Blandford (I)

This vessel and her sisters never had engines installed as construction was curtailed following the armistice, and they were all laid up in Lake Union, Seattle prior to purchase by British Pacific Log Transport/Barge Co. No US Registration numbers exist. This vessel was purchased with other similar vessels for possible conversion to a log barge. John Campbell reports (British Columbia Nautical History Facebook Group 01/12/2014) that "the Blatchford was the first of eleven surplus United States Shipping Board wooden steamship hulls to be brought to BC to become the first fleet of log barges. There had been questions about whether Blatchford or Addison was the one brought to Powell River for breakwater use, but I found that all the Powell River Co. documents referring to the hulk called it the Blatchford. This vessel sank in the late thirties and caused no end of trouble in the log pond and was finally blasted to pieces. Problems encountered with the Blatchford had a direct impact on the decision to not use the Malahat in the breakwater. Interesting about the hull is that it was first converted into a lighter with conveyors and a grain elevator before becoming a log barge.

They thought it might be useful for loading grain ships without having to bring them into the dock." In 1934 this vessel was reported to have been abandoned as a derelict.