the waterfront park in Nanaimo, and one went to the Mayne Island Museum. As for the two stone columns, one was returned to Newcastle Island, while its twin was given to the VMM to be displayed at Vanier Park. You can come check out the historic sandstone column for yourself, located right outside the VMM on the northern lawn in beautiful Vanier Park.

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Continuation of the Trip Report

We saw a Dragon Boat and a school of young sailors as we continued to paddle towards Nanaimo Harbour.

We paddled under some walkways; one was that of the Ferry to Newcastle Island. We then paddled single file into the Inner Harbour.

Eventually we went around the Dinghy Dock Pub Ferry Dock, back into open waters near the Dinghy Dock Pub and continued to Newcastle Island for our lunch.