Doris Forsyth

Interviewers: Marie Bannister & Marilyn Clayton (for the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Project)

Recorded at the home of Doris Forsyth, August 29, 1991

(Project) Tape No. 105:1

EDITED TRANSCRIPT - RESTRICTED INFORMATION REMOVED

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DF: Actually, it was Ken Greenaway, who was one of the directors of the company, had suggested to me that I should apply for the job. So when I spoke to George Olson, who was the manager, he said, ""Well, that's not possible, because we don't have a bathroom"". So I said, ""Well, why couldn't we build one?"" So they did.

MC: So you say you almost didn't get the job then, because of that?

DF: Because there was no bathroom for a woman down there.

MC: Isn't that something.

MB: Did they have the bathroom built when you started work, or did it happen a few days after you were there?

DF: No, it was there when I went down. Actually, I was the Britannia bookkeeper but I was in the Phoenix office. I did the books from the Phoenix office. So then when this, when the position of stock person became available, it never occurred to me to apply for it. But as I say, Ken Greenaway from the head office, suggested to me that maybe I should ask for it. So I did and I got it.

MB: What year was that? How old would you have been at the time?

DF: I think that would be 19.... about 1977.

MC: So in '77 you went to the shipyard site from Phoenix?

DF: I started with Phoenix in 1972, as the bookkeeper.

MC: We were wondering if you could just tell, what was it like working in that atmosphere there, being the one and only female?

DF: I think it was probably.... In the beginning, I think it was probably more difficult for the men. Because the first thing they had to do was take down all their girlie pictures from the coffee room walls. George Olson insisted on that.

MB: Okay.

DF: And I think too, it was a little difficult for them to watch their language, because they weren't used to having women around. But they were nice. They were nice to work with. And..

MC: So did you have all your meals with them? Did you take the same lunch breaks and coffee breaks?

DF: Yes, oh yes. Yeah, I made the coffee. And we had little parties up there at Christmas time, in the coffee room. No, it was nice.

MC: There was a cute little story that Jack Weinrauch told me, just last week. I went to visit him, and I was speaking with he and his wife Ann, and he said there was a social evening where he was dancing with his wife Ann, and a fellow by the name of Irvin Barnes was dancing with you. And Irvin looked at Jack and he said, ""Jack, have you ever danced with a stockman before?""

DF: I don't remember that, but it probably happened.

MC: Yeah, he put it on his tape and we all got a good giggle out of it.

DF: Yes. Actually Irvin is not in the pictures here because he left shortly before they closed down, and started a business of his own in Steveston. So, he was the welder when I started there. It was a different welder in the pictures. We did, we had a party at Christmas time, always at the King Wah, I think it was called. It was a Chinese restaurant, and Jimmy Hing would do the ordering for the party so that we had really nice Chinese food.

MC: Jimmy (Hing) is one of the fellows that we've talked with already, and he's full of interesting information too.

DF: Well, he was there a long time. I saw him a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen him for a long, long time. And he informed me that he is over 80 years of age now.

MC: Yes, I think he's like closer to 90.

MB: He looks a lot younger than that.

MC: That's right.

DF: Oh yes, he looks a lot younger than that.

MB: If I could look that good at 80.

MC: I'm pretty sure that he's sort of closer to 88 or 89.

DF: Is that right?

MC: Because he was explaining to us when his Dad came over, and what all the places he worked in, for how many years he worked in the various spots, and he didn't get married 'til he was 40. So all the little tidbits that came out led us to believe he's probably very close to 90 years old.

DF: He could be.

MB: When you were working as a stock person or stockman, what did your job involve? What time did you start? What were your duties?

DF: I had the same hours as the men did. I don't remember, I think it was 8:00 to 4:00 or 4:30 or something like that. I had the same hours. I belonged to their union, the Longshoremen, and the... what do you call it... I even forgot the name of the union now. But I belonged to their union and therefore I received the same rate of pay as a man would in that job. Which was a heck of a lot more than being the bookkeeper. My job was to order all the stock that was required for repairing the boats and to look after it and to keep the place neat and tidy. To show you what I mean. They never saw a stockroom like this before. (Showing photos Doris had taken at the Britannia Shipyard). That's Jack Deagle. (photo #1) But you'll see all the nipples, elbows and tees and this sort of thing. And you'll notice how neatly they are in the bins. Well, when I went there, they were all just thrown in the bins. I cleaned them all out, I painted them, I.....Everything was really neat.

MC: So you had to keep a certain amount of stock in each one of those pigeon holes at all times?

DF: Oh yes, right, right. And, or if a boat came in and it required something special then I would just have to order it. There were sales people that came there and I would order from them. But we had companies that we ordered from regularly. And then we had a book, you know, a stock control book so that we knew, without going into the stockroom, what we had in stock.

MC: It looks so organized.

DF: Yeah, it was.

MC: These shots that you're showing us right now then, they were taken just before you left?

DF: No, this would be maybe a year before, because I left in October. The men all left in the spring. I think it would be May or June. As soon as B.C. Packers took it over. They didn't need Britannia Shipyard because they already had their own shipyard. So they laid the men off. Why they kept me on I don't know. But Harold Grahn, who was the foreman, he and I were there until October. Then, as I said before, Harold died while I was away on holidays. And then they closed it down. So that's Jack in the stockroom. (photo #1) That's me at the desk in the stockroom. (photo #2) And there's ...

MC: It looks so clean and organized. I guess it would be busier for you at different times of the year? Would it be seasonal? Would you be doing more ordering and repairing at certain times?

DF: Well, in the spring, you know when they were getting their boats ready, I think it would probably be the busiest time, and because, you know like, in the summer they were all out fishing. The bigger boats were in there in the winter being repaired.

MC: And this would be the last year you were there as well? (photo #3)

DF: Yes.

MC: Sitting there working away.

DF: Right. And that's Harold. (photo #4) He was... This is George Olson, he was the, what do you call, he was the big boss, anyway, from head office. He wasn't there all day long. He would just come in mostly in the afternoons and uh........ (photo #5) Yeah, he was nice too. This is just... Is that bench still there? (photo #4) You've been down there have you?

MC: Yeah, there are some benches. And these people are?

DF: This was just outside where... Outside on the dock. That's Jack Deagle, and that's Harold, and that's ...His name is Elmer MacKay, he was a fisherman. And these are pictures that I took before I left there. I just, you know, walked around the site. (photo #4)

MC: Big drum on the back of there. (Photos we do not have)

DF: Yeah right. And that's, that's down in the pond where the fish boats were tied up. (Photo we do not have)

MC: This is right at Britannia then?

DF: This was, this was down by Phoenix.

MC: Okay, I understand now.

DF: And this is at Britannia. This is the hoist over here and that is a boat going up on the hoist. (photo #6)

MC: Oh, that's wonderful, look at that. Oh, and there's the crane. (photo #7)'

DF: This... After all the men had left and Harold and I were the only two there. There wasn't much to do because they didn't send any boats over to be repaired. So I painted the coffee room and Harold hauled this big log out of the river and he cut that all up into firewood, and took it home.

MC: So he operated the crane and the boom and the whole thing? Isn't that something.

DF: Yeah, but, this was the last....

MC: The deck looks so new.

DF: But it wasn't.

MC: But it wasn't, no.

DF: I don't know why. I don't know why it looks so new. That's Lorne Hamiti, he was the net boss at Phoenix. (photo we do not have)

MC: At Phoenix.

DF: I think he might still be there. And this is where they hang the nets, this is between Phoenix and Britannia. (photo we do not have) And, oh that's when I was the bookkeeper. That was in the Phoenix office. (photo we do not have) Now this is... this might be what Leif has.

MC: That's Jack and Ann.

DF: That's Jack and Ann, and this is Shin Nakade's wife. And this is Doug Blair and his wife. These are all.... This was at the Richmond Inn at a party we had. (photo #8) There's Jack Deagle and his wife, Adrian Allegretto, and this is Gordy Baker. (photo #10) And that's me and this is Harold and Doris Grahn, and that's John Robertson and his wife, and John was the manager at Phoenix. And I think that was Leif's wife there. That's just the back of her head. (photo #11) And this is the whole crew. That's the one I was telling you about. (photo #9)

MC: Oh, that's Leif.

DF: (photo #9) That's Leif there, and Jack Deagle, and Ron Snow, Ron was the welder after Irvin Barnes, and myself. That's Jack, and that's Shin Nakade, Gordy Baker, Harold, Andy Jacobson, Fred Pipke, Terry Steves, Adrian Allegretto, and Doug Blair. And behind there is Matt Gugic, you can't see his face. And that was the whole crew.

MC: That was the last crew?

DF: And that's Adrian's dog, he always came with Adrian.

MC: Oh, that's a wonderful picture. I think this might be similar then to the one Leif has as well because he mentioned the lifesaver, whatever that is there in the front. Oh great! So does it bring back memories when you look at these?

DF: Yes, because I actually didn't think I'd be able to remember all the names. Because some of them I haven't seen since I left there.

MB: What year was that you left?

DF: 1980, October of 1980.

MC: And how much warning did you get that it would be closing down when there was the takeover?

DF: I don't remember, because I think they talked about it for quite awhile. I think it was quite a shock for some of the men because they were retirement or near retirement age, and it would be difficult for them to get other jobs.

MC: So did you enjoy doing the work that you did?

DF: Oh yes, it was interesting.

MC: You say the stockroom changed from just like a mish mash of things thrown into the pigeon holes to being very organized, did the men comment about the tidiness?

DF: I think they liked it after they got used to it. It was easier to find things.

MC: Would they go then to the stockroom and take things out?

DF: Oh yes.

MC: Or would they have to come to you?

DF: No, no, they would go and get things and just tell me what they... or write it on a paper and put it on a peg and then I have to...

MC: And then you would do a stock control.

DF: .... because they would have to tell me which boat they were going to use it on.

MC: Oh, I see.

DF: So it could be charged to that boat.

MC: In the storeroom, there's a wall panel that's got a number of little nails sticking out of it, just inside the door. We thought it might have been for keys. Do you remember that?

DF: You mean just as you come into the office part?

MC: Yes.

DF: Gee, I can't remember that.

MC: No? It's there, its a board that has got all these nails sticking out of it and we thought maybe it was for keys when the boat work was being done. Someone else told me a story. I know, Jack, Jack Weinrauch mentioned that one time there was a flood.....

DF: That's before.

MC: ....in the stockroom. Was that before?

DF: That was before I came there. But there was a mark on the wall that showed how high the water came.

MC: Isn't that something. Evidently it was quite a scurry, like everybody had to go in there and get as much stuff off the bottom shelves as possible, and keep putting it higher and higher and higher, because the water was rising. (stock room flooded about 6 inches)

DF: Yes.

MC: This is a wonderful collection here. Would you mind if we borrowed those and took prints off of them?

DF: No, you go right ahead.

MC: We'll make sure that the originals get returned to you.

DF: Okay.

MC: But this will be a great way for us to have a start on a photo collection.

MB: When you were working as a stockman, did you find.... Like you mentioned it was a bit difficult for the guys to adjust to having a woman there at first. But did you... Was there any changes that you had to make for yourself?

DF: Not really. The nice thing about it was I knew them all before I went there.

MB: Okay.

DF: I think it would have been very difficult to go there without knowing them before hand. Because I had already been their bookkeeper for several years, and I was down there, maybe not everyday, but most days I would have some reason for going down to the shipyard. So I was familiar with it before I started. Mind you I wasn't familiar with the stock. I didn't know a nail from a screw hardly.

MB: Did you have to take books home and study it?

DF: No. Actually there was a retired stockman still available so he came out and taught me. Taught me what the things were, and how to cut the copper tubing. Other than the copper tubing, it was just a matter of handing things out. And he was very good and very patient and taught me the little bit of book work that goes with it too.

MC: What was his name?

DF: His name was Dave Ingles.

MC: Ingles. Okay, thanks. I think he's the fellow who put the ... a mark on the wall for the water line. (when the stockroom flooded)

DF: Could be, yes.

MC: I think I remember that comment. Jack showed us a cupboard with ....was just, actually, the room outside of the washroom that was built for you and some shelving, and it was for special brass fittings. Do you remember?

DF: Flared fittings, yes.

MC: Flared fittings, okay. Were they more valuable then?

DF: Yes.

MC: So they would be kept separately. So I don't understand...

DF: Actually they were in this cupboard over here. You know you really can't see it but its behind Jack there. (photo #1)

MC: So most of your day would be spent in that area, just in the storeroom?

DF: Right.

MC: Did you ever walk out, say into the blacksmith area or...

DF: Oh yes.

MC: Just have a talk with them out there?

DF: Right, and watch them.

MC: Was your area nice and warm? Have a heater in there for you?

DF: Yes. It was comfortable, but out where the men worked, it could get pretty cold in the winter time. Windy you know, because its open.

MC: That's right. It wasn't until later on, we understood, that they put in radiators and heaters. But prior to that they had to use that funny little boiler stove there. They said they'd stand around like this and then they'd turn around and stand around, toast themselves.

DF: Like being in Scotland.

MB: So you started as the bookkeeper at Phoenix and then you went to Britannia as the stockman?

DF: Actually, I was stationed in the Phoenix office but I was the Britannia bookkeeper.

MB: Okay. Just they didn't have an office for you at Britannia?

DF: That's right.

MB: Okay.

DF: That's right.

MB: And what did you do after you left Britannia?

DF: After I left Britannia, well, I was 60 years old when I left Britannia, and collect....

MB: Almost retirement age.

DF: Right. I collected unemployment insurance for about four months and then I got another job, believe it or not.

MC: Can you remember any really interesting stories? Things that happened there? Is there anything, sort of sticks in your mind as a highlight?

MB: Or even any problems you had, or silly things you might have done?

DF: We did.... We didn't have any problems, I don't think. Everything was rather old fashioned around there, but I think everyone was used to it. Even the old calculator I had was not anything like I had in the accountants office.

MC: There's a couple of nicknames we've heard and one of them is ""Whistling Joe"", do you know who that is?

DF: No.

MC: No. We're trying to track that one down. Did the fellows..

DF: Who gave you that?

MC: ""Whistling Joe"", I think that one might have come from... It was Bud Sacamoto who was there yesterday. Mary Gazetas, anyways, the lady who is our overseerer on this project, and she's heard through the grapevine, through the years different little tidbits, and one of them was there was a ""Whistling Joe"" who worked.

DF: No, I don't know who that would be.

MC: If we find out, we'll let you know.

DF: Yes.

MC: So, it sounds like everybody was very compatible. Were there ever any tiffs, or ....

DF: Oh, the odd one or two but nothing serious. Harold was such an easy person to get along with and he had a way of being able to smooth things over.

MC: So if he could see problems arising. What about accidents? Was it a pretty good safety record?

DF: Oh, I think so. You know, I can't recall any accidents there. I can remember one when I worked at the Phoenix office, but that had nothing to do with Britannia.

MC: Its just when you walk around the site now you see so many open spaces, and you can visualize what the machinery must have been like.

DF: And they had to be so careful.

MC: What about the sound level? When you say, ventured into the blacksmith area, or the carpentry or whatever, was it noisy?

DF: Oh yes, yeah.

MC: Voices and the machines?

DF: You have to speak a little louder when they're going, yes.

MC: You know, this paint colour that you put on, there are still remnants of it in some of the shelves there. (looking at photos)

DF: Is that right? I haven't... When I came back from my holiday and Harold had passed away, John Robertson asked me to come down to the office here and identify Harold's tools. You know, because he had his own tools but then there were company tools too. So that's the last time I was ever in there.

MB: Not a lot left in there, its been pretty well emptied out.

DF: All the stock would be gone. It would have been taken over to the other shipyard, I would imagine.

MC: Where would that be?

DF: I don't even know.

MC: No? Okay.

MB: What would an average day have been for you?

DF: You mean how many hours?

MB: No, just, you know, if you had specific duties at different times or if every day was different or....

DF: No, you really didn't know what each day was going to bring. Because some of the jobs that came in were emergencies. They also had, you know, on the Seine boats, they would have a job that would be going on day, after day, after day. They would bring them in when the season was over and they would be there most of the winter to be repaired and copper painted and that sort of thing. But then if the fishermen had an emergency they would have to attend to that. And, as I said, some of the ordering I did by telephone and ... But we did have salesmen that called regularly.

MC: Who would they be representing?

DF: Oh, Gundry Billmack, Western Marine, Auto Marine Electric, those sorts of places.

MB: Did you find you liked that variation more than working as a bookkeeper or.... Because I think, like, bookkeeping would be very much the same every day and this would be always changing.

DF: Oh, I liked this better than being the bookkeeper for Britannia. Because as you say its the same thing every day. But in a chartered accountants office its another ball game altogether because you're not just doing one set of books you're doing, you're working on all different kinds. You know, farmers, or fishermen, or insurance agencies, or apartment buildings, everything is different. And what I was doing there was, you know, right up to financial statements, doing the ... drafting the financial statements. So its more interesting than just being a bookkeeper for one company.

MC: The crew that worked with you at this time, were they pretty close? Close knit, good friends?

DF: I think so, because.... Oh yes, like Jack and Shin Nakade, they were really, really good friends and you still see them out together. Yeah, I think because they worked together a good many years, most of these men.

MC: Did the fellows ever come in to talk with you and share little stories, home life and things?

DF: Oh yeah, I think I was like a sister to a lot of them. They were... It was a nice job.

MC: Trying to imagine being the sole female in a totally mans world like that, you would have to be quite adaptable? I suppose they did too?

DF: It was fun.

MB: What made you decide to leave the bookkeeping job? I know you were encouraged to apply for it, but what made you make the decision of accepting the job as the stockman?

DF: Probably the pay. Mercenary.

MB: Oh, pragmatic.

MC: That's interesting that you, because you were in the union, you were paid the union scale.

DF: Yes.

MC: ....And they didn't differentiate between male and female.

DF: That was interesting. But we weren't in the union long enough to get any benefits from it. The union just came to Britannia, shortly before we were closed down.

MB: So you didn't get the pension benefits and that kind of long term benefits of an union.

DF: No, no.

MB: There must have been some improvements for the men though, to have an union at the shipyard?

DF: Oh yes, but it would have been nice if they could have, you know, because they had put, a lot of them had put in so many years and then to have to leave without, without anything.

MC: I know Jack said he worked 20 years.

DF: Jack Weinrauch?

MC: Yes, 20 years. Just actually even a little more than 20 years. Then he retired after he left there. Leif is working at the Queensborough Shipyard still.

DF: And he still goes up north I guess, does he in the..

MC: That's the part I'm not sure about. He's a mechanic, isn't he? I must ask him whether he does that.

DF: Of course, he was a bit younger than some of these other men. You know, like Jack and Adrian and ...both Jacks. Jack Deagle is still fishing, I saw him last Sunday, and he's still fishing.

MC: Do you remember Allen Steves?

DF: Oh yes, well that's his father, that's Terry Steves there, and yes. Allen Steves was not working there when I was there, but he had been working there when I was doing the books. Yes. He's a pretty spry fellow for his age.

MC: Yes, he worked... He did have a couple of accidents there on the site, there was one where he fell over into the ways at one time, Jack was telling us about it. But sounded like it was always Johnny on the spot, someone there to get them off to the first aid. That's what I was wondering too. Was there a first aid facility there on the site?

DF: At Phoenix, but only, I think it was only during the fishing season that there was someone at the Phoenix site. They had a first aid person there when they were doing the herring and there was a first aid lady there. But no, otherwise there wasn't. There was no one at Britannia.

MC: Were there first aid boxes around, or bandages and things?

DF: Oh yes, yes.

MC: All the supplies were there. But you just had to make do?

DF: Right, right. I don't know whether any of them knew anything about first aid, I certainly didn't. I have a first aid certificate that I got years and years ago when I was teaching school but now its pretty old.

MC: And have you always lived in this Richmond, Steveston area?

DF: No. No, I was raised in Saskatchewan.

MC: Jack Weinrauch was raised in Saskatchewan as well.

DF: Was he? Oh no, I didn't know that. He may have told me that at sometime, but I don't remember that.

MB: And how did you come to work with Britannia initially?

DF: Oh well then, after many years of just being a wife and mother I got divorced. So I had to go out to work again. And so I went to Richmond School of Commerce and learned bookkeeping. And the first job I applied for was Britannia and I got it. That's how.

MB: Okay, and you started in '72 with Britannia?

DF: Yeah, I think it was '72.

MB: You're kind of lucky, the first job you apply for you get.

DF: Yeah, it was funny. I had to go down to their head office in Vancouver and talk to a fellow there and he thought I would be suitable but he said ""You better go out to the Phoenix office and talk to the manager out there"". And the manager at that time was Buster McKenzie. So I went into his office and he talked to me for awhile and then he asked me to write my name on a piece of paper and then he looked at it and he said, ""Your handwriting is a lot better than mine, I think I'll hire you"".

MC: Oh, that's an unusual qualification. Now after Buster McKenzie left, who took over his position?

DF: That was George Olson.

MC: Okay, that's.... Now the names are fitting into place.

DF: While I was the bookkeeper, Buster was the manager, and then I think when he left, then George Olson came.

MC: And there's another name that we've heard but we haven't met the fellow yet, its Norm Gobel. Do you know that name?

DF: Oh, I know the name, but I don't know him. I think he must have been from the head office. That's Canadian Fish head office.

MC: Great, we usually think of him in connection with Buster McKenzie so we'll have to get all the details.

DF: Yeah, unless he had something to do with Gulf of Georgia, I'm not sure. I didn't know him anyway.

MC: Does the name Gerry Miller mean anything to you?

DF: I thought he was with B.C. Packers.

MC: No, I know what it was. Gerry Miller left probably just at the same time you came on. He left when it was taken over by Canadian Fish. I think that was the....

DF: No, I didn't know him either.

MC: Because he had worked with Allen Steves and Shin Nakade. He was like a shipwright there for a number of years.

DF: No that was before my time then.

MC: Before your time. We just wondered if there was anything.. When you think about working there is there.... What comes to mind? What was your first feelings?

DF: I don't know.

MC: It was just probably the fact that it was such a compatible group of people?

DF: That's true, that's true. It was sort of... for me it was sort of a carefree job. Because there was nothing I ever had to bring home. You know, whatever I did, I did there. I never lost any sleep over it and I didn't have to worry about what I was going to wear.

MC: They'd be impressed with anything?

DF: Well, no, you just had to wear pants or jeans or... Because it wasn't a very clean place. You wouldn't wear a dress there because it would get wrecked.

MC: That's right. You had actually a long walk from where you parked your car. So you would park beside that small boatworks right? And then up the ramp, and all the way through the... down by the ways. It would be cold just getting to your office.

DF: Yeah, I guess I must have dressed for it. I don't even remember being really, really cold. I don't think I ever had to really bundle up in the office. It was warm enough in there.

MC: Did we tell you that your parking place sign is still there?

DF: Is it really?

MC: Yeah. It took us awhile to learn who this D. Forsyth was. And it was Jack who said, ""Oh, that's the..."", I think he said, ""That's the girl. That's the girl who worked in the storeroom"". And that was the first time we had been able to uncover the mystery of who that private washroom belonged to.

DF: Yes, I remember one day I was coming home one night and my car stopped just down at Garden City Road there. So I had to walk home and I didn't have a clue what was wrong with it because I had gassed up that morning. And I went to work and Leif Berkedahl came back with me the next day then and he said it was out of gas. So somebody, while it was in the underground parking here, someone must have siphoned the gas out of it. And I thought Leif was crazy, but he wasn't.

MC: But he wasn't.

DF: So he towed me up to the service station here.

(Daughter comes into room, conversation unrelated.)

MC: Always a Mom, right?

DF: Yes.

MC: Never ends.

DF: Right.

MC: Just take it out. Well, this has been terrific. We've got all sorts of new bits to help us. Every time we talk with somebody it helps us bring the whole crew a little bit closer.

DF: Yes, it makes me like to, maybe, see them all again. As I say, I've seen Jack. I've seen Shin. I run into Jimmy Hing.

MC: To Jim Kishi?

DF: Oh yes, yes. I like Jim Kishi. And I've seen him a few times and once in awhile I'll see Terry Steves because he's a friend of my son-in-law's. But some of them I haven't seen since the day I left. Like Ron Snow's moved away I know. So did you want all these, or do you want just the ones of the shipyard?

MB: Even the ones of the people.

DF: The party?

MB: Yeah, we'll get copies made.

DF: You don't want these?

MB: No, I don't think....

DF: No, because the net shed doesn't really have anything to do with Phoenix.

MC: But that's a terrific one with the boom.

DF: Oh yeah, that was such an interesting... I remember this very vividly because, to me it just seemed like Harold must have had an idea that he was going. Because he worked so hard at cutting that log up and I would say to him, ""Harold, there's another day tomorrow. You don't have to get it all done today"". Because it took him days and days to get that all split up. And then, I think he just got it done, and then he had a stroke and was gone. But that's.... This is just going up on the ways there.

MC: Do you know what boat that is?

DF: Oh, I don't have a clue.

MC: Do you know how many boats there were in the fleet?

DF: No.

MC: Because that was part of what they did wasn't it? Repair...

DF: Repair the fleet, yes. You know George Olson might be able to tell you that.

MC: Okay.

DF: Do you have his name down?

MC: Did you write that one down? I'll write it down too.

DF: I don't think I have a phone number.

MB: We might have to do.... After we get copies made, when we bring back your originals, you might have to make notes for us who everyone is.

DF: Yes, okay, I'll do that. But he's a nice man. (looking at photo) And those.

MC: That's terrific, thank you very much.

MB: Okay.

MC: Okay, now we've got a funny story.

DF: Yes, when I was the bookkeeper, Britannia's bookkeeper, up at the Phoenix office, the men had to write out time cards every day. And on their cards they had to write exactly what they did to each boat that they worked on. And Andy would put on his.... You know, every boat had to be copper painted every year, and Andy would write on his time card ""painted her bottom"". That was it.

MC: That was his explanation of his days work.

DF: Yes, ""painted her bottom"".

MC: I suppose. Were you the one who had to read the time cards?

DF: Oh yes, and then I had to put, you know, I had to ... In that case use my own words, to put it on an invoice for the owner of the boat.

MC: So the first time you read that, it gave you a bit of a chuckle did it?

DF: He was quite humorous anyway.

MC: Andy Jacobson.

DF: and then Fred Pipke.

MC: Okay.

(Tape stopped and started)

DF: To pass away the time.

MC: This is,...what was it you used to do there?

DF: Sweep the floor.

MC: Sweep the floor.

MB: In the whole shipyard?

DF: I think a couple of times I even tried washing the windows. Oh, now that's a good picture of Jack. (Looking at photos taken for Jack Weinrauch's Interview No. 103:1)

MC: Yes, I think it made him feel really quite nostalgic climbing inside there.

DF: To be in there, yes.

MC: And he showed us which levers to operate.

DF: Now he's a year or two older than I am. There are a few that were older than I am.

MC: And this is right beside the hoist. See there's the...

DF: Yes.

MC: And that's where that picture is that you have isn't it? Where...

DF: Where the boat is up on the hoist. Now I have run into Jack and Ann in the shopping centre a couple of times, but that's a few years ago.

MC: Ann was making pickles the day that I went there. These are just some of the ladies we work with. You might know Pat. Does she look familiar? (looking at photos we brought)

DF: What's her last name?

MC: Westman.

DF: No, no I don't.

MC: And this was one of our favourite co-workers but she's gone to a different job now, her name was Jonine. This was like a good-bye lunch for Jonine.

DF: And is this at... Where was this taken?

MC: Oh, this is across the street at a little cafe.

MB: Pub.

MC: Pub actually.

DF: Oh, the one at No.2?

MC: No, its right at the corner of Steveston and Railway.

DF: And Railway... Oh, I've been in there. They have good food in there.

MC: And they have specials every day of the week. Two for one specials.

(unrelated conversation)
END OF INTERVIEW