template.htm

Our History

OceanMarine’s family tree has many branches, two of which go back to the pioneer days of the lower mainland and literally form the backbone of the Greater Vancouver area’s foundation. The Gilley Brothers and Evans, Coleman & Evans were instrumental in the building of the fledgling city and every major or minor edifice for miles around can claim to have materials manufactured or transported by them or their descendants.

When the Gilley Bros established a livery company in 1883, mail and feed contracts and a modest logging operation in the vicinity of what is now Kingsway and Gilley Avenue in Burnaby was their prime concern. As more and more boom-like building trends manifested themselves in the local market the Gilley Bros, realizing where the future was, established a quarry on the Pitt River in 1886 and started to concentrate more on the building supplies and aggregate end of business. Cement, brick and sewer pipe along with coal barged from the collieries on Vancouver Island were the mainstays of the business. Crushed aggregate was also barged from the Pitt River quarry. Forward thinking Gilley Bros established the "Marine Division" in 1889 to ensure rapid and reliable delivery of their product a century before the concept of "vertical integration" came into being.

The other main branch in Ocean's family tree traces back almost as far back. In 1888 brothers Percy and Ernest Evans and their brother-in-law George Coleman founded an agency to supply coal from Vancouver Island and built a dock at the north foot of Columbia St. in Burrard inlet (about where Vanterm is today.) By the end of the century they would build a steam tug to tow coal as well as logs for local lumber companies. Evans, Coleman and Evans dock would eventually become a major international hub as imports of building materials and manufactured goods and exports of lumber and logs continued apace. Evans, Coleman and Evans were also shipping agents for companies such as the Blue Funnel Line. When the Klondike gold rush attracted prospectors from all over the world they would often purchase their supplies from Evans, Coleman and Evans and then depart for the goldfields in the Yukon from their dock.

1905 saw the Gilley Bros purchase the Robert Dunsmuir and convert her to a tug boat. Originally built by Capt. George Cates as a side wheel steamer twenty years prior, she was turned into a twin screw propeller driven vessel. She spent so much of her time towing coal from Nanaimo that she earned the nick-name "Dirty Bob".

By 1908 Evans, Coleman and Evans had acquired Raymond and Sons in Victoria and established a foothold on Vancouver Island. Although the original partners sold their interests to a group of local businessmen in 1910 the company still operated under the name of Evans, Coleman and Evans until 1964. In 1928 they amalgamated with Gilley Bros and changed to Evans, Coleman and Evans & Gilley Bros Ltd. In 1934 they purchased McCleery & Weston Limited. McCleery & Weston was itself a pioneer company in Vancouver's history producing ready-mix and probably the very first concrete blocks in their Marpole facility since 1910.

In 1904 the Vancouver Portland Cement Co set up their limestone quarry in what is now the world famous Butchart Gardens. In 1915 They amalgamated with Associated Cement Co across Todd inlet at Bamberton and operated under the name Associated Securities Ltd until 1919 when they changed their name to British Columbia Cement Company when the Todd inlet plant and quarry closed. From 1920s to 1957 the Bamberton plant received most of its limestone from Texada Island. At it's peak the Bamberton plant utilized 1700 tons of limestone daily and produced 3.25 million barrels (over 570,000 tons) of cement annually.

1947 would see the acquisition of Marpole Towing and the famous steam tug SS Master and the equally venerable RFM (both of which still sail today) along with Gillking and the rest of the Marpole fleet. Ocean tugs still sail from the Marpole dock at the foot of Hudson St. which is also home for Ocean's Pipe division and Basalite and where McCleery & Weston were situated in 1910.

In 1957 the B.C. Cement Co and Evans, Coleman and Evans & Gilley Bros merged to become the public company Ocean Cement & Supplies Ltd. but would continue using their own names until 1964 when Evans, Coleman and Evans was finally dropped and the name was changed to Ocean Cement Ltd. The sixties saw a re-building program replacing an aging fleet with a state of the art fleet of tugs matched to self-unloading barges.