This early postcard shows the construction of the five-masted wooden auxiliary schooner the Mabel Brown at the Wallace Shipyards (later Burrard Dry Dock) in North Vancouver in 1916.
The sheer scale of the Mabel Brown is revealed in this image showing ship workers being dwarfed by the giant timber ribs forming the frame of the hull.
The Mabel Brown was built for the Canada West Coast Navigation Company and was named after the wife of its owner, H.W. Brown.
The first in her class, the name Mabel Brown was given to a class of lumber-carrying sailing ships, among the last of the sailing ship era.
Launched in 1917, she had a capacity of 1.5 million feet of lumber.
Her career was short. Five years after being launched, she was dismantled after being damaged in a storm in the North Sea in 1921.
The Time Traveller feature offers a weekly glimpse into the North Shore's past, courtesy of North Vancouver Museum and Archives.
For more information about the history of the North Shore and to learn about the new Museum of North Vancouver opening in late-2020, visit nvma.ca and sign up for our e-newsletter at bit.ly/2WdAUC0.
Currently, the Archives of North Vancouver at 3203 Institute Rd. in Lynn Valley is open by appointment only, contact: archives@dnv.org
