In the first half of the 20th century the Comox Valley had a booming logging industry. The logs where pulled by train to the entrance of the Comox Harbour, dumped there and towed over the Strait of Georgia to the big sawmills in New Westminster on the mainland. The site in Royston is very exposed to southerly winds increasing the tidal swells which made the dump tricky and dangerous specially in winter. First the logging company tried to install a breakwater with boomsticks. In the late 1930s they sunk the first old ship hulks, beginning with the "Laurel Whalen", to break the ocean's force. In the next 25 years the number of ships increased to 14 of many different kinds, including old whaling boats, schooners, navy frigates, freighters and tugs. The most historic might be the "Melanope", a 79-metre 3-masted sailing ship built in 1876.
They are still there, slowly but surely falling apart and vanishing. In a way these rusty bits and pieces sticking out of the water are ugly. On the other hand they are still a reminder of the booming logging industry here (whatever you think about it - it is a big part of the local history), and imagine how the whole place was buzzing with life more than half a century ago.
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