Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd. was a historic metalworks and

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Canada.

Establishment

From the late 1850s, with the

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

and

Cariboo Gold Rush The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Colony of British Columbia, which later joined the Canadian province of British Columbia. The first gold discovery was made at Hills Bar in 1858, followed by more strikes in 1859 on the Horsefly River, ...

es, British Columbia was dependent upon

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

n supplies and ships. To prevent US domination of the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

, Governor James Douglas enacted laws restricting US shipping. As a consequence, Joseph Spratt established the Albion Iron Works on May 4, 1863.

Restructured operations

Albion Iron Works went through several business changes and merged with Victoria Machinery Depot (VMD), assuming the latter's name in 1888. After a fire in 1908 destroyed the plant, the facility was rebuilt. The yard did essential war work in both world wars. Harold Husband purchased the company in 1947 for $185,000. A 1954 fire caused $100,000 damage to the storage shed on Dallas road. Later, the yard built several

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry ...

vessels. During 1965–1967, it constructed the oil drilling platform ''Sedco 135-F'' for exploration by

Shell Canada Shell Canada Limited (french: Shell Canada Limitée) is the principal Canadian subsidiary of British energy major Shell plc and one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies. Exploration and production of oil, natural gas and sulphur is a maj ...

Hecate Strait , image = HecateStrait(PittIsland).JPG , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = Hecate Strait and Pitt Island , image_bathymetry = Loc-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = , caption ...

. At the time, ''Sedco 135-F'' was the largest

semi-submersible Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as: * Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport *Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface * ...

platform in the world and was the first platform constructed in BC. Before submersion, the 10 million rig rose above the waterline at the VMD docks. After the 1967 launch and three years of exploration off the British Columbia coast, it was towed to oilfields in New Zealand, the North Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. ''Sedco 135-F'' is often confused with the rig that suffered the blowout resulting in the

Ixtoc I oil spill Ixtoc 1 was an exploratory oil well being drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig ''Sedco 135'' in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche in waters deep. On 3 June 1979, the well suffered ...

. That was the original ''Sedco 135'', the first of the series built at

Ingalls Shipbuilding Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States, originally established in 1938, and now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, HII. It is a leading producer of ships for the United States Navy, and at 12,500 ...

in 1965. ''Sedco 135-F'' was one of the last seagoing vessels built by VMD. The company turned to pressure vessels and

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s, but the firm closed permanently in 1994, joining the business contractions of that decade. The yards were one of several contractors to the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

for ship repair and maintenance.

Facilities

The first shipyard was constructed on Bay Street between Pleasant Street and Turner Street. A second yard was built near what is now Ogden Point Terminal.

Ships built

Miscellaneous vessels

* Hull 6 SS – 1902, built for the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

. * Hull 136 ''Sedco 135-F'' – 1967, at 8,676 gross register tonnage it was one of the largest vessels built by VMD.

Warships

* Hull 58 – 1959 * Hull 87 – 1959–1961 moved to Yarrows Shipyards for completion in September 1961.

Ferries

* Hull 52 MV ''Lloyd Jones'' – 1950, later known as ''Vesuvius Queen''. (see also

Steamboats of Lake Okanagan A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S (for 'Screw Steamer') or PS (for 'Paddle Steamer'); however, thes ...

) * Hull 79 – 1956 built for Coast Ferries Ltd., purchased by

in 1969. * Hull 85 MV ''Sidney'' – 1960, later ''Queen Of Sidney'' – 1963. * Hull 94 MV ''City of Victoria'' – 1962, later ''Queen of Victoria'' 1963, ''Queen of Ocoa'' 2000, ''Aan'' 2005, scrapped 2006. * Hull 99 MV ''Queen of Saanich'' – 1963 * Hull 100 MV ''Queen of Esquimalt'' – 1963 * Hull 104 – 1964 Queen of Nanaimo

* Hull 105 – 1964 * Hull 107 MV ''Comox Queen'' – 1964 built for the

Ministry of Transportation A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

, later . * Hull 125 MV ''Queen of Burnaby'' – 1965 * Hull 129 MV ''Powell River Queen'' – 1965 * Hull 130 MV ''Mayne Queen'' – 1965 * Hull 131 MV ''Bowen Queen'' – 1965 * Hull 124 – 1966 * Hull 145 MV ''Doris Yorke'' – 1968, now ''Seaspan Doris'' (a truck and

rail ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...

), was the last vessel constructed by VMD. * Sternwheeler ''Inlander'' - 1910. She was the last sternwheeler serving the Skeena River. Scrapped in 1912 at Port Essington.

References

{{reflist, 30em Marine engine manufacturers Shipbuilding companies of Canada Former defence companies of Canada History of Victoria, British Columbia Companies established in 1863 Companies disestablished in 1994 Engine manufacturers of Canada Companies based in Victoria, British Columbia Defunct manufacturing companies of Canada