Captain's Table - VMM Members Mag - Vol. 1

The
Captain’s
Table
VOLUME 1
SUMMER 2018
MEMBERS MAGAZINE
OUT OF DATE.
OUT OF TIME.
Dealing with
Obsolete Formats
THE LOST FLEET
INTERVIEWS
The Future Of Boat-
Model Making:
THE NEXT 25 YEARS

menu
4
Greetings from Dr. Joost
Schokkenbroek - Executive Director
5
Boat Model Making -
The Next 25 Years
5
7
8
10
Out Of Date. Out Of Time.
Dealing with obsolete formats
The Lost Fleet Inteviews -
Butch Sakiyama Remembers
The St. Roch at Ninety
7
8
VMM MembersMagazine
1905 Ogden Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6J 1A3
604.257.8300
Publisher
Andrew Hildred
Editor
Kurt von Hahn
vanmaritime.com
MEMBERS MAGAZINE 2

Checkout these
fabulous new
reads!
MEMBERS MAGAZINE 3

EDITORIAL
We’ve come a long
way....
Dr. Joost Schokkenbroek
Executive Director
Dear Members of the Vancouver
Maritime Museum,
I am truly delighted to present this very
first issue of The Captain’s Table, a quarterly
magazine specifically established for
you – our loyal supporters. We have played
quite a while with this idea to come with
an informational members magazine. The
timing to publish now seems to be right.
Not only am I getting close to commemorating
one year of leadership for the
VMM. Much more importantly, there are
so many things going on in and around
the museum that we more than ever before
felt the urgency to celebrate with you
the diversity of our programs. In addition
to our monthly Newsletter, you as members
will get more in-depth information
not only about current activities, but also
about what new course we are setting for
YOUR museum. This first issue contains
articles about boat model making, an interview
with Butch Sakiyama, a survivor
of the Japanese internment camps and the
St. Roch's 90th anniversary.
In the coming issues we will bring news
regarding plans for the reconfiguration
of the gallery spaces; fundraising;
new initiatives in the Heritage Harbour
and the development of new
exhibitions and programs - to name a few
topics.
Of course we want to hear and read
from you what you think of this first issue
of The Captain’s Table. What do
you like? What do you miss? Do you
feel that receiving this issue adds to
your membership of the museum?
We truly would love to get your feedback.
For now, sit back, relax and enjoy the articles
we prepared for your entertainment
and information.
Joost C.A. Schokkenbroek, PhD
Executive Director
Vancouver Maritime Museum
MEMBERS MAGAZINE
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The Future of Boat Model Making
THINKING
NEXT
25
FOR
THE
YEARS
Recently, we at The Captain’s Table had the chance to sit down and have a
chat with VMM’s model-maker Lucian Ploias. Lucian grew up in a creative-
-inspired household in Transylvania – his father was both a gifted musician
and filmmaker. Lucian loved to make things and made his very first model,
an airplane, at the age of ten. Since there were no model kits available back
then, everything was made completely from scratch. He was so excited by
his new creation that he took it to a large field nearby to see if it would fly – it did, and flew
for almost 10 minutes before a big gust of wind caused it to crash and break up. He was so
disappointed that he vowed never to make airplanes again. Lucky for us that it was just airplanes
- it was during this fortuitous moment when he quickly decided to switch to making
model ships.
MEMBERS MAGAZINE 5

MODEL BOATS
“God is in the details - we are careful
to get things just right.”
His passion for building ship
models continued through his
teens, cultivating his talents
and entering competitions.
It never occurred to him that
model making would ever be
a viable career option so he entered a local
university and five years later graduated with
an engineering degree. Like most engineering
graduates back then, Lucian thought he would
have then landed a typical job with a large
firm but fate intervened once again - the Iron
Curtain fell and thousands of potential jobs
disappeared. He even tried his hand at computer
animation and 3D-modelling for several
years in Belgium. With a one-way ticket and
few options available, he decided to immigrate
to Canada, a place he had always admired for
its mountains, oceans and abundant natural
beauty. He was looking for engineering work
when a chance meeting with VMM’s then curator,
Leonard McCann, who offered him his first
Canadian commission for a ship model. ‘Leonard
was my first Canadian friend’ says Lucien.
‘We had a chat and he asked me to bring him a
sample of my work. I came the following week
and brought one of my models and he said ‘Do
you want a job’? Of course I said yes and the
rest you could say, is history’.
Twenty two years later Lucian is still building
world-class ship models for all VMM visitors
to admire. His latest project, an exact replica
of our beloved St. Roch, has just begun construction.
Making model ships is an exacting,
highly-detailed, painstaking process requiring
many years of dedication. Due to high demand
for his skills, on average, he is usually working
on two models during the year. We asked Lucien
if he had considered using any 3D printing
technology to help save time. ‘I probably
would make more money’, he jokes, ‘but I still
prefer to build models the traditional way they
were being built two hundred years ago. The
best models in the world, even with all the technology
we now have, this type of model that
are called ‘dockyard’ or ‘admiralty type’ models
,which originated during the late 1600’s, are
still the best. 3D printing today is still far away
from the quality and detail you can achieve by
hand’.
We asked Lucian what advice he might
give to folks who might want to
pursue model-making as a career.
‘Going to engineering school would
be a very important step because it teaches
you the basics and sets your mind on how to
see things evolve from a piece of paper into a
3D object and also that it teaches you how to
make certain parts from scratch. The St. Roch
model that I am working on right now, it is my
intention to put every piece of timber from
the original ship into the model – including
custom pieces of wood that were eventually
added but not included in the original plans’.
With Lucien's amazing attention to detail,
we can expect more great things to come from
the model shop at VMM!
Seventeen years later Lucien is still building
world-class ship models for all VMM visitors
MEMBERS MAGAZINE
6

VMM ARCHIVES
OUT OF DATE. OUT OF TIME.
Dealing With Obsolete Formats:
by Lea Edgar
The problem we often come across
in the Leonard G. McCann Archives
is obsolete record formats.
Records have been created by humanity
in a number of forms since
the invention of writing. But
when thinking about records, one must not limit
the imagination to only paper documents.
Audio recordings, film, microfiche, databases,
websites, and many other formats have been
used throughout history. So, what is one to do
when the archives stumbles across formats no
longer in use? How does one access a floppy
disk? Reel-to-reel tape? 8mm film? The simplest
answer to this is that we don’t. It is far too
expensive and infeasible to in hunt down all
the various machinery that at one time could
read these formats. It is rare when the hardware
survives, and even if we did find a working
film projector (for example), we need the
knowledge to use it and maintain it. Instead of
this, we attempt to digitize the records at the
highest quality available to create a preservation
master copy. This is still an expensive and
challenging task. We do not have the technology
to accomplish this in the Museum itself,
so we must contract out to various providers
deemed professional-level by our colleagues.
As a professional archivist, I often
face these challenges as
every archives in Canada must
do. The most recent example of
this, was when a PhD candidate
from UBC was researching in
the Parks Canada St. Roch Research Collection
and stumbled upon some interviews on cassette
tapes. Seemingly, these tapes contained
the exact subject matter he was looking for.
He needed to listen to them and he had a limited
amount of time to do so. As my job is to
provide access to records for both staff and the
general public, I was tasked with making this
happen. The first problem we encountered, is
that we do not own a cassette player (the har-
dware) at the museum. So, knowing we had
some audio enthusiasts on staff, I asked if we
may borrow one. After all, cassettes were still
in use only 10 years ago! A staff member generously
volunteered his player. It appeared as
though the access problem was solved. Alas!
As we see with these old formats, nothing is
ever straightforward.
The researcher began playing the
cassette tapes and listening to
the recordings with headphones.
Quickly, he realized that
the recordings did not begin at
the start of the tapes, but somewhere
in the middle. It was then that we
discovered the old tape player could not fast-forward
or rewind. Listening to minutes of
silence before the interview recording even
started was not how our researcher wanted
to spend his time and was an unacceptable
level of service for me to provide. So, what
next? At this point, without working hardware,
I had to think about digitizing the recordings.
Not only would that provide easier
access to our researcher, but to potentially
thousands of other researchers once we post
it online. A one-time investment in digitization
can benefit many people for years to
come. The next problem was how.
Digitization for preservation
is an expensive process. Not
only must the material be
converted to an extremely
high-quality file type that
will be stable as technology
evolves, but we must also assign proper
metadata to that file. Metadata, put simply,
is data about data. For the file to retain any
contextual evidence, we need to describe it.
This could include what collection the record
came from, what the original format was,
when it was converted and to what format,
etc. This is no simple process. I had to make
an executive decision. We did not have a digitization
fund to draw from to make a preservation
master copy. So, I decided to purchase
a machine that would allow me to make a digital
access copy. Access copies are truly only
intended to provide access to a record, not to
preserve it. This means I can convert the cassette
tapes to an MP3 file (not archival quality)
that will neither be the best quality nor will it
last forever. However, it will accomplish the
immediate task of allowing our PhD candidate,
as well as every other potential patron, to
listen to the recordings. So, I did some research
and purchased an affordable machine that
could simply make MP3 copies. Meanwhile,
our PhD candidate had to leave the province to
continue his research. Luckily, another benefit
to having digital access copies is that we can
send them to anywhere in the world easily and
instantly.
I
was pleasantly surprized how easy our
new machine worked and was excited
at the prospect of allowing access to
other cassette tape recordings we have
in our collection. However, at some
point, we will need to digitize to preserve
them as well, and that involves a larger
investment of time and money. Magnetic tape,
as well as other film-based formats, wear out
with use. It is important to preserve the original
tapes in cold storage and use the preservation
master copy to create access copies for
the public to use. This allows us to preserve
the original in its unique context, while also
allowing us to provide access to the valuable
information contained within.
Curious about how digitization works? Contact
Lea Edgar, Librarian & Archivist, at archives@
vanmaritime.com
MEMBERS
MEMBERS
MAGAZINE
MAGAZINE
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7

CULTURE
The Lost Fleet
Interviews:
BUTCH SAKIYAMA
REMEMBERS
As our popular The Lost Fleet exhibition is now being dismantled, we were fortunate to have
a few guests drop in to VMM and share their stories. Bunji (Butch) Sakiyama was barely one
year old when his father’s fishing boat was seized and his family forced to live in a Japanese
internment camp in Lemon Creek, a small town in the interior of British Columbia. Butch was
kind enough to share his stories of what day-to-day life was like living in the camps.
Q: Can you tell us about your family and their connection to the story of The Lost Fleet exhibit?
Butch: My father was a commercial fisherman at that time – so was my grandfather – my father
primarily fished in the Skeena River area and my grandfather fished in the Steveston area for
Wallace Cannery. We had two fish boats in the family at that time and both were confiscated
during the internment period. We always lived in Steveston, we had property there and were
long-time residents of the area. My grandfather emigrated to Canada in 1897 and joined the
fishing trade. A lot of the fishing trade people in Steveston came from the same village in
Japan, Meong on the inland sea.
Q: Do you remember facing any racism living in Steveston back then?
Butch: I was too young to remember but my older sisters were not allowed, at a young age, to
go to school. The Japanese had a school of their own where they had teachers there to teach
the children English, and also Japanese after the schooling of English. They didn’t go to a
public school until later. The Fishermen’s Benevolent Fund actually contributed to the building
of Lord Byng school in Steveston so that the children could go to that school and have their
English lessons there. At that time there was racial discriminations there but they did put the
money up to build the school so they were allowed to go there.
MEMBERS MAGAZINE
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Had teachers there to teach the
children English, and also
Japanese after the schooling
of English. They didn’t go to
a public school until later.
The Fishermen’s Benevolent
Fund actually contributed to the building of
Lord Byng school in Steveston so that the children
could go to that school and have their
English lessons there. At that time there was
racial discriminations there but they did put
the money up to build the school so they were
allowed to go there. So we were fortunate that
the Benevolent Fund put up their hospitals
through taxation of the local fishing community
in Steveston. Vancouver never had a Japanese
hospital but Steveston did at that time.
Q: How did the attack on Pearl Harbour change
your day-to-day life?
Butch: It didn’t immediately
change for my father but in
1942, when the War Measures
Act came in, all boats and property
were confiscated from the
fishermen for fear of supporting
the Japanese and that there would be patriot
people living in Steveston with radios and boats
that are available to support an attack on
North America from the Japanese – which were
already known to have been in the Aleutians at
that time – so the fear was there and that was
the whole thing that started the removal of the
Japanese in 1942. We were moved hundreds of
miles from the coastline and everything was
confiscated. If you lived in Ucluelet or Tofino
and you were a fisherman, you were obligated
with a police or navy escort to bring your boats
to Steveston – they didn’t pay you to bring your
boats – you had to bring them under guard so
that you couldn’t get away. You were told to ‘leave
now’ – it wasn’t like you could stop to get
some groceries, you had to go when when they
said it was time to go. We were lucky because
we lived in Steveston – the boats were taken
from Steveston to Richmond at the time and
tied up on a breakwater – I’ve seen many pictures
of that – the whole fleet tied up with minimal
attendance because the government didn’t
want to spend the money. The War measures
Act said you were only allowed one suitcase
and everyone, on a certain date that you were
being called, had to go to Exhibition Park where
the gathering point was. The start of the issues
of internment happened there. My grandmother
she was really a funny lady because she
feared that there would be no chopsticks and
it was very important to her to take chopsticks
in this one suitcase that she had – she packed
a whole pile of chopsticks just to make sure we
had them to eat with. No cameras. No radios.
If you had a gun, they had to be turned over –
everything had to be turned over. They took all
the communication devices away from them.
From there, they put you anywhere they had to
put you – you had no choice. You couldn’t say ‘I
want to go here’…they were the ones who said
‘you are going there with your family and extended
family’. We were very fortunate that we
got to one place as one whole family. My father
was too old to go work in the road camps – all
the young renegade, Japanese kids that were
very outspoken, they were put into road camps.
Like my brother-in-law, who was 16 at the time
and a very outspoken Japanese person, he was
put in the road camps. He tells stories that they
all wore coveralls , not regular clothes, with a
red dot on the back so if you tried to run they
would have a target to shoot – and the guards
all carried rifles. So you didn’t want to run –
there was nowhere to run anyway.
For me the first inkling that I was
‘different’ would be when we went
to southern Alberta after the internment
when we were released.
During the internment as a little
child, all I knew was ‘snow’ and
having fun. Whenever we went to functions we
were with other Japanese kids so we all spoke
Japanese and English. I didn’t know anything
was going on except that we were one big
group. We lived in houses where I remember
there was icicles on the inside of the windows
and cardboard tacked on the wall to keep the
I
warmth in.
remember my grandmother heating
rocks on the stove, putting them in rice
sacks and the putting them in the beds
to heat the beds up before we went to
bed. The racism part really never hit
until we rejoined the white communities
in Southern Alberta. It wasn’t so bad – I
rode to school on a horse with other local kids
– there was Ukrainians, all sorts of other people
living in Alberta – the farm that we lived
on – a Mr. Fletcher, who ran a hardware store,
treated us very well. He gave us chickens so we
raised chickens and we had pigs of our own.
A lot of other families didn’t have that – they
had to buy their own. We had a plot of land
that he would plow and my grandfather would
plant vegetables there. My cousins didn’t have
that – they lived in squatters shacks. We were
very fortunate. The worst part was that after
grade one and two you started to realize there
were kids who were not like you, that you were
different. We were one of the first families to
relocate back to BC in 1949 . My father was one
of the 1st fishermen who was allowed to return
to fishing in the fall of 1948 and so we were able
to move back into a BC packer company house.
“My older sisters were
not allowed, at a young
age, to go to school. The
Japanese had a school
of their own where they
had teachers to teach the
children English.”
MEMBERS MAGAZINE
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ST. ROCH 90TH ANNIVERSARY
The St. Roch at Ninety -
And my adventures with Her.
by Matthew Richardson
Matthew started with the VMM as a volunteer back in 2005 and much to
our delight became an employee three years later.
The St. Roch is important to me because the enjoyment of boarding and
exploring her is one of my earliest childhood memories. I was often seen
at a young age wearing my Captain’s hat in the wheelhouse of the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) St. Roch, imaging myself on the high
seas exploring the Arctic. We lived in the neighbourhood and to entertain
me on a rainy day, my parents would often take me to the Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) to play. In their
youth on school field trips, my parents enjoyed their visits to the VMM and tours of the St. Roch and they felt that
I would too. My mother remembers when the St. Roch sat out in the elements beside the museum building before
the A-frame structure was built to shelter her in 1966.
At an early age, as a budding history buff, I found the St. Roch stories of RCMP patrols and Artic
adventures fascinating. I vividly remember the introductory video that was played before boarding the ship. That
timeless video is still welcoming many visitors on board the St. Roch, to this day.
At the age of thirteen, I signed on as a volunteer at the VMM and when I turned sixteen I became an
interpreter. It was a dream job, for me. I still remember the first time I volunteered for the St. Roch engine room
tours, it was a busy and hot summer’s day 13 years ago. Later I was honoured, as an interpreter, to share my
knowledge of the ship with the visitors touring her. While I work, I enjoy seeing other children (of all ages) who
are fascinated with the ship, like I was. They are the future generations who will carry on the legacy of the St.
Roch and inspire future visitors.
The RCMP St. Roch has been a part of Canadian maritime history for 90 years. She was launched on May
7th, 1928. The St. Roch is specifically a part of Canadian Arctic maritime history, as she was built for Arctic
service. The St. Roch’s rounded hull, ice beams, Australian ironbark, and other features make her a symbol of
Canada’s ‘true north strong and free’. She patrolled the Western and Eastern Arctic but more importantly she was
the first to traverse the Northwest Passage from West to East during 1940–1942. She soon after, traveled through
the passage again in 1944, being the second to do so from East to West. Lastly, in 1950 the St. Roch journeyed
through the Panama Canal from Vancouver to Halifax, thus becoming the first ship to circumnavigate North
America. Her last voyage ended in 1958 at Vanier Park and there she remains to this day as the ‘flagship’ of the
Vancouver Maritime Museum. The accomplishments of the St. Roch made her the incredible ship that she was,
and she is still an incredible vessel that inspires Canadians.
The St. Roch is special to me because of my past encounters with the ship and her fascinating history. That
is not just due to the ships noteworthy achievements, but it is because myself and visitors are able to not just learn
about what the ship accomplished but are able to board and explore her. The St. Roch is where myself and the
museum visitors can step back in time and experience what the sailors must have felt while sailing aboard her.
I am sure that this will interest you too, so come down to the Vancouver Maritime Museum and experience the
adventure of the St. Roch for yourself.
MEMBERS MAGAZINE
MEMBERS MAGAZINE 10
10

St. Roch 2018
1928
90 years of
Adventure
Join us on July 1st!
• Free admission
• A concert by the Borealis String Quartet,
inspired by the St. Roch - 3:30pm
• Lots of crafts, activities, music and food!
10am - 5pm
MEMBERS MAGAZINE
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VANCOUVER MARITIME MUSEUM PROUDLY PRESENTS
MAKING
The Story
WAVES
and Legacy
of Greenpeace
OPENS JULY 14 TH , 2018
MEMBERS MAGAZINE 12
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