Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine A MARI USQUE AD MARE 44 W TERE SHE COMES! was the excited murmur which ran through a 11 small crowd one fine June morning at the Seattle airport. And down sped the United Air Lines silver-grey monoplane from Vancouver. Out stepped the passengers, and click went the Press cameras as a celebrity alighted from the plane — none other than Man-Mountain Dean of wrestling fame. He certainly reassured me as to the carrying capacity of the machine. We were spared yet a few moments to make what we wrongly thought would be our last earthly contacts, as the plane was hitched by the tail to on ordinary V8 and towed to the refuelling pumps. A moment or two later it re- appeared and our prescribed forty-five pounds of baggage was pitched into its nose. Bidding my kind friends good-bye and steeling my shaky nerves, I walked to the mounting steps, doing my best to assume the nonchalant air of a J. Wellington Wimpy. In we climbed and took our seats, while the stewardess handed me a small packet containing gum and cotton-wool. I made no use of the latter as the engines were pleasantly quiet, but the former I chewed with gusto just to ease my nerves. Just then the engines began to tick over, the door was locked tight from the outside and at 11:10 a.m. we taxied across to the far end of the field and turned into the wind. Meanwhile the stewardess strapped us in and gave us the morning ' s paper to read. Then with a roar we began to take-off, and with a peculiar sensation running through our bones the great plane rose gently into the air, leaving the airport, the houses and the trees hundreds of feet below. My seat was so placed that I looked directly out on to the expansive wing. In order to see the ground I had to look either forward or back over its edge. Perhaps this was just as well, for this was my first experience of the kind: and it was only the reassuring smile of the stewardess that gave me any reason to think things were normal. Every now and again we ran into the occasional bump, and one could see the wing tips swaying up and down as the machine found her level course. The Olympic mountains were over to our right, the Cascades to the left, and one caught glimpses of Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier in the North and East. Beneath us was a vast expanse of water, forest and field, but the ceiling was low and we ran into many a cloud-bank. It was not long before we spotted Tacoma down on our right. But we flew over it (quite close enough!) and slid gently down to its airport, some distance from the city. Off we took again after a short stop, but unfortunately the stewardess paid me no attention this time, and I had a feeling as if something had died inside me. For a while the scenery was lovely, but we soon ran into another cloud- bank, and I felt as if I was in a complete fog in more senses than one. On droned the engines like Grey ' s elegiac beetle — mm-mm--mm--mm, and, as I could see nothing outside, I took a glance round the inside of my airy prison. In the front of the machine the two pilots had their control-room, with all their gear and instruments, including a couple of revolvers (just to see we behaved our- selves!) . On the partition facing us were two notices — one giving us the names of our pilots and stewardess; the other, an illuminated sign saying Please tighten belts : No smoking while this sign is on. Seating accommodation is provided for ten passengers, five on each side of a central gangway. Each — 21 —

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine BOXING COMPETITION Heavyweight — Dawson beat Hum- Lightweight — Holland beat Hay- phreys. ward. Light Heavies — Mackie beat Reed. Featherweight — Niven ii beat Wace ii. Middleweight — Gardner beat Day i. Bantamweight — Wheeler beat Burns. Welterweight — Niven i beat Oakes. Good Loser ' s Cup — Oakes. THE INTREPID ON STEPPING aboard Mr. Murphy ' s yacht Intrepid, where she was moored at the outer wharf at Victoria, we were greeted by her captain. He, strangely enough, fulfilled all our preconceived ideas as to what the cap- tain of a sailing ship should look like, being a stocky man with a rather red face and a hearty expression. We obeyed his invitation to step aboard with great alacrity and were sent forward to the chartroom to dispose of our coats. There we met the first mate, who took us up and showed us the bridge, from which vantage point we could get a fairly comprehensive view of the whole ship. Just forward was the square-rigged foremast with its many yards recalling the days when all ships were square-rigged and hence had so much difficulty in sailing against the wind. Still further forward was the large winch used for hauling up the anchor. Beside this was a large coil of rope on top of the spare propeller. In front of the winch the deck stretched up to the bowsprit, perfectly bare except for the fore-peak hatch. On the bridge itself, the most conspicuous objects were the electric steering gear, the engine-room telegraph, and a row of speaking tubes leading to various parts of the ship. Just aft were two launches and two lifeboats. Between the launches was the funnel and aft of it was the main mast which, together with the mizzen mast, was rigged fore and aft. Then there was the bare deck stretching about fifteen feet aft to the forward end of the saloon, behind which was the mizzen mast. Aft of this again was the elevated poop on which were a couple of winches, the binnacle, the after wheel, an engine-room telegraph, a speaking tube to the bridge, and other miscellaneous pieces of apparatus, including two dinghies. From the bridge we went below, where we saw an array of refrigerating plants, distilling apparatus and such minor appliances, as well as the main engine and another smaller Diesel running a generator. Aft of the engine room were the water and fuel tanks, which stretched right back to the stern, and a tool and spare parts room where practically any repair work could be done. We then went up a deck and inspected the galley, the dining saloon, where we found a sumptuous array of good things to eat awaiting us, and the owner ' s section of the ship, which was so beautifully furnished that you might have thought that you were in a palace and not on board a ship. As it was now getting rather late we took a last look around the ship, and then returned to the school, reflecting that we could always, when we were feeling down at heart, cheer ourselves by thinking back to that pleasant day on board the auxiliary barquentine Intrepid. — 20 —

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine seat has its own unopenable window. If air is needed a passenger opens up a few small holes in the side by means of a screw-knob. The upholstery of the seats is green, as are also the neat uniforms worn by the stewardesses. And they are most soothing to the eye — both the seats and the stewardesses, I mean. At the back there is a wash-room. All this time we had been climbing to get above the clouds, and at length we were clear of them. The view below was marvellous, interspersed as it was with small cumulus clouds. But we did not stay up long as we were nearing Portland, City of Roses. As we descended we had an extensive view of the Columbia River. At one time it seemed almost as if we were going to land in th river itself, as it flanks the airport. We changed planes, pilots and stewardesses at Portland and left at 12:30 p.m. Our stream-lined all-metal machine took off after a five-minute wait, retracted its undercarriage and flew due East to Pendleton along the course of the river. The Columbia River is 1400 miles long, 7 miles wide at the mouth and is navigable for 400 miles — the second largest navigable river in the U.S.A. To the Southwest was Mt. Hood (altitude 11,000 ft.) and to the North Mt. Adams (altitude 12,000 ft.) and Mt. Ranier (altitude 14,400 ft.). These snow-capped peaks looked even more majestic from the air than from the ground. At this point of the journey I was given a very nice bunch of various meat sandwiches, cookies, ice-cream and coffee (all included in my ticket, too! ) . We landed at Pendleton at 1:40 p.m. and soon left for Boise. Our flight here was over endless rolling wheat-lands and followed the course of the Old Oregon trail. Less than a century ago pioneers spent three months travelling from the Great Salt Lake to Oregon territory. We crossed it in a few hours. Far below we saw the plane which was doing the opposite run. The prevailing winds were in our favour, so we flew high. They lessened their resistance by flying low. We were now coming into the hot-belt with the result that the ride was much more bumpy. Normally one uses one ' s strap for take-offs and landings only. Here we were ordered to strap up because of the rough going. Soon after crossing the Snake River we reached Boise. I took the ooportunity at this stop of watching the refuelling and starting. On occasions like this the engines were started with the aid of external electricity and a long connection. The plane ' s own batteries are not used in order that they may be as full as possible for any emergency while in flieht. I found out these Boeing Wasps in spite of their high cruising speed of three miles per minute have a landing speed of only 5 8 M.P.H. They need a take-off run of 770 feet. Their wing span is 74 feet, and their weight, fully loaded, 6 l 2 tons. We left Boise at 3:15 p.m. It was about a three-hour journey to Salt Lake City and the journey was much the same as has already been described except for one very bad jump which threw us out of our seats — not an air-pocket, but the vertex of a climb. It was difficult to gauge our speed. The best idea of it could be obtained from birds, which seemed to be flying backwards all the time at great speed. We flew across the Salt Lake which is 80 miles long and looked down on the salt flats, where a few weeks later Sir Malcolm Campbell was to travel 100 M.P.H. faster than we were actually going at the time. The Salt Lake is saltier than any body of water except the Dead Sea. It has a salt density of 17% or 3 x z times that of the ocean. Salt Lake City is the centre of the Church of Latter Day Saints or Mormons. Mormons left the Missouri River — 22 —