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The Public Works Dredge Tender Point Ellice
by John MacFarlane 2017
In an excellent example of the ‘just in time’ supply chain logistics the Point Ellice receives her boiler installed directly from the transport freighter by boiler installed by McDougall Jenkins Co. at North Vancouver BC. (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
In 1911 she was built in North Vancouver BC by North Shore Iron Works. 95.8’ x 20.1’ x 11.6’ Wooden hull 171gt 45rt She was powered by a 500hp inverted fore and aft compound surface condensing steam engine by Ross & Duncan Ltd., Glasgow Scotland UK. Engine and boiler installed by McDougall Jenkins Co. at North Vancouver BC. (In 1924 she was rebuilt to 171 tons.)
Point Ellice (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
In 1911 as a dredge tender she was owned by the Department of Public Works, Ottawa ON. In 1918 she was transferred to the Imperial Munitions Board, Ottawa ON. In 1919–1920 she was owned by The Minister of Public Works, Ottawa ON. In 1920–1957 she was owned by the Pacific Great Eastern Towing Co. Vancouver BC for Vancouver to Squamish car barge service.
The Point Ellice at the Brackman–Ker plant. (Photo courtesy MMBC. )
In 1913 she was in a collision with the Princess Charlotte outside Vancouver harbour. In 1920 she was put on the Vancouver to Squamish barge towing service. On January 28th, 1913, in a heavy fog, the the CPR steamer Princess Charlotte collided with the dredge Mastodon outside Vancouver harbour. The Point Ellice was laying alongside the dredge and all three vessels became badly entangled. The vessels extracted themselves without serious damage. In 1957 the Point Ellice was rendered unnecessary by the construction of the Second Narrows Bridge and she was sold to Capital Iron & Metals Ltd., Victoria BC for scrapping.
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John M. (2017) The Public Works Dredge Tender Point Ellice. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Tug_Pt_Ellice.php
Site News: January 14, 2025
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,957 vessel histories (with 16,337 images and 13,935 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).
The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3998 images).
My thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of the vessel histories in the vessel database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he continues to contribute to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Thanks to John Spivey who is beginning his 4th year of fact checking all of the entries in the vessel database.