Mariner's Rest

Helen McCall photo #2353 - Waves break on Keats Island. The sea has been many things to Sunshine Coasters over the years - a workplace, a home, an escape. The sea is fundamental to the history of our communities, and has been central in the life stories of many of the people who have lived here.

Mariner's Rest is a small rock off Gambier Island in Thornborough Channel. Formerly named Steamboat Rock, it was dedicated on August 29th 1979 as a burial ground for seafarers, thanks to the inspirations and efforts of Captain William York Higgs. An austere sanctuary, the rock is consecrated ground, and nobody may go ashore there. More than eighty hardy souls who lived their lives on the sea have had their ashes scattered in the waters off Mariner's Rest.

The rock is visible from the port side of the ferry to Vancouver shortly after it leaves Langdale. Using binoculars, one can make out the steel cross adorning Mariner's Rest, a gift from the Higgs family.

Mariner's Rest is administered by the Mission to Seafarers in the Diocese of New Westminster. The Mission to Seafarers is an international organization of the Anglican Church, providing support and outreach to sailors of all ethnicities and faiths. The Mission operates the "Flying Angel Club" near the Port of Vancouver, as well as a waterfront centre at Roberts Bank. Each of these provides a variety of services to vising mariners, including internet access, telephone booths, international money transfers, used clothing, books and magazines, food and beverages, games, and a chapel.

Captain William York Higgs and his Family

In 1927 William York Higgs started the Gulf Islands Transportation Company in Sidney, British Columbia. In addition to towboating, Capt. Higgs started a car ferry service to Gabriola and Newcastle Islands, using a five-car ferry named Atrevida. In 1935 Capt. Higgs married Ida Donley of Pender Harbour and moved to Nanaimo, and his company became Nanaimo Towing. Over these years, Higgs' company frequently worked on towing and salvage jobs on the Sunshine Coast. The company grew rapidly to include sixteen tugs, a pile driver, and a dredger, as well as over seventy employees, before being bought out in 1951 by Stan McKeen of Straits Towing. In 1960 Capt. Higgs left Nanaimo Towing and moved to Gibsons. 

Capt. Higgs then dedicated himself to developing marine safety systems for use in the towboating industry. These included a marine evacuation chute and a lifeboat designed for rapid embarkation in case of emergencies. The invention that would earn Capt. Higgs the greatest accolades, though, was known as LEPIRB (Lifesaving Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Buoy), which Higgs invented in 1970. LEPIRB was a red, spherical buoy that attached to a vessel's deck by a long wire. If the vessel sank, the wire would pay out gradually and the buoy would float to the surface, marking the vessel's location. An emergency light would go on and the buoy would discharge shark repellant, marker dye, and oil to calm turbulent waters.

Meanwhile LEPIRB's radio beacon broadcasted a distress signal and its rope handles gave shipwrecked sailors something to hold on to. Though Higgs petitioned the Canadian Ministry of Transport to adopt LEPIRB as a piece of mandatory lifesaving equipment, the Ministry decided instead to adopt a smaller, simpler radio beacon called EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Buoy), which did not include LEPIRB's lifesaving features. Nevertheless, LEPIRB attracted international attention - Capt. Higgs was elected a Fellow of the Nautical Institute, who exhibited it at a 1971 meeting. He also received Special Recognition from the German National Association of Seamen, and was named an Honourary Member of the Canadian Merchant Service Guild. In 1984, Higgs won the prestigious Rear Admiral Halert C. Shepard or "Shep" award from the Chamber of Shipping of America, presented in recognition of a distinguished contributio towards merchant marine safety.

Not only did Capt. Higgs work to make life at sea safer for mariners, he dedicated himself to giving them their own resting place. Through negotiations and discussion with various governmental bodies, and with the assistance of the Company of Master Mariners and the Canadian Merchant Service Guild, Capt. HIggs was successful in having Steamboat Rock off Gambier Island preserved as a burial ground for mariners. The rock, renamed Mariner's Rest, was dedicated in 1979. Ten years later William York Higgs passed away, and, fittingly, his ashes were scattered at Mariner's Rest. Capt. Higgs is remembered by many as having been an intelligent and articulate man, distinguished by his concern for the well-being of his fellow mariners.

William York Higgs was not the only Higgs to earn a living on British Columbia's coastal waters. William York and his brother Thomas were both family men, and their six sons - Leonard, Geoff, Joe, Johnny, Martin, and Gerald - all went on to work on BC's coastal waters as tugboat skippers or coastal pilots.

 The Higgs family has long been connected to the Sunshine Coast. Leonard Higgs, son of William York Higgs, began the Sechelt-Jervis Inlet Towing Company in 1941. The company was originally based in Donley's Landing (Pender Harbour) but moved to Sechelt in 1960, operating continually there until ceasing operations in 1985. The surname Higgs was well known in British Columbia's harbours for many years, and it identified a well-respected and hard-working seafaring family.

SCMA Photo#1093 - Cpt. Leonard Higgs at the helm, age 3.