Light on the Water: Early Photography of Coastal British Columbia

Barry M. Gough is a professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University
and the author of The Northwest Coast: British Navigation, Trade, and
Discoveries to 1812 and First Across the Continent: Sir Alexander
Mackenzie.

The author and his publisher have used techniques for reconstituting and
clarifying old prints—particularly plates and frames—to brilliant
effect in this outstanding collection of early photographs of coastal
British Columbia. The views of Her Majesty’s ships are a visual feast.
There’s a group portrait of the officers and men of Algerine, 1902;
one man is wearing a jester’s costume, another is playing a banjo, and
yet another is holding a ship model in his hand. Another intriguing
photo shows HMS Flora on the rocks at Denman Island, a reminder of the
perils of navigation. There are delightful photos of New Zealand’s
Aorangi, the workhorse of the trans-Pacific trade, and of the
four-masted barque Pamir, taken in 1945 or 1946. Readers will be
captivated by the portside photos, the visions of shipwrecks, the
damaged wharves, the persons aboard and ashore. One can only hope that
the creators of this magnificent work will produce other
volumes—perhaps on CPR coast steamers, P&O boats, ports of British
Columbia, or marine labor.