​With the recent announcement of the 15 new River-class destroyers for the Royal Canadian Navy, I decided to look back on what happened to the Navy’s old ships. It turns out that a surprising amount have been turned into artificial reefs! An artificial reef is a manmade structure that may mimic some features of a natural reef. With two on the Coast and another 7 artificial reefs of varying ships and one plane spread out around BC.  

​For this blog post I will be looking at the two artificial reefs on the Coast. The former HMCS Chaudière and HMCS Annapolis. These two ships were sunk by the Artificial Reef Society of BC (ARSBC). The ARSBC started in 1989 is a non-profit society and charity, with the goal of creating artificial reefs in BC and around the world by using decommissioned ships.The ships are stripped of all potentially harmful components and sunk. The sunken hulls of the ship create a habitat for marine life and an economic boost through tourism and diving. Since 1991 the ARSBC has sunk 8 ships and one Boeing 737.

​The first destroyer escort sunk by the society was the former HMCS Chaudière, a Restigouche-class destroyer escort commissioned into the Navy in 1959. The Chaudière was the second ship of its class, and would be assigned to the fifth Canadian escort squadron. She would be part of training with the US Navy off Nova Scotia and was then sent to be part of operation magic lantern, a NATO naval exercise off Gibraltar. After that, the Chaudière was sent to Esquimalt in 1967 where she was passed on for the Improved Restigouche Escorts (IRE), an upgrade to the vessel.  Due to financial constraints, the Chaudière was used as a training ship until 1974 when she was decommissioned and used for parts for the other ships in her class. That’s the reason the front of her bow is missing, as it was used to repair HMCS Kootenay in 1989. In 1991 she was sold for $1 to the ARSBC and sunk in the Sechelt Inlet in 1992.

​The other ship on the Coast is the former HMCS Annapolis, an Annapolis-class destroyer. The two Annapolis-class ships were originally going to be ships 5 and 6 of the Makenzie-class, but were converted to the helicopter destroyer specifications like the refitted Saint Laurent-class. The Annapolis was commissioned into the Navy in 1964 and would serve in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets throughout her career. In 1970, she would participate in celebrations for Manitoba’s Centennial Anniversary. Later on, she would become flagship of Standing Naval Forces Atlantic and for the next ten years,  participating in NATO exercises in the Caribbean and European waters. The ship would then under go the DELEX refit in 1985 and would return in 1987 where she would provide escort for the Royal Yacht Her Majesty Yacht (HMY) Britannia. In 1994, she would participate in Operation Forward Action, a United Nations operation off of Haiti. The Annapolis would be put into reserve in Esquimalt until she was sold in 1998 to the ARSBC and was sunk off Gambier island in 2015. 

Although both sinkings were successful, they weren’t without controversy. There was a large debate about the environmental impact of sinking a 111.6m warship in the Sechelt inlet and off of Gambier island, as there was concern about toxic materials in ships leaking out. Even with the controversy about there sinking both would be approved by Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, and other governmental bodies. 
 
After the Annapolis was sunk, a study was launched to study the fish and other marine life in the area. The Annapolis Biodiversity Index Study (ABIS)  ran from 2015 to 2021 and used a team of divers to consistently check on the local marine life that had made the Annapolis their home. The study found that around 179 different species lived on the sunken ship. You can read the report here and more information on the ARSBC website here.

​Gavin 

​The next long-lasting event was the Sea Cavalcade which started in 1969 and would continue without pause until 2018, its fiftieth anniversary. Sea Cavalcade would happen over the course of three days And include many different events, as observed below, such as...

The most spectacular part of Sea Cavalcade was the Boat Blow-up where a boat was blown up in the Gibsons harbour, although it did not always go smoothly. The 1979 Boat explosio created a shockwave that destroyed windows in multiple homes and injured one resident. Despite this accident,  Sea Cavalcade and the Boat Blow-up tradition continued on for years to come.  

For many, many years, Sea Cav was run by a dedicated group of community volunteers led by Gibsons' beloved Conchita Harding. 

With Sea Cavalcade ending in 2018, new ideas surfaced on what to replace it with. In 2019 there was the Lantern Festival; but plans were put on hold by the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that the pandemic is behind us, there have been talks of starting something new with Oceans Fest, which is planned for the summer of 2025. We will have to wait and see how that goes as we look to the future of Gibsons summer celebrations! 

In the meantime, you can venture further up the Coast to celebrate Creek Daze in Roberts Creek, syiyaya Days in Sechelt, the Halfmoon Bay Fair, April Tools in Pender Harbour, and if you're feeling adventurous you could head out to the Powell River logger sports. 

Gavin