First Tall Ship in 100 years docks in Tahsis

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The Tahsis Art Society put on an "Edge of the West" CoffeeHouse in celebration of the first Tall Ship to visit Tahsis since the turn of the 19th Century. The Tall Ship orginated from the Sea Education Association in Massachusetts. The voyage is part of a training progam for Oceanography students. The Tall Ship SSV Robert C. Seamans docked at Westview Marina on Sunday July 25th in the evening, and students and crew started leave on Monday.

According to Cathy Daynes, the owner of Westview Marina, there was no suitable dock for a Tall Ship in Tahsis when she was first put in touch with Captain Tarrant by e-mail.

"The Government dock was too high, the lower section was too short, the Cruise Ship dock on Doman's property was too high."

Finally, since this was the 2nd inquiry from a Tall Ship recieved this summer, Cathy moved up plans to built additional moorage space, and added additional docks in a section of the Marina which had the proper depth to accommodate a Tall Ship.


Captain Steve Tarrant and students on the deck of the SSV Robert C. Seamans

Tahsis Art Society representative Alice Thompson met Captain Steve Tarrant the day before the CoffeeHouse to interview him for her Tahsis BC Blog. Captain Tarrant commented about their visit to Tahsis:

"A beautiful tour, people (in Tahsis) have been incredibly friendly and hospitable. Sharon (Armella from Village of Tahsis) and Cathy (Cathy Daynes of Westview Marina) helped enormously to find a place where we could tie up. Finally they (Westview Marina) built their new dock ahead of schedule for us."

"It's a great opportunity to have a wilderness experience and relax, meet local folk, walk around the town. The students need some downtime... It's a great program but very intensive, and (they) need a break."

Steve Tarrant went on to say they had also been to Skung Gwaii this trip, and visited a Haida Heritage site. He went on to comment about the Nootka Sound and Tahsis Inlet waters:

"Such a beautiful area, just great for oceanography, geological and geological and geo chemical research. We have done current, density and oxygen measurement, and we have a Chirp to give a profile of the ocean bottom. The rest of the time the students are swabbing the decks and doing all the maintenance that comes with a traditional sailing ship. Over the course of the voyage, the students take over all the ship functions and scientific research."

The Captain Crew and students gave an open house and tour of their ship Tuesday evening to the public from 5 to 7, then came up to the coffeehouse given in honor of their visit. Captain Tarrant entertained the crowd of Tahsis locals, fellow crew and visitors to a collection of traditional Sea Shanties. His crew of students performed the returns to the Shanties, and student member Meagan Kallman of New Hampshire also performed several Sea Shanties.


Captain Steven Tarrant performing Traditional Sea Shanties



Students from the ship, Tahsis locals and visitors listen to the performance

This was the 2nd CoffeeHouse put on by the Tahsis Art Society since the Sacred Ground Coffee House was finished and the Tahsis Art Trail CoffeeHouse on the July long weekend was held.


Student Meagan Kallman of New Hampshire (on the stool beside Captain Tarrant) sings several more Sea Shanties

Local musicians Conibear, Roy and Juanita DuLong and Willdeve finished several original songs in time for the CoffeeHouse, and the audience of 50 people was treated to Willdeve's first public performance of her Tahsis BBQ song and her ballad on the meeting of Captain Cook and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht tribe at Friendly Cove in 1778. Willdeve also performed her song on "The Swans of Tahsis", and several folk favorites.


Willdeve performing the "Tahsis BBQ Song"


Conibear performed the first public showing of her song "Tropical Breeze" and many folk favorites.

Roy and Juanita Dulong performed the first public performance of their song "Come home with me and live by the sea", a song inspired by their personal story of how they came to move to Tahsis, Juanita's childhood home, from Nova Scotia.


Juanita DuLong, Roy Dulong and Debra Conibear

Roy went on to perform several instrumentals and traditional country songs, including "Paper Roses" where the audience joined in for the Chorus.


Ray Richards performs several lively prarie songs, and some Shanties from Nova Scotia

Ray Richards of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is visiting his brother who had moved out to Tahsis. Ray performed a rousing rendition of several songs from the Prairies, the most notable and humorous one about a destitute Saskatchewan Farmer who decides to become a pirate on the rivers of the prairies.

When Ray asked if anyone locally knew the meaning of the name Saskatchewan, local Alex Wright called out: "It is a First Nations name for "Place where no man can jump to his death", which received a roar of laughter from the Crowd.


a student from the ship performs several pieces by Pearl Jam

Other notable performances from visitors to Tahsis were several songs by Pearl Jam performed by another student from the ship, and several Italian songs performed on the mandolin by a boater who has been in Tahsis since mid June as his boat developed problems and his motor is currently being repaired in Campbell River.


A stranded boater performs on the Mandolin

At the end of the evening Captain Tarrant said the ship was leaving for San Francisco at 700 Hours the next morning, and that while this was their first voyage up the coast to Tahsis, when the ship did it's next training voyage up the coast two years from now, he expected to be coming back up to tahsis.

Alice Thompson, who co-hosted the evening with Debra Conibear and Willdeve, said many locals had mentioned to her how nice it was to see the young people from the ship wandering around the town the last few days, and to see the masts of the Tall Ship at the Marina, and the Ship and students would be missed after they left for the next stage of their voyage.