1993 -~ North Shore News

G

. Virago:

H.M.S. Virago in The Pacific. To the Queen Charlottes and
Beyond. G.P.V. Ak:rigg and Helen B. Akrigg. Sono Nis Press.

$21.95

“| polished up the handle so perfectly, That now | am the ruler of the

Queen’s Nav-eel” - Gilbert & Sullivan, H.M.S. Pinafore

OMIC OPERA episodes worthy of Pinafore abound

in this unique chronicle of the career of H.M.5.

at Virago, the fittle ship whose big job it was to show

the Union Jack in these waters from 1851 to 1855.

Rounding Cape Horn on her
voyage out, she was offered hospi-
tality by the Chilean garrison at
Punta Arenas, only to be informed
later that they were traitorous
mutineers who had turned pirate
and had been dispatched to hunt
them down.

While investigating another act
of piracy, this time by the Haida.
the Virago herself nearly became
the next victim of the wily Chief
Edensaw, whose scam was to offer
his services as pilot to ships, then
run them aground on shoals to be
looted.

Then, having run onto rocks that
still bear her name, she had to be
ignominously beached and

: repaired at Fort Simpson before a
large crowd of under-awed natives
whose warlike proclivities her
presence was supposed to
discourage.

An attempt to recover prestige
with a display of Royal Navy gun-
nery backfired when the target
canoe in the bay received several
volleys without sustaining the loss
of so much as a splinter.

The Virago was part of the
“gunboat navy” which did the

ROSEMOUNT CHARDONNAY
1992 $14.95 (Australia) ;

Mentioned this wine before, but
had an opportunity recently to
taste this vintage side-by-side, tete
.a tete, mano a mano or whatever,
with.one of the better-known

_ high-end white Burgundies: a
Pouilly Fuisse 1990, from
Laboure-Roi, which will set your
financial clock back a cool
quarter-century at.$24.95.

Totally different ‘‘noses’’: the
Rosemount like biting a ripe
Granny Smith apple; the PF
leaner, flintier, more sophisticated

©, .£ Until the first actual mouthful of

big well-rounded almost chewy

‘wines whose tastes are so darn

- near identical (at least to my
’-.over-worked little buds) that

there’s nothing to choose between -

_.them but the weight of an extra
10-spot in your wailet.
You won't need that calculator
~~ to figger this one out.
CABERNET SAUVIGNON —
ERRAZURIZ 1990 $9.95 (Chile)
This is the mother-in-law version
of Errazuriz’s Don Maximiano
Estate Reserva, a wine that has
critics snivelling superlatives and .
_slobbering on their shoes to outdo
. each other singing its praises —
_ comparing it to Chateau La Tour,
etc." “ .
(Review periding: it’s $23.55; I'm
saving my loonies and just about
_-teady to pole-axe the piggy-bank
with a North Wall climbing
hammer.) ; ;
Meanwhile, if you need some-
thing to swill on occasions that
don’t quite justify bagging the
“Big Max,” this is the ticket.
Lovely garnet color, lots of cher-
ryish fruit with faintly cedar-chest
tannins that suggest it will pout
seductively from the wine-rack for
a few years yet.
4 oo — by john Moore

John Moore

- BOOK REVIEW

dirty work so armchair admirals

and politicians could stroll through
Hyde Park humming ‘‘Britannia
rules the waves...”

Whenever the natives got
“testless’’ or some other power
needed a sharp reminder of Bri-
tain’s maritime hegemony, from
Westminster the cry would go up,
“Send a gunboat!’

They were small ships manned
by obscure men remeinbered only
in names bestowed on lonely
landmarks around the globe not
already named for famous naviga-
tors and the Akriggs have done a
marvellous job here by not merely
embroidering the official log, but
ferreting out personal journals and
diaries of the officers froin
England, Ottawa and Sydney,
Australia, to bring this forgotten
ship and her crew vividly back to
ife.

1 flatter myself that great minds
think alike; ! became intrigued
with the Virago from references to

YOUR HOST FOR

THE ProvI

ivonnd
>

&4 The Virago herself
nearly became the next
victim of the wily
Chief Edensaw. 99

her in the Akriggs’ superb two-
volume &ritish Columbia Chroni-
cle and thought, “Somebody
ought to write a book about that
ship.”

Somebody has, and who better?
Their British Columbia Chronicle is
a fast-paced, episodic year-by-year
time trip from 1788 to 1871 which,
if it was used as a high-school his-
tory text, would permanently
banish the word “‘bor-ing’’ from
students’ vocabularies.

Before he retired, Prof. G.P.V.
Akrigg toiled in the English

the Wild West to go | —

D. you know the way to whoopee? Join.us May 29 ac9 am" |

department of UBC for many a
year, while Helen Akrigg taught
geography there.

He's a fellow of Britain's Royal
Historical Society and she’s a
fellow of the Royal Geographical
Society (you can imagine what .
Groucho Marx would have made
of that on You Bet Your Life).
Together they're a hell of a team.

Their two books, 1001 British
Columbia Place Names and British
Columbia Place Names, are
priceless sourcebooks whose
compression belies countless per-
son-hours of painstaking research,
but their real gift, H.M.S. Virago'as
in The Chronicle, is for finding the .
“story” in “history” and telling
it with consummate wit and skill.

lf you can’t find it at your local
bookstore, try the Queensdale
Gallery on Esplanade (100-block --
west), or order it, and cast off fora -
great sea voyage into your own"
past. eo

of

at Eaton's in the Park Royal Shopping Centre as we spread « |
a little western hospitality. There's a free pancake* .§

breakfast, plenty of onstage entertainment, the» §
Stampede Queen and Princesses, and inore family.fun.
Meet Stampede mascot Harry the Horse: Enjoy the™..
Band of Outriders Marching Band. Meet.
some of our friends from Calgary Hotels and | §
Attractions and find out more about planning the" ‘?
perfect Calgary Stampede vacation. Play games like - a
“cow-chip chucking”. There's plenty of door prizes for everyone.’
_ Find out how you can win a trip for. two to this year's. .
Calgary Stampede including airfare, accommodation, and tickets.

THE PANCAKE BREAKFAST IS EATON’S.
- ‘TRAVEL PROVIDED. BY GREYHOUND.
./ . OUR OTHER IMPORTANT PARTNERS INCLUDE:
NCE, CKWX 1130, AND LE’MERIDIEN HOTEL.

~ We wish to acknowledge the following hotels and attractions for their participation.

SKYLINE PLAZA HOTEL
VILLAGE PARK INN

STAGE WEST | .--
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Best WESTERN Hospitality INN’ GLENBOW MUSEUM} _

wo |
MERIDIEN EATON'S-

‘VANCOUVER

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