Dobson, Hugh M.

Ross Dobson wrote "Hugh M. Dobson (1909–1995) In 1925 and 1926, my father Hugh Montross Dobson (1909–1995) at the age of 16 to 17 years old spent his summers on the United Church mission boat Thomas Crosby III on the northwest British Columbia coast. (Hugh M. Dobson in his own words): "The summers of 1925 and 1926 I spent on the Thomas Crosby III out of Prince Rupert. The crew were myself, Captain Oliver, Bob and Mrs. Scott, and Archie Scott (Bob’s brother). We travelled into the canneries of the Skeena Slough as far as Essington and Balmoral, north to Port Simpson BC (now also called Lax Kw’alaams) and Hidden Inlet in SE Alaska. The second year (1926) we went over to the Queen Charlotte Islands (since 2009, officially called Haida Gwaii) and visited the Oliver home at Sandspit (now airport) where the Thomas Crosby I and Thomas Crosby II were built by Captain Oliver. Mrs. Oliver was a Haida Indian (Author’s note: her name was Agnes, from Port Simpson). Attended a Haida wedding at Skidegate Village. Beached the boat (Thomas Crosby III) on a sandy beach opposite Alford (Ed. note – Alliford Bay) and helped paint the bottom with copper paint. Visited Queen Charlotte City where the Scotts moved into a house as a centre for the mission." It is believed that Hugh suffered from seasickness quite often, as he has mentioned that fact when he was on another summer job involving sea travel, as an Able Seaman on the Canadian National ship Prince John he was seasick 5 or more times and only lasted for two trips and two weeks at sea; Vancouver to the Queen Charlotte Islands, and Vancouver to Prince Rupert.

He was 18 at the time, and refers to himself as an ‘Unable Seaman’. In the book "My Captain Oliver" by Robert Scott (1947) there is a reference to Hugh; "That night, our first in the islands, we got a good idea of Sandspit when used for an anchorage in westerly or northerly winds. Poor Hughie was so seasick. that he had to go ashore first thing in the morning. We made up a lunch for him and he stayed ashore all day. In the evening we had quite a job to get off the beach to the Crosby without the row–boat being capsized." Another reference to Hugh in this book was about a work experience on Dundas Island, north of Prince Rupert, where the crew of the Thomas Crosby III were the ‘workers’ building a fisherman’s bathhouse under the direction of Captain Oliver. "That summer we had with us on the Crosby the son of one of the general officers of our Church.

He also worked on the building. One day he was trying to set a rafter and to drive a nail into the brace to hold it there while standing on one of the plates with one leg twisted around the rafter.

He did not know how to hold the head of the nail against the side of his hammer and stick it into the brace while trying to hang on with both hands and one leg.

He had the nail in his mouth, but how to get set so that he could get it into the brace he did not know. Meantime, while I wondered if he would fall, Captain Oliver was calling to him from the floor, "Put a nail in it, Hughie, put a nail in it." However, he finally got it nailed." Associated family keepsakes from these summer jobs of Hugh M. Dobson include a small argillite totem pole carving approximately 6" high; was from the Haida Skidegate village or Sandspit, summer of 1926. Argillite is a valuable soft black slate stone used locally for carving small items. Also kept as a memento was a baleen (plankton filter) section from a large baleen whale. This souvenir was obtained by Hugh when the Thomas Crosby III visited some of the whaling stations which existed at the time (in 1926), such as at Rose Harbour in the Queen Charlotte Islands."