The Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society has immersed itself in marine type legacies. Whether it be a model of the first ship to sail in what are now British Columbia waters in 1774 and known as Santiago de Nueva Galicia under the command of a Spanish Captain Juan Joseph Perez Hernandez to a five masted topsail built in 1919 known as the City of Port Alberni. The 37 foot steamship they called the SWAN built in 1880 probably in Coal Harbour Ship Yards is now an iconic displ

Researched by Lawrence Charnell, owner of the NAHANNI and Kenn Whiteman, President of the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society in 2018 Imagine if you will that you have been transported back in time to 1941. Imagine as well that your mode of travel to Ucluelet on Vancouver Island consisted of a ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo, a bus to Port Alberni and finally a five hour journey by steamer down the Alberni Canal. Roads that could have connected Ucluelet with the outsi