From the Bridge - Company of Master Mariners of Canada

“From the Bridge” August 2009 www.mastermariners.ca
This will be my last letter before the Annual General Meeting in Halifax, at which I shall be stepping down as National
Master. I take this opportunity of thanking all our members for their support and assistance during the period, and trust
that your support will be as willingly given to my successor.
I wish you all, good health and hope there is still a lot of summer to enjoy.
Sincerely, Peter Turner
CROSSED OVER THE BAR
Ambassador John Alan Beesley: August 17, 1927 – January 22, 2009. On Sunday, July 12, 2009 I attended a short,
but moving, ceremony on board the private yacht “Sea Vixen”, skippered by former Naval and Coast Guard officer, Migs
Turner. Under an unseasonably grey sky, and with the flags of the United Nations, Switzerland and Canada snapping in
the stiff breeze, the ashes of the late Ambassador John Alan Beesley, OC QC were distributed in the waters of McNeill
Bay, adjacent to the Victoria waterfront home where Alan and his widow, Ruth, enjoyed many years together. A tribute
to Alan’s long and distinguished career as lawyer and diplomat was published in Victoria’s Times Colonist on July 10,
2009, but he is perhaps best remembered for his contribution as head of the Canadian delegation to the Geneva Law of
the Sea Conference which established the rules governing the limits of Territorial Seas, Internal Waters, Fisheries and
Economic Zones, etc. In 1984 he was named to the Order of Canada for his work on this project. Among the numerous
certificates and degrees which adorn the walls of his office, pride of place went to the certificate identifying him as an
Honorary Life Member of the Company of Master Mariners of Canada. The following article, briefly describing Alan’s
illustrious career, was written shortly after the recommendation was accepted by the National Council in 1999.
Captain Alec Provan. Vancouver Division
John Alan Beesley was recommended for Honorary Membership of the Company of Master Mariners by the Vancouver
Division and accepted by the National Council on 14 January 1999. The following is extracted from the Citation
accompanying Dr. Beesley's nomination for Honorary Doctor of Laws, awarded by Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova
Scotia on Friday, May 27, 1994. "John Alan Beesley, lawyer, diplomat, and the principal architect of Canada's policy
regarding the Law of the Sea, was born, raised and educated in British Columbia, earning his bachelors' degrees in Arts
and Law at the University of British Columbia. Mr. Beesley practised law with a leading Victoria law firm before joining
the Department of External Affairs as a Foreign Service officer in 1956. He held many senior positions with the
Department of External Affairs. He was appointed Queen's Council in 1974, an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1984,
and received the Prime Minister's Outstanding Achievement Award of the Public Service of Canada in 1983.
During the past 27 years, Mr. Beesley represented Canada on most of the committees of the United Nations General
Assembly in New York and in all of the specialized agencies and organs of the United Nations Organization in Geneva,
London, Paris and Vienna, including the World Health Organization, the
International Maritime Organization and the International Labour
Organization. For more than 20 years, Mr. Beesley played a major role in
negotiations on the Law of the Sea and Arctic Sovereignty, presiding over
the drafting committee responsible for the United Nations Law of the Sea
Convention, which is considered to be one of the most important
international treaties ever concluded. He has published many articles and
given many lectures on foreign affairs, and has served as a Foreign Service
visitor-in-residence at the University of British Columbia."
Ambassador Beesley, on the left, is seen here at the 2003 Christmas Luncheon for
the Victoria group of the Vancouver Division. His wife, Ruth, is seated on the right.
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Captain James Butterfield. Captain Butterfield slipped his cable and set sail from Victoria on Swiftsure Day,
Saturday, May 23 rd 2009 after a brief bout with cancer. James was born in Reno, Nevada in 1922. His father was from
Vancouver and his mother from Wheeling, West Virginia. James grew up in Vancouver and
in Summerland, BC. In 1936 he went to Liverpool to train for three years as a Cadet in the
Merchant Navy Training Ship, H.M.S. Conway. There he carried off the Sextant presented
by Lord Derby for the management of boats, and the Newton Telescope presented for
winning the Board of Trade signals examination. Upon leaving the Conway he joined the
Canadian Pacific Steamships, RMS Empress of Russia and for two years sailed to the Far
East from Vancouver. In 1942 his vessel, the Jasper Park, was torpedoed and sank in the
Indian Ocean. He spent the next two years as Navigating Officer (RCNR) in HMCS North
Bay on convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic. In 1945 he attended the University of
Toronto where he met his wife, Sybil. They both graduated with Batchelor of Arts degrees
in 1948. James returned to sea and after being commissioned as a Lieutenant in the RCN
he married Sybil in Kingston, Ontario in 1950. James served on both coasts and his last
naval posting was as skipper of the training ketch, HMCS Oriole. After retiring from the
Navy in 1968 served briefly with the Canadian Hydrographic Service and then joined BC
Ferries. His last command was the Queen of the North from which he retired in 1986.
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