Wilderness Profound : Victorian Life on the Gulf of Georgia

In 1862, George Fawcett Drabble, a prosperous farmer in the English Midlands, impulsively boarded the Silistria, a China Clipper ship bound for the gold colony of British Columbia. Dressed in a top hat and a silk suit, Drabble had gone to Liverpool to say farewell to his friends, but at the last minute he boarded the vessel, saying "Wait Boys! I'm going with you!" Louisa Drabble, his wife, died soon after his sudden departure, and George Drabble stayed on Vancouver Island, settling eventually on a farm in the Comox Valley. His three young children never joined him. Drabble was the first surveyor, road builder and magistrate to work in much of the Gulf of Georgia-including Quadra Island, Campbell River, Comox, Courtenay, the northern Gulf Islands, and the lengthy coastline on Vancouver Island from Nanoose to Cortes Island.Mackie, Richard is the author of 'Wilderness Profound : Victorian Life on the Gulf of Georgia', published 2002 under ISBN 9781550391268 and ISBN 1550391267.