history lesson An experience told through photos
Life on board an oil tanker By Lea Edgar
Librarian/Archivist, Vancouver Maritime Museum
H
illis Stratton was the wireless operator and purser on board the oil tanker Britamerican. A year before he passed away, Hillis graciously donated two photograph albums to the Vancouver Maritime Museum full of images of his trips on board the British-American Oil Company vessel. Photographs are, more often than not, the only records we have to study a historic period or subject. Through his images, Hillis offers us a unique view of the life of an oil tanker crew member in the late 1940s. His photographs feature many subjects, including B.C. port towns and canneries, numerous vessels plying the local waters, crew members at work and at play, and even the occasional seagull. Albert LeRoy Ellsworth formed the British-American Oil Company (BA) in 1906 and began distributing oil from Toronto. In the early part of the century, BA bought out many smaller oil companies and started to expand. In 1946, the company purchased Union Oil Company in British Columbia and began shipping oil products along the coast. Hillis’ ship, the Britamerican, was one of the vessels supplying oil to British Columbians in both populated and remote locations from Port Albion to the Inverness Cannery near Port Edward. Hillis’ amateur photos provide us with a glimpse of a specific moment in time in B.C.’s shipping history. Regrettably, neither Hillis nor any surviving heirs are here to describe to us the context of the photographs. Even so, accompanied by Hillis’ often humorous captions (the captions below each photo are courtesy of Hillis), the photographs featured here Hillis Stratton still speak for themselves. 18 BC Shipping News October 2013
Locations As a starting point for each journey, this must have been a common sight for Hillis on board the Britamerican. Erky Woodside was the BA Oil salesman for the harbour.
“Midnight at Erky’s.”
“Harry and a lass at North Pacific.” The North Pacific is the oldest intact salmon cannery on North America’s West Coast and was the longest running cannery in B.C. A very important heritage site, it is fascinating to see photographs of it as a functioning cannery.