Victoria adventurer Colin Angus sailed his way into maritime history the hardest way possible — by human power across both the Atlantic and the Bering Sea. Now he hopes his participation in Thursday’s fundraiser for the near-homeless Maritime Museum of B.C. will help ensure a suitable showcase for others to experience B.C.’s seafaring past and present.
Angus is one of three circumnavigators with local roots — the others are Tony Gooch and John Guzzwell — whose odysseys underpin 3 Ways Around the World. Hosted by CBC Radio’s Gregor Craigie, the nautical night includes a panel discussion with the three sailors about their adventures, which covered 75,000 nautical miles. That’s after beer and appies and a 20-minute film and slideshow of their exploits on the big screen at the Old Vic Theatre.
After the panel presentation, an auction of 22 “Armchair Adventures” with a nautical theme will take place, with bidding on everything from a seat in the Swiftsure Yacht Race aboard HMCS Oriole to a walk under a cruise ship in the Esquimalt Dry Dock, a tour of the Race Rocks Eco Reserve and a ride on a coast guard icebreaker.
Angus, who with his wife, Julie, rowed for 120 days from Portugal to Costa Rica in 2006, said both the First Nations and first colonials who came to Victoria were closely tied to the sea. “The Maritime Museum is a means for us revisit that history and see what the foundation of Victoria is all about,” he said Monday, adding he was honoured to take part in the event.
Guzzwell was only 29 when he brought the 20-foot yacht Trekka home to the cheers of 3,000 people in the Inner Harbour on Sept. 12, 1959. He spent four years circumnavigating the world in the boat, and his book, Trekka Round the World, first published in 1964, is still in print.
In 2003, Oak Bay’s Gooch sailed the 13-metre Taonui 24,632 nautical miles in a single-handed, non-stop voyage that took only 177 days.
Museum volunteer Jamie Webb called Victoria a “hotbed of off-shore explorers and adventurers.” The hope is that the fundraiser will bring in $15,000 to $20,000, as well as keep the museum in the public eye and engage with its stakeholders, Webb said.
Angus, 44, said he is “really quite shocked” at the museum’s fate — the province asked it to leave its longtime home at 28 Bastion Square in 2014 without providing alternate quarters. “That building was given to the provincial government on the understanding that if they had to move, they would get another spot — which is completely fair,” he said.
Instead, the museum was forced to put its thousands of artifacts in storage and operate from a small storefront in Nootka Court.
Last month, city and provincial officials met to discuss a 1977 agreement signed by then-mayor Mike Young and provincial secretary Grace McCarthy transferring the Bastion Square site from the city to the province for $1 with the stipulation that if the museum had to vacate the site, a mutually agreeable location would be found.
About 50 of 210 tickets remain for the $50 event, which begins at 6 p.m. at the Old Vic, 808 Douglas St.
Tickets are available at the museum storefront at 634 Humboldt St., or by calling 250-385-4222 ext. 102.
