Dear Editor:
Re: Chief Skugaid cut adrift by Larco, The Record, Feb. 22.
Thanks for the relatively well-balanced cover-story on the historic Chief Skugaid. It has generated an outpouring of goodwill from residents along the quays and farther afield, as well. Many indicated that they would write a letter to the editor, in support.
Several parties responded to the vessel's website (considerately included by your staff writer at the foot of the item) suggesting docks/piers in other regions and municipalities, and I am following-up on these leads, although nothing really viable has presented itself, as of yet.
I would like to clarify "for the record" a couple of salient points mentioned (or rather, not mentioned.)
The granting of the injunction was based on the very recent lease agreement drawn up by, and between, Larco (a.k.a. Cathedral #143) and Port Metro. It appears to have been tailor-made to rid Larco of a (to them) "vexatious common-law tenant" and the judge ruled only on the basis of that lease; it has been in effect for a very minor portion of the nearly one-and-a-half years Chief Skugaid has been (for the most part, legally) moored in that marine roadway.
Notwithstanding that, Larco did not have the legal authority to ask for, or receive, recompense for moorage. For more than a year, I offered to pay them a monthly fee, and provide them with a hold-harmless waiver, as well, as a good-will gesture. They refused my offer.
It should be noted that Larco has effectively taken control of the waterfront along the pier (a distance of approximately one-eighth of a mile) for the paltry sum of $600 per annum. They have discretionary powers as to who does and does not have the right to tie-up there. SeaSpan tugs and many other commercial vessels have traditionally used that pier, over many decades, as an overnight berth, even for weekends and stormy periods, and continue to so do to this moment. Be that as it may, there's no reversing the court order, and I'm preparing to cast-off lines in the next very short while, to accommodate that order.
My hope is to somehow remain within this jurisdiction, perhaps as a tenant of the city itself. The historic Chief Skugaid is very much a "native son" at this point (registered here in the 100-year-old Port of New Westminster) and I, too, have come to feel very much a part of this venerable and historic community at the river's edge.
Thanks to your paper for providing the vessel with the positive exposure so necessary to continuing the restoration project.
I would recommend that your readers log on to the homepage at www.chiefskugaid.org and navigate the many pages of archival photographs (including many of "old New West.") Anything that the readers may bring to this project would be most welcome indeed.
David Cobb, owner/skipper of Chief Skugaid
