Royston Wrecks (Vancouver Island BC)

We’re in Royston on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and looking at something incredible. There’s historic ships, some fourteen in number (with a 15th suspected) not that far out in the bay and they’re easily viewed. These date from 1876-1943 and were scuttled to be part of a breakwater. Welcome to the Royston Wrecks and they’re reached via a short stroll in a public park.

The breakwater (also of rock fill) protected the Comox Logging & Railway Company’s log dump wharf and booming grounds in Comox Bay. Train after train would come from the firm’s vast network of spur lines to unload and then head back into the woods for more. They then floated the trees to the mainland for further processing.

The log dump lasted from the early 1910s to the early 1950s. Even after the trains stopped running, the area north of the breakwater functioned as storage for log booms and this practice only ended a couple decades back.

Originally comprised solely of rock, the breakwater was enhanced with the addition of ships starting in 1936. This continued until 1962. Most of the vessels arrived shortly after the war, however. Many were stripped and reduced to mere hulks by the time they were repurposed for this unique structure.

The ships that make up the Royston Wrecks have a long and storied history. We’ll share some of the juiciest bits below. Only those that are clearly identifiable from our shooting angle will be talked about in any detail and for the rest a quick summary will be given.

From ancient windjammers, war-era frigates, steam tugs, and even a whaler, this collection showcases a diverse array of vessels. Some are partly intact and recognizable. Others are just unconsolidated jumbled bits of metal plating and beams. Some are submerged enough that they’re only really visible during low tide and many are partly buried by rock fill or mud.  

Most of the Royston Wrecks are metal ships but a couple have wood hulls.  

Rows of pilings mark the site of the wharf and others further out in the bay (in bundles and called dolphins) were anchoring points for log booms. This functioned as the staging area and at times there would be a king’s ransom of wood floating in the bay. The breakwater itself does not connect to the shore, making closer exploration possible only by small watercraft and that’s an adventure we’d love to undertake in the future.

The walking path to the view point (Royston Seaside Trail) sits atop of the old railway grade to the wharf and breakwater.  

First up…the Melanope is the oldest ship here and the most infamous. It’s located at the far end of the breakwater and its bow and stern are easily seen, but the rest is mostly submerged or obscured from view. A windlass can clearly be spotted on a lower deck.

Built in England as three-masted iron-hulled windjammer, the Melanope dates to 1876. It plied the pacific most of its service life and functioned variously as a freighter and sometime immigrant ship (to Australia).

Later abandoned on the Oregon Coast (1906), it returned to service a little after, minus its masts and used as a barge. The Melanope last worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway (1911-?) before coming to be part of the breakwater in 1946. It last transported coal from the Island to be used by the CPR’s trans-Pacific Empress liners operating out of Vancouver.

It’s said the Melanope is cursed and given the name “Ship of Romance and Death”. Well, it did see its fair share of mishaps and it’s noted to be the subject of several close calls for example. So collisions and the like. It ran aground several times, there were mutinies, murders and other troubled events onboard. Still, it had a long service life and given that, some bad happenings are inevitable. But this many?

One popularly shared tale speaks of an old lady stowaway who upon removal from the ship, cursed it forever. One accounts states the crew forced her to walk the plank (hmmmm) and another that she simply got dropped off while enroute. Either way, she apparently damned the ship and all who sailed aboard her.

Windjammer: a larger commercial sailing ship with multiple masts.

The Riversdale is a steel-hulled three-masted windjammer, built in Scotland in 1894. It travelled the world as a freighter before its conversion into a bulk carrier barge for service on the west coast. The ship hauled coal, mineral concentrates and later timber products. It remained in service into the early 1960s before coming here. The bow is he most prominent of the remains here and sits mostly out of the water.  

The Comet was a flat-bottomed steel barque with four masts and worked the Pacific trade in many capacities. By the late 1920s, it hauled logs on BC’s coast and later equipped itself with cranes so it could self-load/unload. It remained in this service until 1962 when they scuttled it here (the last one). One can see sections of the bow and stern, but the rest of the ship lies below the surface.

Barque: a sailing ship with at least three masts and which most are with square-rigged (horizontally held) sails.  

The HMCS Prince Rupert is a River-class frigate from the Canadian Navy and built down the island in Esquimalt during 1943. It’s the closest ship to the viewing area. At the war’s end, the navy deemed it surplus to their needs and a salvager stripped it of its machinery before it became part of the breakwater in 1948.

The Prince Rupert served as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic and later came to the west coast to operate in the Pacific Theatre. The war ended before they could complete the retrofit, however. No lives were ever lost on the ship, and that’s remarkable for one used during hostilities

Not visible (from closest in to furthest away):

The USS Tattnall is a former US warship built in 1918 and which most notably saw service in World War Two. Declared surplus afterwards, metal salvagers stripped out machinery and brought here to Royston in 1948. It’s mostly buried under rock fill and only little bits can be seen at low tide when in close. It’s directly up from the HMCS Prince Rupert.

The Forest Friend is a wood-hulled sailing ship built in Washington State as a lumber carrier (1919). It’s a barquentine: with five masts and a square rigged foremast. Later brought up to Canada, it hauled sawdust and hog fuel (general wood waste), before they scuttled it here in the 1950s. Most of the ship is buried and not really visible.

The HMCS Gatineau has been part of the Royston breakwater since 1947 and is mostly covered by rip-rap. Built for the British Navy as the HMS Empress in 1934, the Canadian Navy acquired it about mid-point during World War Two. It protected supply lines during the D-Day invasions.

The Salvage King is a wood-hulled rescue tug built in New Jersey and for the US Navy (1943 as ATR-13). After the hostilities it made its way to Vancouver Island where it operated as a deep sea salvage tug. It suffered a major fire in the 1950s and later that decade brought here. It’s not really visible from the viewing area, but it’s noted that most of the machinery inside remains in place, albeit buried.

The HMCS Dunver is fairly intact but is mostly submerged. It dates to the 1942 and built in Quebec as another River-class frigate (the first). It served in the Atlantic Theatre and when hostilities ended there, transferred to Pacific duty, but never saw any further action. Hostilities ended before it could re-enter the war. The ship became one of the Royston Wrecks in the late 1940s and is sans any propulsion gear.  

While not visible from our vantage point, it’s mostly underwater outline is clearly seen on Google Earth. In fact the locations of many of the ships are made more clear from this overhead view. There is more order when seen from above and not the jumble when looked at from ground level.

The Qualicum’s builder’s constructed it in the US (Pennsylvania) as a steel-hulled tug named Eugene F Moran. They launched it in 1904, and it initially worked the New York area, where it hauled refuse, but later found work in Mexico (as the Colima). In 1910, the Canadian Pacific purchased it, and it hauled railway barges between Vancouver Island and the mainland into the 1940s. Later that decade, it came here.

It’s sort of hidden behind the Melanope and mostly collapsed.

The builders constructed the Blue (or Black, built 1910) as a steel-hulled combo steam and sail ship. A former whaler, it’s been here since 1947 and almost completely gone. People say there’s a second whaler here, and it may lie underneath or be completely buried in rock fill.

The HMCS Eastview is another River-class frigate and was constructed in Montreal during 1943. It served in convoy service in the Atlantic and later the subject of refit for Pacific service, but the war ended before the work finished. Sounding like a broken record here. It’s been one of the Royston Wrecks since 1948. Five years after they built it and it’s junk.

The hull of the Eastview is mostly submerged but visible on a Google Earth view. Frigates are used for escort and anti-submarine duties in the modern sense.

The builders constructed the Laurel Whalen as a wood-hulled combo steam and sail ship. Built down-island in Victoria, BC (1917) as a lumber carrier, it later found use as a cement barge and lastly a floating fish cannery. As the first ship here (1936), it’s almost completely buried by rock fill that came later.

The Nanoose was built on the Island (in Esquimalt) as a steel-hulled tug in 1908 and scuttled in Royston during 1946. It worked for the Canadian Pacific (plus subsidiary Esquimalt and Nanaimo), hauling railway barges between the island and coast. The E&N served most of the southern island and a busy railway not that long ago. A small section remains in use today under a different firm, but much of the unused track elsewhere remains in place.

Only a small submerged section of he bow is exposed and the rest of the ship buried under fill. The tug is noted for its involvement in a number of rescue operations over the years and involving grounded ships.

In addition to the historic aspects of the Royston Wrecks breakwater, it’s also a good bird watching spot (eagles!). There’s a nice view across the bay to Comox Harbour but it’s hard not to ponder these old ships. One can’t help think about all the places they’ve visited the world over only to unceremoniously end up here. Of all places…as fill material.

The Royston Wrecks is a site of a remarkable and diverse collection of historical ships. Wrecks and mangled ships, but still with a story to tell. It’s of great significance and there’s nothing like it elsewhere on the coast. It’s been the subject of a number of detail historic studies and they can be found online (link below).

Know more: (new tabs): Royston Wrecks Royston BC and specifically: Melanope Sailing Ship.

They’re saying…

“A true “Rare Hidden Gem!” Ian Thomas McAlpine Paterson.

BC is awesome…
Comox Fisherman’s Wharf Comox BC. Across Comox Bay.
Alexandra Bridge Fraser Canyon BC.
Highway History (BC): the Garbage Gobbler.
Alone in the Gulch.

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Date of adventure: October, 2023.
Location: Royston Wrecks, Royston, Vancouver Island BC.
Article references and thanks: Underwater Archeological Society of BC, Comox Valley Regional District, Rob Pohl & Arturo Pianzola, The British Columbia Archival Information Network, Curse of the Melanope by RL Fynney Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Centre and Robert Turner’s book Logging by Rail.

Remains of the Melanope at the Royston Wrecks.

The Prince Rupert is almost submerged at high tide.

The bow of the Riversdale.

Once a railway grade.

At lower tides, more of the Prince Rupert is visible.

Pilings were part of a wharf.

The Prince Rupert is closest to shore.

The Riversdale (left) Melanope stern (behind) & Comet (right).

Now part of a park.