Editorially speaking…
Here’s irony for you...
In researching today’s feature story on the sinking of the U.S. Army transport S.S. Brig.-Gen. M.G. Zalinsky, and the subsequent—and expensive—efforts to stem the bunker oil leaking from her hull, I found an article bearing this headline,
Oil Spills Are Bad For Shipwrecks
I mean, it’s ironic that sunken ships that leak oil and pollute the environment are subject to accelerated corrosion from their own oil! Sort of like being hoist with (her) own petard, as Shakespeare would say.
—www.americanoceans.org
When they deliberately sink ships to serve as artificial reefs that attract marine life, they take great pains to ensure that they’re stripped of possible contaminants, in particular fuel.
During my visits years ago to the Royston breakwater I always noticed the oil sheen coming from the tug Salvage King. She’d been there for decades, just a gutted hull that had been razed to her main deck. But, from below, the oil continued to seep out with each tide, poisoning not just immediate sea life but, as it turns out, hastening her own dissolution.
PS: I didn’t mention in the story that divers recovered the Zalinski’s bell in 2013.
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How many times have I told everyone, verbally and in print, that history isn’t dull and boring?
And, of course, it isn’t.
But I just finished a book from one of B.C.’s Big Three publishers that almost puts the lie to this belief. In 100 pages this author, who shall remain nameless, manages to take one of the most colourful of the many colourful true stories of the Cariboo gold rush and turn it into Melba toast—dry and almost tasteless.
Most Chronicles readers, I’m sure, find the Cariboo gold rush to be one of B.C.’s more fascinating chapters. They might change their minds if they read this book. —BC Archives
He gives away the punchline in the first few pages, just gets into the story then wanders here, there and everywhere with sidebars and mini biographies. These, in themselves, aren’t unusual or necessarily undesirable although they do distract from the flow of the story.
He introduces one of the legendary chief characters then sets him aside for numerous chapters before—finally—getting down to the real story and heading to the conclusion which, by this time, is anti-climactic.
In short, there’s no sense of drama, no pull of the emotions—arguably, no imperative to finish the book other than, in my case, because I was reading it for research. In fairness, he does offer some valuable facts, but his finished product, meant for a popular (general) audience, drags from beginning to end.
If all B.C. history was presented this way, I, too, would begin to lose interest.
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Several weeks ago, I informed you that the century-old Holt Creek Trestle on today’s Trans Canada Trail is to come down and is going to be replaced with a modern, plain bridge of concrete and steel. Demolition began a week ago. So much for history...
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Proving that treasure can be under one’s very nose, an Emily Carr painting that was purchased at an estate sale in New York State for $50 just sold at auction for $349,000 USD.
The 1912 canvas depicting a carved bear atop a ceremonial totem pole in Masset, Haida Gwaii, was bought by an art dealer who didn’t immediately recognize the Carr name but was sure that the painting had value.
Had he hit Google on his cell phone, he’d have immediately known that he’d struck gold. The fact remains, he gambled $50—and came up diamonds.
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Just in time for Christmas, the latest in the Cowichan Chronicles series, this one based upon stories told here on the British Columbia Chronicles.
And, for those on your gift list who like their history sizzling, Mystery, Murder & Mayhem, “a walk on the wild side of B.C.’s colourful past”.
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I can hardly believe it--this is the Chronicles' 201st editorial. You know what they say, time flies when...
Merry Christmas! to one and all and may 2025 be kind. —TWP