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Captain Darius Smith - cont’d. At least, so Rebecca and Darius thought. But in 1914, World War 1 broke out. Darius was a member of the Royal Naval Reserve, and sea officers with his skills and experience were much in demand. It took some time for the Admiralty to get organised, but in 1917 the requirement arose for the transport of munitions and supplies from India to the British troops fighting the Turks in Southern Iraq, then known as Mesopotamia (Mespot to the troops). The Admiralty requisitioned an old auxiliary schooner in Vancouver, one of those large timber carriers with many fore-and-aft sails. James Boyd was her Captain and Darius Smith was her First Officer; they sailed together from 1917 for 2 years, 6 months, and 20 days, which must have seemed like a lifetime before they were finished. The Persian Gulf is one of the world’s hottest and least agreeable strips of ocean. Nowadays it is a busy sea-lane, but the oil tankers that go down there have air-conditioned accommodation. Not so the “Margaret Henry”, in which Darius Smith sailed. At the Iraq end of their run, there are marshes around the estuary, mosquitoes abound. Most of the crew were in hospital with malaria at least once. The “Margaret Henry” was built of wood and in the ferocious heat her planking had the habit of shrinking. Leaks were a perpetual problem. Typically, one entry in Darius’ diary records that on arrival in Bombay after one trip the ship was put into dry dock for corking but it didn’t cure the problem; she still leaked. Not surprisingly the crew was unhappy and on one occasion they refused to sail on “old articles”. There followed a long negotiation with the Transport Officer, whom I presume was the British Government representative who held the purse strings. Finally “arrangements” were made and the voyage continued. Even the end of the war in November 1918 didn’t deliver them from this dreary treadmill, because of course it took sometime for the troops to be taken home and during that time they still needed to be supplied. It was one year after the war’s end that the Margaret Henry’s duties were completed and she was disposed of. November 1919 she was sold to a French owner and the crew was paid off in Marseilles. Not much faster than Columbus! With permission of the West Vancouver Museum & Archives Photo 33.62 George Smith Family, a mature Capt. Darius Smith 193? Cont’d. next column Captain Darius Smith - cont’d. Captain Boyd gave Darius Smith a glowing letter of recommendation: “willing, obedient, attentive to his duties.” History doesn’t relate how long it took him to return from Marseilles to Vancouver, but one hopes he was on a speedier vessel than the old “Margaret Henry” which on the way out took 64 days to travel from Victoria to Balikpapan on the East Coast of Borneo. Not much faster than Columbus! Back home he picked up his life where it had left off, becoming first mate and then skipper of various West Vancouver Ferries. He would have retired in 1943 except for another war, which kept him at the wheel of a ferry until 1946, when the ferries ceased operations and Captain Darius Smith with them. He died in 1948 at the age of 70, and his ashes were strewn on the waters of Prospect Point, which he knew so well. Which brings me to the heroic feat for which he was best known. Courtesy Alaska State Library Photo ASL.P87.1662. S.S. Princess Alice, circa 1930’s On February 4“^, 1935, Captain Smith was the skipper of the ferry West Vancouver No.5, which was proceeding cautiously westward through the first narrows close to Prospect Point. It was 8:47 on a Monday and there were only half a dozen passengers. A heavy fog curtailed visibility. Suddenly the C.P.R. vessel Princess Alice, inbound from Seattle, running late and rather too fast, appeared through the fog, too close, for either vessel to take evasive action. The sharp bow of the Princess Alice struck the ferry on the port side of the large after- cabin. Most passengers and crew were able to escape from the rapidly filling and shrinking hull, but one elderly lady Mrs. Burritt was trapped between the With permission of the West Vancouver Museum &. Archives Photo 127 WV RAH, WV Ferry No.5 in dry-dock after collision, February 1935 Cont’d. next page Pane 3