Working with long-time colleague Dr. Joe MacInnis, Nuytten headed the equipment research component of a series of high-Arctic expeditions to test his own designs of life-support gear for use in polar and sub-polar conditions. In 1984, Dr. Nuytten appeared on the cover of National Geographic Magazine for his record dives through ice-covered Arctic waters onto the BREADALBANE, the northern-most known shipwreck. His involvement in underwater activities in virtually all of the world’s oceans has resulted in articles on his work in Reader’s Digest, Business Week, Newsweek, Time, Popular Science, Discovery, Fortune, and Scientific American as well as dozens of diving and aerospace technical journals. Dr. Nuytten has been a popular speaker at underwater conferences around the world and has published numerous technical papers on his leading-edge work in subsea technology.

He has also been instrumental in the development and current acceptance of Atmospheric Diving System technology. In 1979, he began work on a revolutionary new one-atmosphere diving suit that resulted in a patented break-through in rotary joint design, and formed the basis for the world-famous “Newtsuit“.
The “Newtsuit” is a 1000-ft.-rated hard suit that completely protects the wearer from outside pressure and eliminates the need for decompression while still maintaining mobility and dexterity.
In 1997, Nuytten and his design team produced the 2,000-ft.-rated micro-submersible, Deepworker, a revolutionary deep-diving system that has been called “an underwater sports car” and received a five-year contract from the National Geographic Society to provide Deepworkers and crews on Dr. Sylvia Earle’s “Sustainable Seas Expeditions”, an initiative to study deep ocean environmental impact. Use of the Deepworker micro-subs has already increased scientists’ understanding of underwater ecology, habitats, and biodiversity through exploration and on-going monitoring of national marine sanctuaries. The Deepworkers were also called upon to recover the Space Shuttle booster rockets during a recent flight to the U.S. space station. NASA is currently studying acquisition of a pair of titanium Deepworkers specifically dedicated to booster rocket recovery. Nuytten’s work with NASA spans more than 25 years, and he has published several papers on space applications of undersea technology as well as being an award-winning senior member of the American Association of Aeronautics ... Also in the year 2000, Dr. Nuytten introduced a new concept for an ultra-light weight, swimming hard suit called the Exosuits. Nuytten and his team recently completed a contract for the Canadian Department of National Defence to examine the feasibility of using the Exosuit as a submarine escape device. Plans are also underway to utilize a space version of the Exosuit in the aptly-named “Da Vinci Project” in 2002.

Following the completion of the year-long Operations Room Officer course, Commander Gerbrecht was appointed Deputy Combat Officer in HMCS ALGONQUIN during her participation in OP SHARP GUARD (maritime operations in support of the former Yugoslavia) as the flagship to Commander Standing Naval Force Atlantic (SNFL). From 1994-1997, as the Officer-in-Charge of the IROQUOIS-class Command and Control Systems trainer in Esquimalt, B.C., he was responsible for the training of nine flagship command teams and conducting weapons certification for Standard missile systems in the navy. He earned the Commander of Maritime Command Commendation for his efforts in missile technology. After serving one year as the Task Group Combat Officer for the Atlantic fleet, Commander Gerbrecht was selected to plan operations for the Canadian Flagship year 1999-2000. He served as the Commanding Officer to the Canadian component of the deployed flagship staff in support of the NATO force commander. During that same year, the NATO Maritime reaction force participated in OP ALLIED FORCE (maritime operations in relation to Kosovo).

Bill Etchell led off with a slide show of ships that included both cruise ships and ferries from locations around the world. Talk about fireside travel! We viewed ships in the Great Lakes, the Isle of Man, Germany, many with the White Cliffs of Dover in the background, Sweden, Belfast, Isle of Rhodes and other locations. It should be mentioned that input from knowledgeable members throughout the slide shows added to the interest.

Next came Robert Etchell. His slides dealt mainly with B.C. ships, and few, if any, types were omitted. There were the cruise ships, cable layers, freighters of all types, containers, bulk loaders, some of which combine both oil and bulk capabilities, and so on, ranging the length of our vast coastline, and also including Vancouver Harbour and the entrance to the Fraser River. One memorable one had a rainbow in the background.

Last, but not least, Don Brown finished the slides with a showing of Canadian navy ships dating back to 1971, and to the present day. It was fascinating to see how many different types of vessels we have in our Navy -- destroyer escorts, minesweepers, Maritime Coastal Defence vessels (of which we have six on this coast), patrol frigates, training vessels. One was of six ships in line ahead, and the scenery in all was marvellous.

The final presentation was by Syd Heal, about a book he is publishing -- it should be out in the New Year. "Stand by, Let'er Go! will surely be a must-read for everyone. It tells of the life of Robert Karliner, a life-long fisherman on our coast for sixty-two years! He started out as a boy of fourteen. The first ship he owned was a gillnetter that cost eighty dollars, his last, the ARCTIC HARVESTER, cost one point two million, which gives an insight into how successful the German-born man was.

So, a throughly enjoyable and informative evening, made more so by the refreshments members had brought, which ranged from sausage rolls to fruit cake, and everything in between, overseen by June Etchell, our resident convener.

The guest speaker for the evening was Vancouver Branch member James Conwell, who gave us a presentation on Liberty Ships. Jim became involved with Liberty Ship SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN twenty years ago when he visited her while sightseeing in San Francisco. Although he was working full time as a Civil Engineer in Sacramento, he thought that the opportunity to volunteer would not last considering that the crew was mainly World War II veterans. So he began working aboard one weekend a month.

Liberty Ships came about as a result of World War II and the need to replace the tremendous losses to German U-Boats in the Atlantic. In the first year of the war, Britian lost over 300 ships. Unable to replace all of them, they came to Canada and the United States in December 1940 to order new ships built. The design of the ship was based on one developed during the Depression, an economical tramp steamer. The result of the mision was that 27 "Fort" class riveted cargo ships were built in Canada and 60 "Ocean" class welded ships in the US. The United States adopted the basic British design, i.e. 10,000 ton cargo powered by a triple expansion steam engine. However, the fuel was oil instead of coal, the boilers were water tube instead of scotch, and the deckhouse was single instead of double. The Liberties were built in 18 shipyards. The west coast yards were in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay, Portland, and Vancouver, Washington. First Liberty was completed in about 250 days. Average time under full production was 50 days. Prefabrication of the ship into about 100 modules was the reason. Average cost was just under US$2,000.000.[see note below]

The SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN was completed in June 1943 in the same South Portland, Maine shipyard where 30 of the Ocean class ships were built. She was completed in 57 days. She was in Britain in June 1944. As a result she made 11 trips to Normandy. She completed the war in the Pacific Theater, ending her service in San Francisco early in 1946. From there she was placed in the Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, upriver from San Francisco where she remained for 33 years. In 1979 the O'Brien became the National Liberty Ship Memorial. Jim joined the ship in 1985.

Then in 1994, she returned to Normandy for the 50th Commemoration. Jim was an Able Bodied Seaman on that voyage. That effort cost US$2,500,000--most of that amount coming from donations. She was the only major vessel to return. Other ports of call in Europe were Portsmouth, Southampton, Chatham, and London in Britain and Cherbourg, Rouen and Le Havre in France.

In 1996, she visited Vancouver. Today, she continues to make several trips on San Francisco Bay and upriver. She carries up to 900 passengers on those cruises. Current annual operating cost averages almost US$1,000,000 due to two dry-dockings each five-year period, as required by the US Coast Guard.

The engine room footage for the movie "Titanic" was filmed aboard her while underway in San Francisco Bay. She can be visited at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

CORRECTION -- During the presentation, Jim mentioned that the economical tramp ship that the British designed during the Depression cost about £1,000,000. As pointed out by members at the meeting this cost was too high--and in fact they were correct--the target cost was only £100,000.

His book is a detailed chronicle of these subs in all their aspects, and he gave us a lengthy talk, illustrated with slides from the book. General knowledge of sub building on this coast, is, to put it mildly, scanty. Lightfoot's book, and his lectures, will do much to dispell that lack. A few facts he emphasised: Subs were built on this coast in Vancouver and Seattle prior to, and during, the First World War. J. Paterson, a naval architect, was the mastermind behind their building. The six subs built in Vancouver were built at a location west of Canada Place, and in Barnet. Early subs had a collapsible bridge -- hard to picture. Before the First World War there was no wireless telegraph aboard these boats. Pigeons were used to send messages ashore.

Then it was on to the presentations. Bill Etchell led off with a series of slides that took us around the world. There were scenes of China, Barcelona, Honolulu, Alaska, Auckland. Also Stockholm and Gotenburg in Sweden. An excellent round-the-world trip.
Geoffrey Hughes followed with more slides, but these showed us, in the main, ships leaving and entering Vancouver Harbour -- ferries, cruise ships in the Outer Harbour, and even one cruise ship with no passengers aboard (she was heading for repairs). There were also scenes of the Tall Ships that we welcomed last summer. The colours, sunsets, scenery were amazing, lovely. John Cross gave a short talk on the GRAF SPEE, and the Battle of the River Plata off Montevideo in 1939. He gave many insights into this battle, the fate of crews, etc and increased our knowledge of this history-making sea battle.
Mike Brown brought us back to the present with a slide show that took us on a tour of the Vancouver waterfront -- an area that is closed to visitors in these perilous days, unlike the long-ago. Mike is a former longshoreman on the Vancouver waterfront. The images were mainly of VanTerm, and he brought us pictures of the highly-automated, complex loading process of loading and unloading cargoes in the days of computers. The number of longshoremen needed today has dropped dramatically because of this, and it was startling to see so much of the activity going on with so few people in sight. We saw all aspects of the process, the tractor trailers, the gantries, cranes, in operation against the backdrop of the North Shore mountains. The cranes, he said, are 235 feet high, and have an elevator to the top! We saw the stacks of containers, and he gave information as to the hazards, challenges of loading and unloading ships today.

Robert Etchell finished the slide presentations with images of varying subjects. We were treated to shots of Victoria's Inner Harbour, ferries in Active Pass, the Tall Ships of last summer, a tug with a log boom, ships with a cargo of cranes -- a new day of shipping that is spectacular, to put it mildly. Also a last winter snowfall scene and one of people climbing up a waterfall near Squamish.
A non-vocal presentation was laid out on a table by Dr. Parkinson. He is an avid collector of music boxes and piggy banks, among other things. We were invited to pick up and listen to the music boxes. They included one of the Three Wisemen, a little Drummer Boy, a Christmas tree with a mouth and bulging eyes, a wooden one with beautiful inlays. The banks included a car, among other things, and for good measure there was a piranha with open mouth and many teeth, enclosed in glass!

Our own Syd Heal treated us to an interesting slide show entitled “Tramp Ships and Cargo Liners Between the Wars”. Time passed quickly as we were shown a 50-slide presentation made up of pictures originally from the Vancouver Maritime Museum collection, many of which are part of the original World Ship Society photo collection, which is now administered by the Vancouver Maritime Museum. Syd’s entertaining dialogue and anecdotal footnotes rounded it all off to an entertaining evening. We saw old steam tramps belching smoke in a way that would earn a heavy fine if such a discharge happened today. Equally interesting were the photos of what was considered the latest thing in lumber carriers prior to the outbreak of war in 1939. Interspersed with this collection were a variety of cargo liners and a few tramp tankers. Among the collection were a few Canadian deep sea ships, British, Scandinavian, Italian, German, Greek, Dutch and Japanese flag ships of that era.

The AGM over, we headed into our entertainment section, which was the delayed program from last month. Syd Heal presented the 2nd in his excellent series of images from the Vancouver Maritime Museum's photo collection (plus other sources)-- this time concentrating on Wartime Standard Ships. Syd's remarkable knowledge about the ships of this era added an interesting dimension to the presentation.

After the first break for refreshments, our second presenter was Bill Etchell, who showed us about 80 various slides from the Andy Kilk collection, taken on Andy's never-ending travels around the world.

After a second break for more refreshments, the third presenter was Mike Brown who showed slides depicting the Port Of Montréal, focusing on loading cranes. Some most impressive scenes of shipping in this Port. This was followed by views of activity on the local Vancouver waterfront.

After a final break for more refreshments, we were treated to a series of slides, focusing on the Maersk Line vessels visiting the Vancouver area ports. put together by member Don Brown, from his extensive photo collection. A most interesting insight into just one shipping line's activities here in Vancouver.

Our final speaker was Syd Heal who introduced his latest publication, #5 in the West Coast Maritime Series, entitled "Inbound to Vancouver: British Columbia's Offshore Trade and Ocean Shipping Industries, 1850-1945.” This 209-page soft-cover book is available from Richmond Book Services in Vancouver at a most reasonable price. Tremendous number of black and white photos throughout, most of which came from the original Vancouver Branch World Ship Society negative collection, now held by the Vancouver Maritime Museum.