Last of Canada’s West Coast missionary ships alters course to protest arrival of American submarines armed with nuclear missiles
Published: The Globe and Mail, September 13, 1982
By DEBORAH JONES/VICTORIA, British Columbia
For nearly a century live-aboard mission craft have quietly plied B.C. coastal waters carrying supplies, sick people and the gospel to and from isolated communities. Now the United Church's Thomas Crosby V, last large vessel in the "fleet of God," has shed its discreet image to join the protest against U.S. Trident submarines.
Flying banners reading World Disarmament and Stop Trident beneath one proclaiming The United Church of Canada, the Crosby is visiting Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland communities with three educators on nuclear arms aboard. "We're assisting and publicizing our stand against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the preparation for nuclear war," said the Crosby's skipper, United Church minister Rev. Oliver Howard.
The Crosby has become the focus of local peace rallies as it works its way along the coast. It sailed two weeks ago for the U.S. Navy base near Bangor, Wash., to protest against the arrival of the USS Ohio, the first of 10 submarines designed to carry Trident nuclear missiles.
The Crosby carried 16 supporters who each paid $50 for the trip to Ground Zero, a permanent protest camp set up beside the naval base. The crew and passengers held a press conference at Bangor and lunched with Ground Zero residents before returning to Vancouver. The vessel made its first voyage to Bangor on Aug. 28 carrying about 20 paying supporters from Victoria.
The unprecedented peace voyages by a United Church vessel are in keeping with an anti-nuclear-arms resolution passed by the church in August, said Rev. Ronald Attwell, a Vancouver Island minister and chairman of the church's B.C. Division of Global Concerns, which organized the voyage.
The 29th general council in Montreal resolved "to call on the Canadian Government to stop the production of nuclear weapons or components in Canada; to stop the transport of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons across Canadian territory and not allow storage or testing of such weapons in Canada; and to declare Canada a nuclear-weapon-free zone," Mr. Attwell said.
Reaction to the voyage has been "pretty good," said Brian Waddington, one of six crew members who gave up two weeks of shore leave to go on the peace voyage. "All age groups of people have shown up to see us . . . rich, young, old, poor people . . . not like the Sixties when it would have been mostly hippies."
But not everyone approves of the Crosby's mission, Mr. Attwell noted. While the craft was moored in White Rock, "someone pinched the banners, probably because they were calling for disarmament. Obviously some people feel strongly that we should arm ourselves to the teeth," he said.
"Disarmament is a complicated issue," Capt. Howard said. "The West cannot disarm unilaterally, but we don't believe we can defend the world either. Instead of putting money into nuclear weapons we should put it into aid and demonstrate the superiority of the North American democratic way. The whole world would join us and Russia would be hemmed in by our friends."
Capt. Howard said he gave up his shore leave and ventured out of the familiar North Coast waters where the Crosby ministers to 54 villages, lighthouses and other outposts "to register the church's apprehension of the nuclear arms race."
Named after the minister and skipper of the first Methodist Church vessel on the B.C. coast, which was launched in 1884, the Thomas Crosby V "is now the only bona fide live-aboard mission ship left in Canada," Capt. Howard said.
The last of the United Church fleet, which used to number five craft, is plagued with financial difficulties caused by the recession, the drop in donations and escalating fuel costs, he said. The ship's crew tries to meet its $230,000 annual budget by soliciting donations, carrying cargo and taking passengers between its regular runs.
It also keeps in constant contact with the Canadian Coast Guard and "four or five times a year responds to an emergency call," he said.
Peter Olsten, who is active in the church in Kamloops, is aboard the Crosby as an interpreter to explain the nuclear arms race and Trident missile capabilities to those who are interested. "This ship has been a symbol for 98 years - that represents a pastoral care for people on the part of the church," he said. He noted the presence of Trident submarines near Bangor makes the West Coast a prime target in the event of nuclear war. Sailing the Thomas Crosby V down to Bangor raises public awareness on arms issues and makes the statement that "civilians live here, too."
Copyright Deborah Jones 1982
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