ML: What does being president / CEO of the Steam Ship Master Society involve and what are the challenges?

Croner: It is a volunteer job. I chair our general meetings and the directors meetings we have every two weeks or so. I solicit funds for the vessel. We do every type of promotion possible for it and try to set up events for the next year, for example, there is a big event in Ladysmith in June so Im working on that. I talk to the government about funding and to Lotto Canada. We go to boat shows and shopping centers where we set up a booth and sell shirts and hats, the proceeds of which go towards the regular maintenance of the vessel. Keeping this girl afloat is a big challenge wooden boats always need work like painting and scraping. Keeping this girl afloat is a big challenge. We've recently recaulked and refastened the port and starboard side so the hull is good for another 100 years. It can float the equipment so we dont have to worry about that. We do the maintenance on the bulwarks. Next, the round timber on the stern has got to be done then its just regular maintenance. The odd timber on the deck has gone bad. Wooden boats always need work like painting and scraping.

ML: The steam ship Master is BC's only surviving wooden, steam powered tugboat. Tell us about her history.

Croner: She was built in 1922, where the Burrard Bridge is now, by a master shipwright called Arthur Moscrop. There were over 200 of these boats on our coast then. The Master is the last wood-hulled, steam-powered tugboat in North America. One of her many jobs was pulling two fully-loaded coal scows out of Union Bay on Vancouver Island, one for the penitentiary on the Fraser River and the other for the general hospital and city hall. All those buildings were coal fired then. She pulled all the stone for the Hotel Vancouver and pulled limestone from Texada Island. She ran as far south as San Francisco and as far north as Alaska. She worked for many towboat companies then was decommissioned in 1959 by Marpole Towing and sat idle on the Pitt River where vandals were slowly stripping her, until the World Ship Society bought her for $500. In their constitution it says they could support a boat but not own one so the Steam Ship Master Society was created by navy veterans and guys from the steam plant at Molsons Brewery and it continues on today. Now she has over a million clicks on her, but shes as good as gold.

ML: If you were not the president/CEO of the Steam Ship Master Society what would you be doing?

Croner: I'de be on the road with my son, who's a drummer or I'de be doing what I do now, growing healthy food for people. I enjoy farming and also enjoy the Master so I'de try to find something at sea level to do. I also do Meals on Wheels. We feed the sick, aged and handicapped and I do downtown where I call at all the residential hotels, which are not very nice places. Doing that helps keep my karma balanced. I was raised that if youre successful in life, you put something back. Not necessarily money but your own time.

ML: What do you like best about your work with the Master?

Croner: I like the people and the challenge. We go to about 20 events a year. I get a lot of satisfaction when someone comes aboard. Sometimes the old-timers cry Oh, you saved her. Oh, I cant believe it. Thats satisfaction for me, big-time.

ML: If there was anything you could change about this job what would it be?

Croner: Id learn more about the operation of the engine. Im familiar with things like starting her up but the engine is really something.

ML: Youre hoping to tie the Master up at the new National Maritime Centre for the Pacific and the Arctic planned for North Vancouver. Please tell us about this.

Croner: It's going to be part of the new development at the foot of Lonsdale. When We were there with the boat last week, I thought they were going to announce the opening of that area but it didnt happen. They were commemorating Shipbuilding at the Burrard Dock Company and I talked to a man called Gerry Borden with Parks Canada who said they'd review an application We made to have the Master become a national place. He's the Commemorations Officer for Parks Canada, Coastal BC Field Unit in Fort Langley. Parks Canada owns the Saint Roch and the Bluenose which is only a replica. We'd like to be a working exhibit, similar to the Fort in Fort Langley, going to different communities and having people come aboard and watch the engine turn over slowly at the dock. The National Maritime Cente for the Pacific and the Artic may be one of the areas where the Master will be tied up.

ML: What can people do to support the Steam Ship Master Society ?

Croner: They can volunteer. They can look at Our web site which is www.ssmaster.org and has links to geat photos and movies of the Master. They can e-mail Me at chris@ssmaster.org

This is one of the e-mails I've had: "As a Seaspan tugboat Captain and tugboat lover, I'd like to get more involved with the fine piece of history which is the Steam Ship Master. I feel She is the grandparent to the industry which has given Mea career. Please let Me know if theres anything I can do to help."

That was from Captain Garth Roberts. When I phoned him and asked how long it took to come up with that terminology He said about three hours and two beers. A lot of old guys call Her the last of the red hot mammas because She has a furnace aboard Her for heating the water for the steam. We usually have work parties on Saturdays down where Eburne Sawmill used to be, at the the foot of Granville Street , behind the Fraser Arms Hotel in a little slough. That's where We tie up in winter. Were negotiating with Granville Island to tie up there in summer as We dont know where the Maritime Museum is going to be. You can't see us from the Maritime Museum, the Sea Lion is tied up and blocking the view. Tour buses can't go down to the Maritime Museum so We don't get very good public exposure. Hopefully Well attract a lot of people to Granville Island the Master would be like the steam clock in Gastown. We'll be the tugboat at Granville Island. She's an icon to Granville Island. Her boiler was built there, She was built 600 meters away under the Burrard Street Bridge and She pulled coal barges into False Creek so I think She's a natural.

ML: Interviewer Margaret (Amaryllis) Boyes is a Vancouver Island based freelance writer and speechwriter. She can be reached at: www.amarylliscommunications.com