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The Sunshine Coast community of Gibsons, B.C., has come together to restore a piece of history.
The red-and-black boat called the Persephone featured in the long-running TV series The Beachcombers, which was filmed in Gibsons, has been restored and sits at the corner of Gibsons Way and School Road.
John Smith’s father used to own the boat, which was originally called the John Henry.
“It’s really a proud moment for us to see it back in really good condition,” Smith said.
Smith said the boat was originally white, but when his dad went to Vancouver for a business trip, he decided to paint it.
“He was not really impressed with it, but it ended up being black for the rest of his life,” Smith said.
Smith also worked on the series and performed many of the water stunts for the actors.
“This is the paint job, not exactly the same, but pretty much the same as it was when we first started shooting Beachcombers,” he said.
First aired on CBC in 1972, The Beachcombers ran for nearly two decades. It is one of the longest-running TV series in Canadian history, dubbed into 20 languages and broadcast around the world.
Gibsons Mayor Silas White said the boat was previously on private property and needed to be moved.
“It’s amazing the amount of Beachcombers tourism we continue to get,” White said. “It’s an icon for all of Canada.”
Actor Jackson Davies, who portrayed RCMP Const. John Constable on the series, said fans still contact him about The Beachcombers, a show that featured Indigenous actors.
“I still have people reaching out to me, Indigenous fans that said, you know, I’d for the first time in my life, I saw myself on TV, someone who looked like me,” Davies said.
Having the boat restored means people can go see it for themselves.
“The real soul of the show, like Bruno [Gerussi], was the Persephone, the work boat,” Davies said. “It’s kind of magical that it was Canada’s show.
‘Labour of love’
The Persephone was damaged after being left out in the West Coast elements after filming.
Gibsons Coun. David Croal first moved to the area in 1979 to work on the show and said it’s good to see the boat back.
“It was really sad the condition that it had gotten,” Croal said.
To save the Persephone, B.C. Ferries contributed $25,000, and another $12,979 was raised.
Andrew Wood, a project manager at Spani Developments Ltd., led the restoration project.
“It was quite a big labour of love for lots of people in the community,” Wood said.
A small model of the Persephone that was originally built for Smith’s father was used to perfect the restoration.
“You could actually take layers apart,” Wood said.
The steel hull was rotten and decaying and needed to be completely replaced.
“New deck and new insides and put all the old muffler and smokestack and everything back on there and the log-pulling apparatus, which is a huge part of it,” Wood said.
The entire top cabin had to be restored, and durable paint was added to help with rust. Wood said that it took hundreds of hours to fix up.
“I think the most important thing is that it’s down here, back on display for people and for tourists,” Wood said. “This show meant a lot to a lot of people across the country and abroad.”
Next, they hope to raise money to build a roof over the Persephone.
The official unveiling of the Persephone will be on May 30, which marks the 100th anniversary of Molly’s Reach, the restaurant featured in the series.
