For 129 years, SV Dorothy (1897) has sailed upon her home waters of the Salish Sea. From her racing days as a founding vessel of the Victoria Yacht Club’s fleet with first owner W.H. Langley, she was a legend on the coast. Through subsequent eras of local family ownership, to her donation to the Maritime Museum of BC in 1995, generations of stewards and supporters have contributed to her longevity as an actively sailing heritage vessel.
After undergoing a major refit project from 2011 – 2023 begun by shipwright and artist Tony Grove and completed by the volunteers at the Ladysmith Maritime Society led by boatwright and historian Robert Lawson, her summer operations now take her to boat festivals and events along the coast and to youth sailing programs with volunteer skippers and crew.
The following is a first-hand account of a key turning point in Dorothy‘s history. A legend in his own right, retired SALTS executive director and MMBC executive director Martyn Clark, describes how he, wife Margaret Clark, and growing band of friends intervened amidst challenging setbacks to keep Dorothy sailing.
Never Say Never!
by Martyn Clark
Preparations for the Summer Ahead
Recently, it was my pleasure to join other volunteers to help sand, paint and varnish Canada’s iconic sailing vessel, the Dorothy, ashore at Ladysmith, just up the coast from Victoria on Vancouver Island.
As I climbed aboard the old sloop, I also reflected on how it had been my privilege to have been involved, along with many old friends and colleagues, to have saved this national treasure from the funeral pyre to which many old wooden boats are condemned.
Step Back into the 1990s…
Let’s go back a few years. At the helm of the SALTS Sail and Life Training Society, I often found myself criss-crossing this vast country of ours in support of our non profit program, attending sail training conferences, speaking at Rotary meetings, advising enthusiastic new startups and meeting with owners of donated boats.
On one of those trans-Canada trips, I was asked to stop in and give advice to a group in Ontario restoring “ Canada’s oldest sailboat”, the eponymously-named Canada. They were enthusiastic and dedicated but at the end of our meeting I was obliged to tell them that there was a boat older than the Canada, the Dorothy of Victoria. They had never heard of her, but when the Canada project folded they transferred the remaining funds to Dorothy.
In conjunction with that same boat donation program I got a call from the owner of the Dorothy a few years later enquiring about donating her to SALTS. I assured him we were grateful for the offer but knowing the provenance of his historic vessel, suggested the Maritime Museum of British Columbia would be a more worthy recipient.
Dorothy Joins the MMBC Collection
Dorothy was donated to the MMBC, but unfortunately ended up on the mainland with a group who would restore her to her former glory with volunteer effort. The move was well-intentioned but poor Dorothy found herself high and dry ashore, her tarp askew and rain water filling her bilges.
Enter our good friend and former realtor John West. Could we help? Indeed we could. SALTS had a large shed at the former Coast Guard base we now rented and Dorothy could reside there, dry and untroubled, until we decided the next best move.
I think it’s fair to say that at this stage, without John’s enthusiasm, persistence and dogged refusal to give up, even when all seemed lost, Dorothy may well have ended up as Canada did, ultimately abandoned.
John West et al Hatch a Plan
John’s knowledge of classic boats was encyclopedic and he could rattle off the pedigree, owners’ list, fine points (and lack thereof) of most wooden craft, power or sail, in the Pacific Northwest (although he couldn’t spell to save his soul). And though the owner of some magnificent vessels himself – the 14-metre Knud Reimers yawl Gabrielle II, Astrocyte, a Bill Garden 15-metre sloop and the troller yacht Scaup – he launched his nautical career with a plywood dinghy rigged with a plastic tarpaulin, in which he put to sea at a very young, adventurous age. John, my wife Marg and I became the firmest of friends so, naturally, when he knocked at our door at the SALTS Heritage Shipyard, we were anxious to help.
A surveyor was hired whose conclusions determined that Dorothy was beyond saving and a restoration was not within the scope of financial viability. John said “no”. Marg said “no”. I said “no”. And so did many of Dorothy’s supporters. But what to do? We couldn’t keep her indefinitely in the shed; after all, SALTS too was a non-profit without endless deep pockets.
A Continuing Legacy of Stewards and Friends
Tony Grove, a boatbuilder and artist on Gabriola Island just up the coast, came to the rescue. He and John hatched a plot for Dorothy to be moved there and for Tony, at very reasonable rates, to condition Dorothy for launching as long as he could use her as a training module for his student boatbuilders.
In the year since, fresh blood was infused. Dorothy was transported to Ladysmith where her restoration was completed under the competent and watchful eye of boatwright and historian Robert Lawson and the volunteers at Ladysmith Maritime Society.
Today, Dorothy still plies the waters she sailed almost one hundred and thirty years ago. Frequently at her helm is Angus Matthews, one of her former owners and maritime museum director who subscribed, along with many others, to the edict “ Never say never”!
What’s Ahead for Dorothy?
Don’t miss seeing Dorothy at the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre, Cow Bay Regatta, Victoria Classic Boat Festival, and other stops this summer! Check out her “Ready About, Dorothy!” summer tour schedule here.
Celebrate the summer ahead at the Afternoon Tea at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club on June 18, 2026 in support of Dorothy‘s 2026 operations. Tickets available here. Speakers include LMS boatwright and historian Robert Lawson and volunteer skipper Angus Matthews from the MMBC.
