1915 Vancouver bridge arson attack

Last updated
1915 Vancouver bridge arson attack
Part of World War One
Cambie Street Bridge fire 2.jpg
A section of the bridge collapsed into False Creek after the fire
Location Granville Street Bridge, Connaught Bridge
DateApril 29 1915
4:29 for Connaught Bridge (PST)
Attack type
Sabotage, state-sponsored terrorism
Deaths0
Injured0
PerpetratorsImperial German agents
Motivesabotage

The Vancouver bridge arson attack took place on April 29, 1915, when two key bridges in the West Coast Canadian city of Vancouver, Granville Street Bridge and Connaught Bridge, were set on fire.

Contents

Background

The Connaught Bridge was completed in 1911 for $740,000, opening to traffic on May 24, 1911. [1] The following year, Canada's Governor General, the Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, accompanied by the Duchess and their daughter, Princess Patricia, visited Vancouver to officiate at a ceremony renaming the new crossing as the "Connaught Bridge" on September 20, 1912. The name "Connaught" never caught on, and most people continued to call it simply the "Cambie Street Bridge", after the street that runs across it, Cambie Street, named for pioneer Vancouver resident Henry John Cambie.

Fire

The fires happened on April 29, 1915. The American media widely reported that the fires were set by German immigrants celebrating the Imperial German victory over the Canadians at Ypres, Belgium. [2] [3] The fire on the caused a 24.4 metres (80 ft) span of the Connaught Bridge to collapse and caused about $90,000 in damage. [4]

Arrests

Four Germans were arrested and interned: Baron Rochus von Luttwitz (related to the Imperial German Kaiser), Dr. Otto Grumert (a founder of the Bank of Vancouver), Paul Koop and Frederich Spritzel. [5] [6]

See also

Bibliography

Notes

  1. West 1985, p. 6.
  2. The Tacoma Times, May 3, 1915, p. 1.
  3. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 29, 1915, p. 1.
  4. Davis 1997, p. 214.
  5. The Omineca Miner, May 1, 1915, p. 1.
  6. "Vernon Internment Camp book releases internee profile". Vernon Morning Star. 15 March 2023.

References

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazelton, British Columbia</span> Village municipality in British Columbia, Canada

Hazelton is a village municipality in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. The place is on the southeast side of the Skeena River immediately north of the Bulkley River mouth, where the confluence forms a peninsula. On BC Highway 62, the locality is by road about 75 kilometres (47 mi) northwest of Smithers and 144 kilometres (89 mi) northeast of Terrace. Hazelton is the original of the "Three Hazeltons", the other two being New Hazelton to the southeast and South Hazelton to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambie Street</span> Street in Vancouver, Canada

Cambie Street is a street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is named for Henry John Cambie, chief surveyor of the Canadian Pacific Railway's western division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granville Street Bridge</span> Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The Granville Street Bridge or Granville Bridge is an eight-lane fixed cantilever/truss bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, carrying Granville Street between Downtown Vancouver southwest and the Fairview neighborhood. It spans False Creek and is 27.4 m (90 ft) above Granville Island. The bridge is part of Highway 99.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own)</span> Military unit

The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance (recce) regiment of the Canadian Army; the regiment is subordinate to 39 Canadian Brigade Group of the 3rd Canadian Division. Established in 1883, it is the oldest military unit in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It parades at the Beatty Street Drill Hall at the corner of Dunsmuir and Beatty in Downtown Vancouver. The regiment has been variously designated as garrison artillery, rifles, infantry, and armoured, but has been reconnaissance since 1965. It has received 41 battle honours in its history, and has been a unit of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps since 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambie Bridge</span> Bridge in Vancouver

The Cambie Bridge is a six-lane, precast, box girder bridge spanning False Creek in Vancouver, British Columbia. The current bridge opened in 1985, but is the third bridge at the same location. Often referred to as the Cambie Street Bridge, it connects Cambie Street on the south shore of False Creek to both Nelson and Smithe Streets in the downtown peninsula. It is the easternmost of False Creek's fixed crossings; the Burrard and Granville bridges are a little more than a kilometre to the west, and the new Canada Line SkyTrain tunnel is built just west of the Cambie Bridge.

SS <i>Eurana</i> American steam cargo ship, active 1916-1942

Eurana was a steam cargo ship built on speculation in 1915 by Union Iron Works of San Francisco. While under construction, the ship was acquired by Frank Duncan McPherson Strachan to operate in the Atlantic trade for his family's Strachan Shipping Company. The vessel made several trips between the Southeast of the United States and Europe before being sold to the Nafra Steamship Company in 1917. The freighter then entered the Mediterranean trade where she remained until September 1918 when she was requisitioned by the Emergency Fleet Corporation and transferred to the United States Navy to transport military supplies prior to the end of World War I, and as a troop transport after the war's end. In October 1919, the ship was returned to Nafra, which was then being reorganized to become the Green Star Steamship Company. In 1923, Eurana and twelve other ships passed to the Planet Steamship Company, newly formed to receive them from Green Star's bankruptcy. The ship remained principally engaged in the West Coast to East Coast trade for the next seven years. In 1930, together with several other vessels, Eurana was purchased by the Calmar Steamship Corporation, and renamed Alamar. The ship continued carrying various cargo between the East and West Coasts of the United States through 1941. On 27 May 1942, while en route from Hvalfjord to Murmansk carrying lend-lease war materiel to the Soviet Union during World War II as part of Arctic convoy PQ-16, she was fatally damaged by German aircraft bombs and was consequently scuttled by a British submarine to prevent her from becoming a menace to navigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Vancouver</span>

The history of Vancouver, British Columbia, is one that extends back thousands of years, with its first inhabitants arriving in the area following the Last Glacial Period. With its location on the western coast of Canada near the mouth of the Fraser River and on the waterways of the Strait of Georgia, Howe Sound, Burrard Inlet, and their tributaries, Vancouver has – for thousands of years – been a place of meeting, trade, and settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine Drive station</span> Metro Vancouver SkyTrain station

Marine Drive is an elevated station on the Canada Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The station is located at the intersection of Cambie Street and SW Marine Drive in Vancouver, British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gitsegukla</span> Community in British Columbia, Canada

Gitsegukla is an unincorporated community in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. The place is on the southeast side of the Skeena River adjacent to the Kitseguecla River mouth. On BC Highway 16, the locality is by road about 94 kilometres (58 mi) northwest of Smithers and 113 kilometres (70 mi) northeast of Terrace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatty Street Drill Hall</span> Drill Hall / armoury in Vancouver, British Columbia

The Beatty Street Drill Hall is a Canadian Forces armoury located at 620 Beatty Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the home of The British Columbia Regiment, an armoured reconnaissance reserve regiment, the oldest military unit in Vancouver, and the most senior militia in the province.

New Hazelton is a district municipality on the south side of the Bulkley River in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. On BC Highway 16, the locality is by road about 68 kilometres (42 mi) northwest of Smithers and 137 kilometres (85 mi) northeast of Terrace. New Hazelton is one of the "Three Hazeltons", the other two being the original "Old" Hazelton to the northwest and South Hazelton to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitwanga</span> Place in British Columbia, Canada

Kitwanga or Gitwangak is in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia. Among the Hazelton and Buckley Mountain Ranges, the place is on the north shore of the Skeena River, east of the Kitwanga River confluence. On BC Highway 37, northeast of the junction with BC Highway 16, the locality is by road about 115 kilometres (71 mi) northwest of Smithers, 99 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Terrace, and 212 kilometres (132 mi) southeast of Stewart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitselas Canyon</span> Canyon in Kitimat-Stikine Regional District, Canada

Kitselas Canyon is a canyon carved by the Skeena River in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. Off BC Highway 16, the landmark is by road about 185 kilometres (115 mi) west of Smithers and 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Terrace.

This is a timeline of the history of Vancouver.

The Bank of Vancouver was a Canadian chartered bank which operated 1910–1914 in British Columbia.

The SkyTrain rapid transit system in Greater Vancouver, Canada, was conceived as a legacy project of Expo 86 and was finished in time to showcase the fair's theme: "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion – World in Touch". Construction was funded by the provincial and federal governments. Vancouver had plans as early as the 1950s to build a monorail system, with modernist architect Wells Coates pencilled in to design it; that project was abandoned. The lack of a rapid transit system was said to be the cause of traffic problems in the 1970s, and the municipal government could not fund the construction of such a system. During the same period, Urban Transportation Development Corporation, then an Ontario crown corporation, was developing a new rapid transit technology known as an "Intermediate Capacity Transit System". In 1980, the need for rapid transit was great, and Ontario needed buyers for its new technology. "Advanced Rapid Transit" was selected to be built in Vancouver to showcase the Ontario project at Expo 86.

SS <i>Kerry Range</i> General cargo freighter

The steamship Kerry Range was a 5,800-ton general cargo freighter, armed with 4.7-inch (119 mm) guns, that had been built by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company and launched on 27 November 1915. While serving as a Royal Navy armed transport she was damaged in a fire, with loss of life, in Baltimore, Maryland, in October 1917. Investigating officials, after the fire, were convinced the vessel was the target of arson, and that the arsonists were German agents—an enemy of the United Kingdom and the United States, during World War I. Several suspects were arrested. However, it was later determined that the fire on Pier 9, that triggered the fire on board Kerry Range, was due to an electrical malfunction that triggered oakum, a flammable product once used to pack seams on ships. Three crew members lost their lives. Firefighting officials towed the blazing vessel away from the pier, to help prevent it igniting nearby Pier 8, and scuttled her. It took over a day to completely put out the fires on the hulk. Some press reports at the time wrote she was a complete write-off. However, the damaged vessel was salvaged and sold to the Steam Navigation Company of Canada in 1918.

South Hazelton is an unincorporated community in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. The place is on the east side of the Skeena River immediately south of the Bulkley River mouth. On BC Highway 16, the locality is by road about 73 kilometres (45 mi) northwest of Smithers and 132 kilometres (82 mi) northeast of Terrace. South Hazelton is one of the "Three Hazeltons", the other two being the original "Old" Hazelton to the north and New Hazelton to the east.