Dignitaries gathered at the Canadian Coast Guard base in Victoria Thursday to celebrate 50 years of saving those in trouble at sea.
Included in the list of dignitaries was Randy Kamp, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, who cut the cake to kick off the festivities.
Although the Canadian Coast Guard has been a symbol of rescue at sea since 1962, its origins go back as far as the 1700s, when the first lifeboats and lighthouses were established on the east coast. Patrol vessels on the Great Lakes and the eastern seaboard at that time were owned by various governments that preceded Confederation.
The official Canadian Coast Guard was created on Jan. 26, 1962, when the Honourable Leon Balcer, Minister of Transport, announced that the Department of Transport fleet of ships would in future be referred to as the Canadian Coast Guard.
• Travellers heading for some of the smaller crossings on BC Ferries found themselves cooling their heels this week after strong winds and heavy seas forced the cancelation of several sailings.
• Think you’ve seen the latest thing in boat technology? Chances are you haven’t, thanks to a new technology from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that sees ships blow bubbles out of tiny holes in the hull to lubricate the ship’s passage through the water.
The reduced drag on the hull can save significant dollars on fuel costs, sparking agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland to order three of the ships, which are scheduled to be completed by 2014.
• As any Oceanside resident can tell you, there is no shortage of freighters plying the waters these days. In fact, there appears to be too many of them for the business available, says an article in the New York Times.
A glut of ships has meant the cost of a large freighter has plunged from $15,000 per day to as little as $6,000 per day. Because of this, the Baltic Dry Index, which sets bulk freighter rates around the world, has lost more than half of its value since the start of January.
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