Kelsey Bay breakwater hulks

Canada / British Columbia / Gold River /
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Four (or five) old rusting hulks of former ships are used as a breakwater for the log booming gounds and the small boat harbour.

There is some confusion about the actual identity of the ships. According to a sign at the site, the hulks are (left to right): Lasalle, Longueuil, Cardena, and Runnymede. That sign does not list the cruiser USS Charleston, though from photos on the web I believe its remains lie just east of Runnymede.
Some websites identify the HMCS Cape Breton, and not the Lasalle, as being one of the ships.

The ships:

USS Charleston (C-22), a protected cruiser launched 1904. The Charleston, after spending many years as a floating breakwater in Powell River, was towed to this spot in 1961. freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacunithistor...


The SS Cardena, flagship of the Union Steamship fleet on the BC coast for three decades. Upon retirement in 1961, its hull was used as part of the floating breakwater in Powell River before being moved here several years later. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cardena

The other three ships were former Royal Canadian Navy River class frigates ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_class_frigate )

HMCS Longueuil, built in 1944 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Longueuil_(K672)

HMCS Runnymede (K678), built in 1943

and either the HMCS Cape Breton (K350), built 1942 or the HMCS Lasalle (K519) built 1943.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   50°23'42"N   125°57'23"W
This article was last modified 12 years ago