South Thormanby Island
49°29′40″N 123°59′25″W / 49.49444°N 123.99028°W
South Thormanby Island
South Thormanby is an island off of the Sunshine Coast British Columbia, Canada, located 17 km west of Sechelt.
Geography
The island is more rocky than its neighbour North Thormanby Island. At the entrance to Buccanneer Bay on the northern side of the island there is the Tattenham Ledge, known locally as a reef, which causes some danger for sailors at low tide. There are several small islands attached to South Thormanby island, inculding Pirate Rock and Merry Island to the South. The Welcome Pass separates South Thormanby Island from the mainland along the Sunshine Coast. [1]
History
There are five known shell middens on South Thormanby Island. It is thought that the natives used the island for hunting purposes.[2]
The name Thormaby was given to the island by Captain George Richards who surveyed the area with his ship the Plumber in 1860. The name Thormaby was that of the horse who won the Epsom Derby, a famous horse race, that year. Several other place names in the area come from the Epsom derby. The island is noted for its large bay, Buccaneer Bay, whose name was also taken from that of a race horse Buccaneer who won the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot in 1861[3] [4]
The majority of the island was granted to a shopkeeper named Calvert Simson from Hastings Mill Store in Gastown as a crown grant in 1892. Around 1912, Simson had an area cleared on old swamp on the southern part of the island to establish a farm and orchard. The orignal farm buildings were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s.[5]
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Union Steamship Company made regular trips to the island from Vancouver and they had a float build in Buccaneer Bay. At the time, trails were constructed throughout the island and the various bays were named. [6]
South Thormanby Island is opposite the Buccaneer Bay Provincial Park. The southern part of the island consists of the Simson Provincial Park, which was established in 1986 and named after Calvert Simson. The park area includes the remains of the old abandoned farm and orchard.
The Pacific Coastal Airlines Crash
On Sunday November 16, 2008 a Pacific Coastal Airline flight from Vancouver to Toba Valley in bad visibility crashed into a hill on South Thormanby Island. The plane's pilot and six passengers died in the crash. One passanger Tom Wilson managed to survive the crash. The altitude of the crash was 108 meters (354 feet) above sea level, though it appeared that the plane was climbing from a lower altitude when it crashed. [7]
References
- ^ Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Page 74
- ^ Simson Provincial Park Master Plan. page 31-32
- ^ Pioneer Days in British Columbia. Volume 4. P. 148-149.
- ^ British Columbia place names. akrigg, page 31
- ^ Simson Provincial Park Master Plan. page 16, 31, 33
- ^ Simson Provincial Park Master Plan. page 16, 32
- ^ CBC News November 19, 2008
 | This British Columbia protected areas related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |