Seraphim “Joe” Fortes outside his English Bay cottage, 191- After spending his spare time teaching kids to swim and patrolling English Bay, the City finally put Joe Fortes on the payroll, making him Vancouver’s first lifeguard, and then swearing him in as a special constable. Fortes arrived in town in 1885 and before becoming a lifeguard worked as a shoeshine boy, porter, and odd-job man in Gastown hotels. “English Bay Joe” or “Old Black Joe,” as he was variously known, was a well-loved local figure, having taught several generations of Vancouverites to swim and saving at least 26 people from drowning. Fortes died 90 years ago today at the age of 57. Thousands turned out for his funeral, one of the biggest in the city’s history. It included a procession through downtown featuring his rowboat filled with flowers, followed by a service at the Holy Rosary Cathedral, where the pipe organ crooned Old Black Joe. All the schools in the city paused for a moment of silence to remember Old Joe.    One of Joe’s former students wrote a good little bio & her memories of him here.  Source: Photo by W. Chapman, Vancouver Public Library #86725
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Seraphim “Joe” Fortes outside his English Bay cottage, 191-

After spending his spare time teaching kids to swim and patrolling English Bay, the City finally put Joe Fortes on the payroll, making him Vancouver’s first lifeguard, and then swearing him in as a special constable. Fortes arrived in town in 1885 and before becoming a lifeguard worked as a shoeshine boy, porter, and odd-job man in Gastown hotels.

“English Bay Joe” or “Old Black Joe,” as he was variously known, was a well-loved local figure, having taught several generations of Vancouverites to swim and saving at least 26 people from drowning.

Fortes died 90 years ago today at the age of 57. Thousands turned out for his funeral, one of the biggest in the city’s history. It included a procession through downtown featuring his rowboat filled with flowers, followed by a service at the Holy Rosary Cathedral, where the pipe organ crooned Old Black Joe. All the schools in the city paused for a moment of silence to remember Old Joe.   

One of Joe’s former students wrote a good little bio & her memories of him here. 

Source: Photo by W. Chapman, Vancouver Public Library #86725

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