Last week I posted a story about Fumiko Watanabe, a young Japanese girl living in Deep Bay, north of Nanaimo. It was 1921. Mr. Tanake was the story teller. This story is about another young girl living in Deep Bay. Her name is Ainsley and the story teller is her grandfather Burt. It is 2021.

“Ainsley, did I ever tell you about the shipwreck of the ‘Alpha’ and one of the greatest love stories I know?”

Ainsley loved Grandpa’s stories. He had been coming to Deep Bay for over sixty years, ever since he was a five year old boy. His father had been a commercial fisherman and people had told her that the seas back then were so teeming with herring and salmon and cod that a man could literally walk on water, there were so many.

Ainsley never knew if those stories were true but she loved it when Grandpa told them around the campfire, his twinkly eyes sparkling against the flames. And he told them so convincingly that even he could make even the most far fetched yarn seem possible. Sometimes they would take her to another time and place as though she was walking with the people he described.  He never said they were true, he would just encourage Ainsley to close her eyes and imagine and let the story transport her.

“Yes, Grandpa, yes. I’d love to hear it.”

She shut her eyes and Grandpa began.

The waters between Deep Bay and the mainland can be very rough, particularly in the winter and many ships have been lost in terrible storms over the last century. Back in 1900, the government decided to build a lighthouse on Yellow Rock, the place they now call Chrome Island, to give some protection for the ocean going ships seeking safe harbour in Baynes Sound and Deep Bay.  To this day the lighthouse stands sentinel.

The ‘Alpha’ was an ocean going ship commissioned by Cunard Lines and heading to Japan carrying salmon and coal which it was due to pick up in Deep Bay.  The ship’s captain, Hamish McGregor was experienced and had made the dangerous voyage across the Pacific Ocean on many occasions. The ‘Alpha’ was in safe hands.

On the ships last and fateful voyage there was one unexpected passenger, the ships owner. Sir Archibald Kirby-Macdonell had come aboard in Vancouver BC, after crossing the continent on the new trans continental train the Canadian Pacific Rail had built through the Rockies. To complete the trans continental had been CP’s part of the bargain in return for which they received millions of acres of valuable land in British Columbia, including over three and half million acres on Vancouver Island. It had opened up Canada and made the Canadian Pacific by any standard, vastly wealthy, the greatest land owner and owner of below ground mineral rights Canada had ever known.  Sir Archibald owned logging rights and coal mines all around Deep Bay and had invested with others in the deep sea port at Deep Bay, to help get the resources to the Far East.

But that was not the reason Sir Archibald was on the ‘Alpha’ as it churned through heavy seas that stormy December night in 1990 toward Chrome Island. Stored away in two reinforced trunks, deep in the hold of his ship was a secret. Sir Archibald had spent two years in the Yukon seeking his fortune in what would become known as the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. And he had struck it rich at Eldorado Creek, one of the richest strikes in Klondike history.  But no one knew that. History records that a Scottish prospector by the name of David Stirling had filed his claim in the Whitehorse office and left the Yukon with a huge fortune, sealed away in two reinforced trunks. They held over $10,000,000 in gold, enough money in those days to live out your life like a King.

‘David Stirling’ was in fact Sir Archibald Kirby-Macdonell and he had come aboard the ‘Alpha’ in the port of Vancouver bringing with him only his gold and intending to emigrate to Japan, leaving behind all that he knew and all who he knew.

Life was hard for the Klondiker’s in the Yukon, many of whom perished in the harsh climate and unforgiving landscape, not even counting those who died at the hands of other men stripped of all common decency in their lust for gold. But while Sir Archibald had achieved wealth and station before he had arrived in the Yukon he had never forsaken his roots in the coal mines of northern England.  He was one of the few ready for the harsh, gruelling test that lay ahead.

He left the Yukon eighteen months later, wealthy beyond his wildest imagination and in love with a beautiful woman. Asami Abiko was 17 when she arrived in Whitehorse with her family, not in pursuit of gold but knowing that there was opportunity to provide good meals, a clean bed and fresh laundry for the thousands of prospectors who would travel through on their way to Eldorado, Bonanza and the hundreds of other gold rich creeks of the Yukon. And it was in ‘Abako’s Home Cooked Meals and Laundry’ that Asami first set her eyes on Mr. David Stirling’ of Edinburgh, Scotland a handsome, kind looking prospector.

She was a sight for sore eyes and ‘David Stirling’ couldn’t help but stare at her which he knew made the young Japanese girl blush. She wouldn’t even look up. He knew of course that this young girl’s parents wouldn’t let her have anything to do with him, a young Japanese girl and a Scottish prospector from the Yukon. He didn’t stand a chance. But in that moment, none of that mattered. All he knew was that he had to find a way to speak with her.

“I’m sorry lassie, I mean no offense. Please let me apologize.” Asami looked up and allowed the slightest smile. That was enough for ‘David Stirling’. He returned every day for two weeks, bringing his laundry, even when it had been freshly cleaned, taking every meal of the day and always trying to catch Asami’s attention. Her parents noticed and at first reminded Asami that it was not safe to be with these prospectors, that they are a rough and unsavory lot, every last one of them. But they could see Asami was struck by ‘Mr. Stirling’ and they even came to think that he did seem to be very nice.

“May I have a word with you?”

It was ‘Mr. Stirling’ and he was addressing Asami’s parents,

“In private, if you will.”

Asami’s parents could speak English and invited him behind the screen curtain. ‘Mr. Stirling’ doffed his hat and placed it on the dresser.

“My name is not ‘David Stirling’, I have assumed that name to hide my real identity from those who might do me harm. My name is Sir Archibald Kirby-Macdonell and I hail from Edinburgh, Scotland although Canada has long been my adopted country. I know you will think my false name confirms that I am not trustworthy but I have declared my real name to you at some personal peril. I trust you will take that as some measure of my integrity and as it happens, my good intentions toward your daughter.”

Asami’s parents had no idea what to say, so they said nothing.

“From the moment I first set my eyes upon her, I have behaved like a foolish schoolboy. My clothes have never been cleaner and your meals are so good that I am gaining weight and yet I still seek excuses to return to your shop, just so that I might see Asami again. You must think me foolish but all I am asking is that you give both of us permission to speak openly and to share our stories. I don’t know what might come of that but I do know my feelings for her are strong and I think her’s are for me, although it is difficult to know with any certainty because we don’t speak, we ‘talk’ only with our eyes and exchanged glances.”

Archie stopped to take a breath.

“I do know one thing and on that I lay my honour. I am a good man of decent values and will not betray any trust you extend nor any fanciful dream your daughter may harbour.”

Asami’s parents decided to allow the couple to speak openly with strict conditions; they must always meet in the shop or with one of her parents within earshot.

And so it went. Sir Archibald had to travel north for two months to tend to his claim on Eldorado Creek but promised to return to Whitehorse and Asami as soon as possible. When he did Sir Archibald was more excited than Asami had ever seen a grown man. He had returned with two sealed reinforced trunks. They were full of gold.

“Asami, you know I love you and want to marry you and now I know I can.”

Asami dropped her gaze, tears streaming down her face.

“Oh, my Archie, I love you as I never expected to love any man and nothing would please me more but it can never be so. We are to leave Whitehorse and move to Deep Bay on Vancouver Island. It is a remote village but it is rich in herring and my people are building a herring cannery to ship herring back to my country. After two years my parents say we will move back to Japan forever.”

They both gazed at one another in silence, tears streaming down their cheeks, knowing that forces beyond them were controlling their lives.

“I will not stop Asami. I will not stop until I can be with you again, wherever that might take us.”

Asami and her family did move to Deep Bay and they did well in a growing and prosperous Japanese community building a thriving herring cannery.  She would take long walks along the spit daydreaming about how her life might have been, remembering the lingering kiss that they shared in their last private moment together.

In Vancouver, ‘Sir Archibald Kirby-Macdonell’ reappeared, to the great surprise of most of his friends, assuming as they had that he had died in the Yukon or in some far flung part of the world or that he had simply returned to Scotland, a wealthy man.

Archie and Asami wrote every week they were apart, sharing stories of every day life, sharing their dreams of a life together. And then, on August 20, 1900 a letter arrived addressed to Miss Asami Abiko:

      “My Dearest Asami,

       I live to be with you and with every drawn breath I am committed  to spending the rest of my days with you as your devoted husband, that is if you will have me? I have through good fortune accumulated enormous wealth and have neither need nor appetite to accumulate more. I have lived on two continents in Europe and North America and feel fully satisfied with those experiences. I have but one purpose with what remains of my life and that is to find a way to be with you for the rest of my days. I know it is asking too much of your family, and perhaps even of you, to leave you here in Canada when they return to your homeland next year, so it is this I propose. 

      I will be aboard my merchant ship, the SS Alpha, in December when we set sail for Japan loaded with salmon and coal. I will be bringing two chests of gold which I took from my claims in the Klondike, knowing that gold is a trusted currency in any country, including Japan. It is enough money for us to live well and for us to take care of your parents as they get older. We will dock in Deep Bay to pick up coal, not something which will sit well with my captain but as I am the owner of the ‘Alpha’ he will have little choice in the matter. And of course, you my love, are the ‘coal’ I will be picking up. You and your family. Please return my message as soon as possible and fill my heart with one simple word.

                                                Yes.

Your loving Archie.

By return mail on September 15, 1900 Sir Archibald Kirby-Macdonell opened a letter from Miss Asami Abiko, Deep Bay, BC, Canada.

My dearest heart,

Yes. With all my heart yes!

Your loving Asami

In the weeks following, Archie became increasingly excited.  He confided in his closest friend and to his solicitor requiring each of them to keep his plans close. Both of them tried to talk Archie out of his plan to move to Japan, saying whatever they could to persuade Archie that he was embarking on a fool’s errand, chasing a young Japanese girl to the other side of the world for ‘love?’.

“Good God man, come to your senses. You will be the laughing stock!”

“I’d rather die running toward my dream, than die running away from being laughed at. Now, my good friends, thank you. I know you have spoken as friends and without malice but I must now ask you to mute your concerns and celebrate my imminent departure loudly. “

Archie knew better than most how difficult the challenges which lay ahead. Foreigners were generally viewed with suspicion in Japan, which had been a hidden empire for centuries. And a foreigner who was marrying a young Japanese woman would draw intense scrutiny and perhaps even worse from some of the more jingoistic nationalists in that country.  He made plans with his solicitor to establish a business in Japan, exporting resources and luxury goods to Canada, a completely new market. Archie also established a cultural centre in Hokkaido where Asami’s family lived and people from her community could learn about Canada and opportunities overseas. He would do what he could to prove that he was a good man. He would just need time to prove it.

As December 15th approached, Archie sent Asami a letter confirming the date of his arrival in Deep Bay on the ‘Alpha’.

When the day to embark arrived the weather was foreboding, dark skies and winds whipping the waves as the ‘Alpha’ steamed out of the port of Vancouver and into the Straits of Georgia. All through the day the winds howled and the sea grew angrier with each passing hour. Archie had been through many a tight spot but he cast an eye at Captain McGregor. He always took comfort from the experienced seaman’s calm demeanour when he was under pressure.

For his part Captain McGregor was acutely aware that the ship’s owner was aboard. He couldn’t for the life of him think why on earth any man would make a voyage such as this across the Pacific unless he absolutely had to.  He muttered to his First Mate,

“I have no choice, the crew have no choice, this is their job. But Sir Archie is the owner and he has no need to make this God forsaken crossing!” He shook his head.

“And why, since I’m thinking about this, why on God’s good earth are we sailing for Deep Bay. We can’t possibly take on even another hundred weight of coal so there is no need. And this weather is treacherous as if the navigation into Deep Bay isn’t difficult enough.”

After a few hours the ‘Alpha’ steamed into Active Pass, directly across the Straight of Georgia from Vancouver. Both the Captain and Sir Archie were on the bridge, the helm manned by Captain McGregor’s most experienced seaman,

“Captain, I’m losing her, I’m losing her. Give me a hand!”

The ‘Alpha’ was heading perilously close to the cliffs lining the starboard side of Active Pass and she was so heavy in the water that she didn’t respond right away to the steering. All three men put their weight into the wheel and finally the big ship turned away from the cliffs.

“Should we drop anchor and wait out the storm Captain?” The first mate knew that Captain McGregor had survived a lifetime at sea precisely because he didn’t take foolish risks. It was why the crew trusted him.

But any consideration of waiting out the storm was stifled immediately,

“I won’t hear of it gentlemen”

Sir Archie spoke loudly and with the authority of the final word, “We will make Deep Bay tonight!”

Loaded to the gunwales the ‘Alpha’ took on water with every wave, fighting furiously to stay on course. Through the late afternoon and into the winter night she lumbered on as the sky dropped a deep fog over the ocean. By his dead reckoning Captain McGregor estimated they were ten nautical miles from Baynes Sound, where they would find Deep Bay.

“Send up the lookout. The new lighthouse on Chrome Island will see us in safely.”

“Aye, aye Captain.”

“I’m making ten knots Sir Archibald, which is too fast for my liking but if I reduce her speed any further we’ll lose all control.”

The lookout was perched high up one of the ‘Alpha’s’ four masts, soaked to the skin despite his heavy weather slickers. He peered through binoculars straining to see the lighthouse but he knew that was nearly impossible in the driving rain and wind. Each time a wave crested the ship bobbed up and down a good twenty feet and each time the lookout would have to hang on to his perch with all his strength and then try again to find any sign of an horizon, or land or a light.

And then, there it was.

Out of the foggy winter darkness the lookout spotted the dim but unmistakable reflected light of the new lighthouse at Chrome Island.

“Land ahoy, lighthouse ahoy!” The lookout bellowed at the top of his lungs but it was futile. He was shouting into a cacophony of breaking waves and howling winds, metal straining against the rivets and ropes snapping against the weight of it all. He would have to climb down and let the Captain know directly.

“Captain, Captain” the lookout shouted breathlessly when he finally made the bridge, “Lighthouse dead ahead!”

And right then, in that moment, Captain McGregor knew it was too late.

“Brace, brace! Hard astern, hard astern!” he shouted. But by then the ‘Alpha’ had closed to within a few metres of Chrome Island, the waves coloured an eery greenish yellow from the lighthouse above.

“Abandon ship. Abandon ship. Save yourselves. May God save your souls.”

The ship foundered on the rocks and then pulled back, not under power but in the grip of the wind and waves. And then as suddenly as she was pulled back the ‘Alpha’ was hurled back up on the rocks, pushed by forces more powerful than any man made engine. The ‘Alpha’ was helpless. This time Captain McGregor and Sir Archie heard the hull being ripped open by some terrible force and knew the sea water was pushing into the holds below. After just a few minutes, the ‘Alpha’ gave one final groan and slowly rolled over, sinking beneath the waves.

There was no escape for either man. Sir Archie thought about Asami until he could think no more.

Through the rain swept darkness Asami and her parents stood on the shore of Deep Bay straining to see what was happening on Chrome Island. Someone had said a ship had struck the island but Asami thought it could have been any other ship. Besides she thought to herself they probably decided to wait out this dreadful storm in a safe harbour. Her Archie would show up tomorrow.  There had been something happen, of that they were all certain but it must have taken just a few minutes because there was no sign of any ship there now.

“Oh, grandpa that is so sad.” said Ainsley tears streaming down her face, “What happened to Asami?”

“She stayed in Deep Bay and married a young Japanese man. They had a baby girl and called her Daitan, the ‘bold and daring one’, but Asami died shortly after childbirth.”

“And did anyone ever recover all that gold Archie was bringing with him in the ship?”

“No” said Grandpa, “Some have tried but the ‘Alpha’ went down in three hundred metres and the ocean currents there are dangerous. Gordon Webb owns property in Deep Bay and when he was a young man he dove down to the ‘Alpha’, even brought up a brass porthole to prove it but no one has ever recovered the gold.”

“Did Sir Archie have any other family in Canada?”

“Yes, Ainsley he did. And that is why I have wanted to tell you this story.”

“Go on Grandpa.” Ainsley sensed that Grandpa had wanted to tell her this part of the story all along.

“So Sir Archibald had lived in Canada for approximately ten years before he met Asami Abako. He spent several years in Vancouver, then up to the Yukon and finally back in Vancouver again. In fact he had been married and had a son by that marriage who they named Peter, although the marriage didn’t end well. He had divorced before he met Asami, providing support for his former wife and young son. He hadn’t been close to Peter but he was with him on one of his last visits before he left to sail for Japan for a new life with Asami. He wanted to give him some money and let him know where he was going and why. They had left on good terms.”

About 1920, Sir Archie’s son Peter, began to travel to Deep Bay each summer for the fishing. He knew the story of his father’s death on Chrome Island and he could feel closer to him when he looked across the water from Deep Bay. The fishing was so abundant and helped him supplement his families larder for the hard winter months. They were tough times. Eventually he moved his family to Lake Cowichan on the island, where there was lots of work in the logging industry.  It was dangerous work but he was tough and he was good at it. Each summer though he would pack up his family and head to Deep Bay for the salmon and herring and cod fishing.

Eventually he changed his name, mainly because it became more trouble than it was worth. He was born Peter Kirby-Macdonell and for some reason other boys from early in grade school would make fun of his name and pick fights with him. He didn’t mind fighting, it was just what kids did back then but he couldn’t figure out why he had this long double-barreled name in the first place. So one day, and without discussion, he decided to change his name and he made it official with his first British Columbia driver’s licence in 1928. From that day on he was known as ‘Peter Kirby’.”

“Hey Grandpa, that’s your last name isn’t it? Kirby.” Ainsley said with a laugh.

“Yes, it is Aynes, yes it is.” Grandpa replied, his eyes twinkling against the campfire flames.

“Was he your dad?”

“No he wasn’t. But he had a son. And he was my dad.”

Ainsley’s brother Zack came down to the campfire.

“Hey, Ainsley, guess what I heard?”

“What Zack?!” she was not pleased that her time with Grandpa was being interrupted.

“I just spoke to Mr. Webb.” his eyes wide with the excitement of an eight year old boy sensing great adventure ahead, “He says there’s sunken treasure over at Chrome Island. It’s in a ship that sank. He even showed me a porthole he recovered. Mr. Webb says there’s two big chests of gold down there. One day I’m going to go and get it.”