Editorially speaking...
Here in B.C., specifically Victoria, we ditch Capt. James Cook, RN, one of, if not the greatest, navigators of all time, by smashing his statue and throwing it into the Inner Harbour.
As, according to news reports, VPD police officers stood idly by.
Now, adding insult to injury, the Victoria Harbour Authority has announced that the statute won’t be replaced.
Make that 1-0 for ignorance and vigilanteism.
Contrast that tragi-comedy to this news story from last week. It’s about the efforts being made to try to confirm the identity of a shipwreck off Rhode Island, NY, as that of Cook’s lost collier, HMB Endeavour. The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) announced the discovery which is being contested by Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project.
The British coal ship which “famously landed in Australia in 1770,” was sunk with with 12 other ships off Rhode Island in 1778 and researchers have been looking for it ever since. Investigation continues.
My point being that, elsewhere, it seems, James Cook is remembered and respected for his unequalled maritime achievements—as indeed he should be.
Instead of being reviled and held as being personally responsible for the colonization and negative impacts on Indigenous peoples that followed his explorations on behalf of the British government.
Talk about shooting the messenger...
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Also nautically speaking, S.S. Master, B.C.’s oldest steam tug since the recent scrapping of S.S. Sea Lion, has just undergone major hull repair, courtesy of Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards, International Paints and ASI Marine.
If only the same hadn’t been done for the good ship Sea Lion.
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And since I’m obviously in a grumpy humour (what can you expect of a ‘stupid old white guy,’ as males of my era and descent were recently dissed by some of the younger and less informed critics of our brave new age of disinformation), this word on the Royal BC Museum fiasco:
Now the provincial government claims that the closing of the Old Town exhibit on the third floor is for safety reasons—the 1960s building contains asbestos and needs earthquake proofing. In short, the Museum is adjusting to the new standards of Truth and Reconciliation, yes, but to blind ideology, heavens no.
Sure.
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Still with me?
One of Kaatza Museum’s great railway displays. —www.pinterest.com
On a much more positive museum note, Lake Cowichan Kaatza Museum’s historical collection is to be archived online, “as well as audio interviews about the facility, its history and current initiatives,” according to the Cowichan Valley Citizen.
This welcome extension of the museum’s reach is thanks to an initiative by the B,C, Museums Portrait Project. The project also includes the Shawnigan Lake and Ladysmith museums.
“Regional museums have the advantage in scale over larger museums in Vancouver and Victoria,” said project manager Spencer W. Stuart. The local museums have exhibitions that deal with local issues and work in lock step in showing how a community changes over time.”
I didn’t say the RBC was all bad.
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