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A look back in time: The sinking of Skookum I

A new column from Brian Wilson, of the Okanagan Archive Trust Society
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The Skookum I, before it sank in 1913

This is the first of a series of columns from Brian Wilson, of the Okanagan Archive Trust Society.

A private ferry on Okanagan Lake – MV Skookum:

On Tuesday evening, November 4, 1913, the Skookum I was towing two large barges loaded with cement pipe from the Peachland Glazed Cement Pipe Company, located at Trepanier.

At a point just south of Squally Point, opposite Peachland, the Skookum I collided with the CPR tug, S.S. Castlegar, and its two large barges.

The Skookum I sank almost immediately.

Both Captain Languedoc and engineer Peter Roe sustained broken legs while a pipe company employee on the barge suffered a broken hip. No records of the recovery of the Skookum I have been found in newspapers of that time. Perhaps the vessel was not worth recovering and written off.

Official registry records indicate that a new Skookum II was built in 1913 at the Summerland Boat Works Ltd. and registered to the Okanagan Lake Boat Co., Naramata, 1913. This 38-foot boat has the distinction of being the first OLBC boat registered by the CNR in 1927.

The lovely Skookum II was in service along with the Trepanier as ferries servicing the southern triangle of Summerland, Naramata and Penticton until the 1930’s.

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