The Vancouver International Boat Show is making its much-anticipated return and one of the featured highlights will undoubtedly be a presentation that shines the light on B.C.’s marine history and shipwrecks at the bottom of our coastal waters.
Delta’s Keith Bossons will bring his highly acclaimed The History Under Your Hull presentation to the Boat Show to educate attendees about the hidden history that lays at our ocean floors, but which many know very little about.
Bossons is the President of the Underwater Archaeological Society of BC (UASBC), which has been in operation since 1977 and over that time has located, surveyed, and documented historical shipwrecks along the B.C. coast. It is an all-volunteer organization made up of scuba divers, history buffs, adventurers and both avocational and professional archaeologists.
“The idea for History Under Your Hull came about from talking to fellow boaters and realizing that many have little knowledge of our local but extensive maritime history, “says Bossons. “On every occasion that I have delivered this presentation, audience members are surprised at the extensive history of shipwrecks in our coastal waters that they may regularly pass over or be oblivious to.”
Bossons presentations are Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 5:50 p.m. and Thursday, Feb. 2 at 4 p.m. both at BC Place.
Bossons and the UASBC have published twelve books on BC shipwrecks with the most recent book “Historic Shipwrecks of the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia” being released in 2020.
Western Canada’s largest consumer boating event, the Vancouver International Boat Show is owned by the Boating BC Association and produced by Canadian Boat Shows. To find out more about this year’s event, please visit Vancouverboatshow.ca.
