Victoria’s great marine rescue and salvage hero
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William Harley Blagborne began his career as an able seaman in the five–masted schooner City of Alberni. Upon qualifying as a Master Mariner he served as Master of the Island Tug and Barge deep-sea salvage tugs Island Sovereign, Sudbury and Sudbury II. Under Blagborne’s command the two Sudbury’s loomed large in West Coast maritime lore, accomplishing a great number of marine rescues and salvage operations.
Blagborne was killed at the age of 59 while supervising the retrieval of a runaway barge off the southern end of Vancouver Island. Stories of Blagborne’s seamanship are available in the book High Seas High Risk.