Peter Bok ● Photo Journal 卜利泉 ( 光●影●情●事 ): Find the cooks of Keewatin 尋找當年桂船的廚工

Many people know about the history of Chinese in contributing their part in the construction of the Canada Pacific Railway. Do you know that prior to the railway era in Canada, Keewatin and 4 other sister ships had catalyzed the Confederation of Canada? All the cooks on board of these ships were talented and hardworking Chinese.

許多人都知道加拿大華工鐵路的歷史。但你可知道未有加拿大鐵路之前﹐ 「桂花田」客輪和她的四艘姊妹船有助加速了加拿大邦聯的成立? 在這些船上工作的都是才藝不凡和工作勤奮的華裔廚工。

On 23 July 2012, Eric Conroy, the captain of Keewatin read the story of Keewatin in my blog: Historical S.S. Keewatin returns home and made his comment:

" ... I was the one who brought her back and was also a waiter as a teenager on board. Very important to the success of the ship was the incredible kitchen staff who were all Chinese. I have tried to reach any of them with no luck. I have even tried the Chinese newspapers but they have ignored all attempts to reach them. This important Canadian icon needs to make that connection. perhaps you might be interested in helping me? ..."

2012年7月23日﹐ 「桂花田」客輪船長康和先生在我的網誌讀了「歷史郵輪回家了」的故事﹐ 寫了以下的評論﹕

“ ... 我是將「桂花田」客輪帶回加拿大的﹐ 也在年青時代在船上當過侍應。這艘船成功之處是全賴船上一班優秀的華裔廚工。我曾經到處打聽他們的下落都不成功。我甚至向華文報章求助都沒有結果。這是加拿大重要的歷史標記﹐ 必需加以聯繫。或者﹐ 你會有興趣幫我嗎?... ”

Eric Conroy

On 29 July 2012, I visited Eric in his home in Scarborough. We were glad to know each other as we shared our passion in the history of Keewatin and the contribution of Chinese cooks in this ship. During our meeting, Eric gave me a brief account of the history of Keewatin in relation to the Confederation and the lives of the Chinese cooks on board.

I was deeply impressed that these Chinese cooks had played an important part in the history of the Confederation. If anyone who knows or has connection with any of these Chinese cooks, please let us know.

Peter and Eric

Eric Conroy, Captain of Keewatin

Eric has made the story more complete with the following:

“The Canadian Pacific provided a first class service on their ships carrying grain and passengers between Fort William at the top of Lake Superior and Port McNicoll in Georgian Bay. This stretch of water was a vital link in the formation of Canada as it was what was used to form the country into a Confederation in 1867. By 1882 Alberta and Saskatchewan had still not joined the rest of the country, preferring the ease of doing business with the much closer southern neighbor the United States.

The Government of the day had established a rail link between Vancouver and the east, but the single track through the hostile wilderness of Northern Ontario prevented large quantities of grain to go east, and worst still it limited the large numbers of immigrants needed to populate the west. Canadian Pacific was subsidized to do both and over the years built a fleet of five ships to do just that. Alberta and Saskatchewan joined confederation in 1905 and the scheme devised by the Government and the CPR to import immigrants from Europe was discontinued. However the ships remained the largest carrier of grain out of western Canada.

Eventually the fleet was converted to “cruise” ships. Painted white and offering amenities as would be found on the ocean liners of the time, these work horses never left their working credentials behind and pulled grain to the very end in 1965. As Cruise ships Keewatin and her sister Assiniboia had a big reputation to uphold and part of that was the food they served. On both ships ( the other three were relegated to freight only then phased out) food and environment were the key to success. The environment was created by the oak and mahogany interiors, hand painted Italian glass windows and expensive Persian carpets.

The food was created and maintained by a kitchen staff that were all Chinese. These men worked as a team. They were talented, efficient and to the most kept to themselves making them ideal employees. As unionized workers they were paid extremely well as were all the crew. However, because they did not socialize with the rest of the crew there is little evidence as to who they were. Part of the reason the cooks didn’t mingle is that they worked incredible hours, as did most of the crew when the ship was working. But the cook staff worked mostly at night and into the early day. Everything was made from scratch. Meat came in sides of beef, not prepackaged portions like today. Bread, cakes, pies where all handmade and all cooking was done on charcoal fires in large cast iron stoves. All meals were cooked to order. In their off time which was a day in Fort William and a day in Port McNicoll there was cleaning and provisioning. While waiters and sailors alike went off the ship to relax the kitchen staff worked.

There are only a few pictures of some of these talented men, but I would actually like to find some of the actual individuals and get their stories about the ships and their jobs. I was 18 when the ships stopped in 1967. Even given some of these gentlemen would be up to 10 years older than I there should be some still around or at least have family...”

Click for the related post: "Historical S.S. Keewatin returns home" »

7月29日﹐ 我與康和先生在他的位處士嘉堡居所會面。我們很高興能透過桂船和華裔廚工的歷史情懷而惺惺相識。期間他詳述了桂船和華工對加拿大邦聯的關係。我對華裔廚工在邦聯的歷史上佔重要的一環而印像深刻。如你們認識或知道這些廚工的下落﹐ 請告訴我們。

康和先生詳述了以下的一段歷史﹕

「加拿大太平洋的船舶航行於蘇必利爾湖的威廉堡和喬治亞灣的麥歷高港口，運載糧食和旅客，提供了一流的服務。這一段水路是加拿大建國成功的重要一環，使加拿大於1867年成為邦聯國家。到1882年，阿爾伯達省和沙斯喀徹溫省仍然沒有加入加拿大邦聯，她們寧願與鄰近南部的美國做生意更為安心。

當年加拿大政府建造鐵路，連接溫哥華和東部地區。可是鐵路要經過安大略省北部惡劣的曠野，大量運往東部的糧食因而受到阻滯。更甚者，要運載大量移民往西部定居也受到限制。為此，加拿大太平洋公司獲政府補貼，多年來建造了五艘船舶的船隊進行這兩項任務。1905年，阿省和沙省終於加入邦聯。自此，由加拿大政府和加拿大太平洋公司聯合從歐洲進口移民的計劃便結束了。然而，這些船舶仍然是加拿大西部糧食出口最大的承運商。

後來這些貨船被轉換為客輪。漆成白色，並如當年遠洋客輪一樣，在船上為旅客提供各種設施，這些船舶從來沒有停止運載糧食的任務，直至1965年為止。

由於郵輪「桂花田」和她的姊妹船「愛仙妮比亞」享有盛名，其中為旅客提供的食物更為人津津樂道。兩艘客輪的食品和裝修是成功的關鍵（其他三艘祇作貨運後來相繼退役了）。船的內部裝修是採用橡木和紅木材料，也有手繪的意大利窗花和昂貴的波斯地毯。船上的食品出自廚房工作人員，全是華裔廚師，他們負責食物的製作和保存。作為團隊的份子，他們具天才、富效率和履行最佳員工的責任。他們屬於工會工人，如其他船員同享高薪。然而他們鮮與他人交往，其他船員對他們不熟悉。部分原因是長時間的工作，難與其他船員混熟。廚師工作大多是在夜間通宵工作。所有的食物都由他們親力親為，肉食來自牛肉，不似今天有預製包裝好的食物。麵包、蛋糕，全手工製作和利用鐵爐中的木炭火煮食製做餡餅。所有餐點現烹的。他們的休息時間是一天在威廉堡、一天在麥歷高港，其間仍要為郵船做好清潔和補給的工作。雖然服務員和水手們都離船享樂，但是華裔廚工仍要繼續工作。