At least 14 boats have been confirmed for the Richmond Maritime Festival, taking place this weekend at Britannia Shipyards.
The boats vary from the Gikumi tugboat/passenger boat that will give tours around Richmond’s islands to the SS Master, the last working steam-powered tug that festival visitors can tour, right down to the massive engine room below deck.
This is the 20th time the festival will be put on at the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site and it will take place on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The name of the Gikumi is a First Nations word meaning “chief.” When the boat was built, permission was obtained from Namgis First Nation to use the name, explained its current owner John Turpin.
Gikumi was launched on Labour Day in 1954 and until the 1980s, it delivered freight and towed logs from its home port of Telegraph Cove.
It was also a pilot boat and helped dock ships.
After the Telegraph Harbour mill shut down, it became the first whale-watching boat in B.C.
In the 1990s, when the movie Free Willie was being filmed, the live shots were done from the Gikumi.
As a whale-watching boat, it hosted George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara, along with former British prime minister John Major and his wife Norma.
Turpin bought the tugboat about four years ago, and set about refurbishing the hull with 30 new ribs.
While it wasn’t cheap to refurbish the boat, Turpin said he was “fortunate the boat was always well looked after” before he bought it.
And now it’s ready for another 50 years of service, he added.
“There something about a wooden boat,” Turpin said. “It’s got soul, a solid feel.”
Turpin hopes the tour, which costs $90 per person, will show the historical importance of the river and coastline.
He pointed out before there were highways, marine transportation was how everything happened on the west coast.
Part of the tour is learning about Richmond’s many islands that aren’t visible from the city.
Boats that will be at the Maritime Festival include tugboats, fishing boats, sailboats and schooners. All were either built on the west coast or worked on the west coast.
The pride of Steveston, the SS Master, built 101 years ago, is the last fully operational wooden-hulled, steam-powered tugboat in North America.
Visitors to the Maritime Festival can climb aboard the SS Master – there is no charge – and learn about its storied history.
Below deck, visitors can see the boat’s steam engine that was brought from Scotland in 1916, a surplus from the Royal Navy.
“That engine is a testament to that whole era of steam power,” explained David Bradford, vice-president of the SS Masters Society, which received a Beaver recognition from B.C.’s Lieutenant Governor in 2019 for their work to restore and maintain the boat.
The SS Master was built in 1922 by Arthur Moscrop at the Beach Avenue Shipyard in False Creek and plied the waters until 1962 at which time it was bought by the Society for the Preservation of the Steam Towboat Master in North Vancouver. It’s been owned by the SS Master Society since 2011.
In 2021, the SS Master was thoroughly cleaned and repainted at Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver. (Click here to see a video of the process.)
At the festival, besides boats, there will be food trucks, entertainment and family activities, such as such as maritime-themed puppet shows, hands-on arts and crafts stations.
The opening ceremony will be on Saturday at 11 a.m. and entertainment starts on the Port of Call Stage at noon and continues until 6 p.m. Entertainment runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Visitors to the festival are expected in the thousands.
Parking will be available at Homma elementary school’s field with a suggested donation of $10 (cash only). Saturday parking donations will go to Go Taiko and on Sunday, to the Steveston Judo Club.
The free Richmond Discovery Shuttle, provided by Tourism Richmond, has several pickup locations throughout the city. To see a schedule and pickup points, click here.
