It’s Not What They Say: Atlantic Quest I
Helping people in distress is something that goes back three generations in Shawn Tracey’s family.
His grandfather was the lighthouse keeper on the Strait of Belle Isle and his father was a radio operator for 35 years.
“That’s where my parents met in the late 50s,” says Tracey and the rest is family history.
Tracey is 53 years old and originally from Stephenville. He has worked with the Canadian Coast Guard’s Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) since September ...
25 Seconds: The M/V Flare
It was only 25 seconds of time, but it will stay with Ann-Margret White forever.
White is 49 years old and from Corner Brook. She graduated University with a double degree in French and German. She started her career teaching high school French, waiting for full time employment, when her mother saw an ad in a local newspaper.
“This might be a job for you,” her mother said, “it’s a radio operator with Coast Guard and you need Grade 12 and French.”
Today she’s the Regional ...
Two Paths to the Canadian Coast Guard
Chart your course for a career with the Canadian Coast Guard.
Like any destination in life, there is more than one way to get there. This is what CCGS Teleost senior engineer Shona Dalton and Canadian Coast Guard College student Peter Mitchell have discovered.
Dalton, now 39 years old, grew up in Conception Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador and the ocean wasn’t necessarily calling to her.
“I guess like most Newfoundlanders, it’s just there. Nothing really stands out but I can ...
A Sea Change
People make lists and write on whiteboards to keep their lives organized.
If you’re Joan Evans, Supervisor of Seagoing Personnel for the Canadian Coast Guard Atlantic Region, your whiteboard is wall-sized and you’re busy organizing the work and time off for about 700 employees.
Evans, 34 years old, assigns the people on the ships. “We plan individuals’ assignments for the year, so they get an assignment to a certain vessel for the year,” says Evans. A typical Canadian Coast ...
Complementary Careers: The Best of Two Worlds
Every day, people head out to the bright blue sea to work.
Our earth is covered with 326 million trillion gallons of water, with 70 per cent of it ocean. This could be the largest workplace in the world and while there is a vast array of jobs on the sea, it doesn’t mean you have to pick just one.
“We’re always looking for good people,” says Wade Spurrell, Assistant Commissioner for the Canadian Coast Guard in the Atlantic Region, “We do actually hire people right off the street ...
From Conception Bay to the Coast Guard: A Life on the Bright Blue Sea
Like many young men in Newfoundland and Labrador, Everett Wade Spurrell of Carbonear grew up working on his father’s fishing enterprise.
He knew that his ideal career would involve working outdoors, and he was inspired by his two grandfathers’ work in transportation — one on the railway and the other building roads and bridges.
Then in the 1970s, a recruiter from the College of Fisheries showed up at James Moore Central High School, talking about opportunities for those wanting to ...
The Name Game
What's in a name?
Unlike when people search the web by typing in ‘popular baby names’ to find Emma and Olivia or Liam and William, the search to find the perfect name for a Canadian Coast Guard vessel is reasoned and deliberate, and there are policies and procedures in place.
The Coast Guard’s objective when naming vessels is to select names that raise the profile of vessels and the work they do on a daily basis while honouring and celebrating people and places of regional and ...
Where the Buoys Are
Dan Frampton’s favourite quote about the sea is from William Shedd who said, “A ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for.”
Frampton, from St. John’s, first learned what ships were for as a young boy.
“In my early years from age nine until 15, I sailed pretty well all the coast of Newfoundland and not having the physical strength to do the cargo work, often times I was steering the ship along the coast with my father as navigator.”
He has worked at the ...
Boys Oh Buoys
Outside the window of a red brick building, adjacent to St. John’s harbour, sits a colourful assortment of large, metal objects.
Some of these objects are painted bright primary colours and others are encrusted in rust and barnacles. They are aids to navigation best known as buoys and no matter if you pronounce it “BOO-ee”, “bwoy” or “BOY” these brightly coloured pieces of metal are crucial to mariners.
Dan Pike, superintendent of maritime and civil infrastructure (MCI) with ...
Saltwater in the Veins – The Coast Guard: A Family of Families
When your family has worked on the sea for generations and people remark that seawater runs through your veins, where else would you end up but in the Canadian Coast Guard?
“My father spent most of his life on the water,” says Captain Windross Banton, 51 years old. He is the Commanding Officer of CCGS Terry Fox, a heavy icebreaker and will celebrate 30 years with the Coast Guard next year.
“I don’t know how far back it goes past my grandfather, but the assumption is working on the ...
