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A Globetrotting Guide to
the Internet Hometown Hero: Seraphim "Joe" Fortes Born in the West Indies in the 1860s, Joe Fortes arrived in Vancouver as a deckhand on a sailing ship Robert Kerr in 1885. While in Vancouver, the vessel was declared unseaworthy and prohibited from returning to the high seas. This left Joe high and dry and he found work as a porter and bartender at the Sunnyside Hotel in Gastown. By the 1890s he was a familiar figure on the beach at English Bay, where he swam daily and taught children to swim. In something over thirty years he taught thousands of Vancouver children to swim. Joe was appointed by the city as the first official lifeguard and special constable for the beach in 1901. Vancouver mothers confidently sent their children to the bay o hot summer day with the simple order to "Don't go away from where Joe is." From dawn to long after dark the beach belonged to Joe. He was a host to picnickers, chaperone to courting couples, and a terror to the hoodlum and bum. His squatter's shack originally was located on the beach opposite of the Sylvia Hotel, but in 1905 it was moved into Alexandra Park near the bandstand. During his career as a lifeguard Joe was credited with saving more than 100 lives, and in 1986 the Vancouver Historical Society named Seraphim "Joe" Fortes as Citizen of the Century. By the time Joe died, on February 4, 1922, he was possible Vancouver's most popular citizen as it was recognized in his obituary: "The death of the old colored lifeguard whose constant vigil and unselfish devotion to duty kept many a family circle unbroken, will throw a spirit of sadness into almost every Vancouver home." "Old Joe" was taken to the Vancouver General Hospital with pneumonia, which developed into mumps. At the hospital the phones rang all day, and his room was knee-deep in flowers. While in the hospital he died of a paralytic stroke. His funeral at Holy Rosary Cathedral and burial at Mountain View Cemetery were paid for by the city in appreciation of his life of service to Vancouver and its children. Today, a West End library and restaurant bear his name. A memorial drinking fountain still stands in Alexandria Park at English Bay. The granite and polished bronze memorial was unveiled on February 15, 1926. The inscription reads, "The Children Loved Him."
Resources Encyclopedia
of British Columbia Postcards From the Past -
Edwardian Images of Greater Vancouver and the Fraser
Valley Vancouver - From Milltown to
Metropolis
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