The many adventures of Ezekiel Taylor Ash are reminiscent of those from the book Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. Unlike the book, Taylor’s tales are no work of fiction. Born in a small Newfoundland bay town in 1871 and raised in Trout River, Gros Morne National Park, Taylor left home on a sealing schooner in 1892 to seek greater opportunities. He spent 20 years working aboard an assortment of ships and later immigrated to Victoria, British Columbia.
Sealer
Taylor sailed the coasts of North and South America on the sealing schooner Willie McGowan, where he earned a salary of $25 to $50 per month, plus 35 cents to $5.00 per skin (The Daily Colonist 5). The ship rounded Cape Horn, arriving in Victoria on 2 May 1892 (The Daily Colonist 5). Shortly thereafter, the Willie McGowan was sailing 15 miles off of Medny Island in the Bering Sea (House of Commons 731), when it was seized by Imperial Russia on 18 July 1892 (Brice 124). Accused by the Russians of sealing in their waters, Taylor received a sentence of six weeks of labour in a Siberian salt mine before he and the crew secured release through the intervention of the British government (The Daily Colonist 5).
Disaster Strikes
Located in the upper harbour, just south of Point Ellice Bridge was the Victoria sealing fleet (The Victoria Harbour History Project). On 26 May 1896, an overloaded streetcar carrying 142 revelers celebrating Queen Victoria’s birthday caused the Point Ellice Bridge to collapse, resulting in the deaths of 55 people (Grant 47). Taylor was nearby and assisted in the rescue and recovery effort.
SOS
Taylor found work during the Klondike gold rush of 1886-1889, where he was quartermaster of the steamer the SS Princess May of the Canadian Pacific Railway Coast Service on the route from Victoria, BC to Skagway, Alaska (Directory of Vancouver Island and Adjacent Islands 343). After the end of the gold rush, he continued on this route for several years. On 5 August 1910, the ship ran aground on Sentinel Island, jutting up high on the rocks. Later salvaged, Taylor continued on as quartermaster on the Princess May for several more years (Henderson Publishing Company 384).
Settling Down
Taylor briefly returned to Newfoundland, and on 25 July 1912, he married Dulcibella Jane Allen of Woody Point. On the night of their wedding, they departed Newfoundland for BC, where they would reside for the rest of their lives.
Later Work Life
In 1914, Taylor became the first lighthouse keeper at Cape St. James in Haida Gwaii (Provan and MacFarlane). He stayed only a few months, as his son Gordon was born in Victoria on 11 April of that year. Upon his return to Victoria, Taylor worked for the Foundation Shipyard Co. Ltd in 1918-1919, at the Yarrows Limited shipbuilders for 25 years, and with the naval dockyard in Esquimalt for the last two years of his life (The Daily Colonist 5).
Family
Taylor built a family home in 1914 at 3073 Orillia Street in Victoria. After the birth of their son, Taylor and Dulcie welcomed daughters Muriel on 27 August 1916 and Geraldine (Gerry) on 11 May 1926. Muriel and her family occupied the family home until her death in 2008.
Death and Legacy
Taylor’s wife Dulcie passed away on 18 January 1939 at the age of 51 years, days after suffering a major stroke. Taylor followed on 10 November 1940, age 69, after suffering a heart attack whilst sitting at the kitchen table in the house he built, his daughter Gerry by his side. Buried side by side in the Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria, Taylor and Dulcie are lovingly remembered by their descendants.
Taylor’s legacy includes his three children, six grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, and to date eight great-great-grandchildren.
