When William Ettershank died on May 30, 1926, the Vancouver Daily Province proclaimed “they bred men in the old days!”

Indeed they did. The 83-year-old became a legend as one of B.C.’s pioneer ship captains and pilots.

“Captain Billy was a man’s man,” said The Province. “For 45 years, he was active in piloting ships, ever increasing in size and numbers, through the channels leading from the open ocean to the ‘inside’ waters of the British Columbia coast.

“He guided the first tea ships to the terminal of the new Canadian Pacific Railway at Port Moody in 1885. Before that he piloted the first ships with steel rail cargo to complete the western section of the (C.P.R.) line.

“Even before that, he steered the big windjammers up to the lumber mills on Burrard Inlet. He was the special pilot

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