- Joe Fortes
Seraphim “Joe” Fortes (
1865 -February 4 ,1922 ) was a former sailor, originally fromBarbados and thenLiverpool , and a legendary figure in the early history ofVancouver ,Canada . [ [http://www.bhcsbc.org/historical_fortes.html Seraphim "Joe" Fortes] at Black Historical and Cultural Society] After moving to the city in 1885 (the year before it was incorporated), he worked as a labourer and bartender, then became a fixture at English Bay Beach, where he lived in a small cabin, acted as unofficial security guard, and taught hundreds of children how to swim. The city appointed the burly, friendly man, who had been a competitive swimmer in England, as its first officiallifeguard at the turn of the twentieth century.When he died in 1922, Vancouver held a record-breaking funeral procession for Fortes, which was especially unusual because he was one of the city's few black citizens at the time. Even in the twenty-first century, Vancouverites remember him with a monument near the site of his home, a branch of the
Vancouver Public Library , and a well-known downtown restaurant, named after him when it opened in 1985, one hundred years after he arrived in Canada.References
External links
* [http://www.joefortes.ca/ Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House] restaurant
* [http://www.vpl.ca/branches/details/joe_fortes_branch Joe Fortes Branch] , Vancouver Public Library
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