Vancouver's first lifeguard, Joe Fortes, is pictured here in 1905 at English Bay

 

Vancouver's first lifeguard, Joe Fortes, is pictured here in 1905 at English Bay.

Vancouver's first lifeguard, Joe Fortes, is pictured here in 1905 at English Bay beach. Fortes is officially credited with saving 29 swimmers from drowning on his watch. Vancouver Citizen of the Century” - Credited with saving at least 29 lives from drowning, including adults and children, as well as teaching three generations of Vancouver children to swim; in 1986 the Vancouver Historical Society formally declared Joe as “Vancouver Citizen of the Century”. He just started teaching thousands kids how to swim and saving people without being hired. He did it for free for years until the city put him on their payroll in 1900 as "the guardian of the beach" because of a citizens' petition. His duties as guardian included swimming instruction, lifesaving and patrolling the beach as a special constable. He was such a beloved figure, especially by children, that this large black man just became accepted as the official protector of the beach. His day job was as a porter and bartender before he was paid for his voluntary lifeguard work. He lived at English Bay in a tent on the beach. He just loved that beach would go swimming in the sea multiple times a day. When he arrived in Vancouver swimming wasn't yet a common skill which was why his swimming lessons were so important to generations of children. Before Joe Fortes arrived in Vancouver, then called Granville, in 1885 he lived in Liverpool, UK. He won a three mile race across the Mersey River and was part of touring 11-man swim team that exhibited their skills across English and French resorts. He was originally born in Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1863 and immigrated to England when he was 17. He was said to have had a Black father and a mostly Spanish mother, and Joe was indeed fluent in Spanish. He arrived in Vancouver a year before it was incorporated as the city of Vancouver in 1886 and owned the city's first shoeshine stand at the Sunnyside Hotel for eight months before it burned down in the Great Vancouver Fire in June 1886. He was apparently also an expert at mixing fantastic cocktails. Among the people he saved from drowning was one John Hugo Ross who would go on to drown years later when he was aboard the Titanic when it sank.