This elegant little structure is one of the city’s earliest surviving office buildings. It was built in 1892 for Charles Joseph Vancouver Spratt, son of Joseph Spratt who founded the Albion Iron Works. Image courtesy of Victoria Heritage Society.

This elegant little structure is one of the city’s earliest surviving office buildings. It was built in 1892 for Charles Joseph Vancouver Spratt, son of Joseph Spratt who founded the Albion Iron Works. Image courtesy of Victoria Heritage Society.

Charles Spratt, who had inherited Albion Iron Works from his father Captain Joseph Spratt, changed the name of the shipyard component of the company to Victoria Machinery Depot (VMD). VMD operated on the Upper Harbour on the east side of what is now Bay Street between Pleasant and Turner. In the 1920’s Charles’ health began to decline and his wife, Marguerite Ethel Spratt, took charge of the enterprise. She was certainly a rarity at the time as not many heavy industries were led by a woman. She was a hands-on boss for a quarter of a century, and guided the company through the rough Depression years. The Bay Street site was expanded in 1940 to accommodate VMD’s first wartime contract, for five corvettes needed for the Atlantic Theatre.

Upper Harbour Origins

Charles Spratt, who had inherited Albion Iron Works from his father Captain Joseph Spratt, changed the name of the shipyard component of the company to Victoria Machinery Depot (VMD). VMD operated on the harbour side of what is now Bay Street between Pleasant and Turner. In the 1920’s Charles’ health began to decline and his wife, Marguerite Ethel Spratt, took charge of the enterprise. She was certainly a rarity at the time as not many heavy industries were led by a woman. She was a hands-on boss for a quarter of a century, and guided the company through the rough Depression years. The Bay Street site was expanded in 1940 to accommodate VMD’s first wartime contract, for five corvettes needed for the Atlantic Theatre.

Expansion to the Outer Harbour

VMD was awarded a second contract, this for nine freighters of 10,000 tons apiece. The increased demand meant more space was required. In 1941, under Marguerite’s guidance the company bought the Rithet piers at the Outer Wharf, as well as 27 adjacent acres.

In the early summer of 1946, Marguerite Spratt’s own health started to fail. She died that July. In her will, Spratt left some of her shares of Victoria Machinery Depot to business associates. In 1947, her estate sold the remaining shares, enough to carry control of the company, to Harold Husband for $185,000.

Harold Husband

M.V. Sidney courtesy of City of Vancouver Archives CVA 447-7701

M.V. Sidney courtesy of City of Vancouver Archives CVA 447-7701

Beginning in 1960, with Husband in charge, VMD built 11 of the first 14 B.C. Ferries vessels, including the very first, the MV Sidney. She was renamed Queen of Sidney three years later. At one point, the shipyard had two ferries under construction at the same time at Ogden Point with a workforce of 1,000 people.

In 1963, VMD celebrated its centennial of the year when Joseph Spratt had established Albion Iron Works. The company continued to work on ferries, and extensive refit and conversion work on Royal Canadian Navy vessels.

In the spring of 1967, VMD completed SEDCO 135-F — at the time, the world’s largest offshore oil drilling platform.

By that time, the rush of ferry construction had come to an end. With no new shipbuilding contracts, the company pulled back, closing its shipyard at Ogden Point in 1967.

Back to the Upper Harbour

VMD concentrated on becoming a major supplier for Alberta’s oil and gas industries from a a heavy engineering factory located on its original Bay Street location, next to Point Ellice Bridge.

Husband sold the company in 1981. The new owner sold it again in 1984. By 1985 it was in receivership. In 1986, the company had a new start when 23 employees pooled their resources and assumed control for about $1.5 million. The new incarnation didn’t last. By May 1994 it was closed, this time for good. The following spring, the factory was demolished, and Victoria’s oldest industry faded into history.