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Clippings courtesy Leigh Cossey, Jan. 30, 2020.

	Vancouver Sun, Mon. Jan. 12, 1948. Two Saved As Tug Sinks in Narrows. Tragedy Averted by "Fluke" Blasts From Ship's Whistle. Cool-headedness of a towboat mate and a "fluke" whistle blast combined to save the lives of two men Saturday night after their tug had gone down in First Narrows. Saved by rescue vessels, from a drifting scow, after their Straits Towing and Salvage Co. tug Harvan had sunk in darkness just west of Lion's Gate Bridge, are Capt. Basil J. "Curly" Bell, 135 East Seventeenth, and Mate Ronald Bestward, 3044 Glen. Bestward, a new man with the tug firm, pulled the skipper from the sinking tug and shouted instructions to him, assisting him until the shivering pair had managed to scramble to safety aboard the lumber scow the Harvan had been towing. Straits Towing's dispatcher Gordon Lott, who directed rescue operations via radio-telephone, today related details of the near tragedy. The 45-foot steel tug Harvan was towing a scowload of lumber from False Creek round to Vancouver harbor when a strong rip tide caught the two vessels in First Narrows. Weight of the scow, hurled against the tug, rolled the tug under."The pair tried to get out through one door of the fast-sinking tug, but couldn't, and Bestward then pulled "Curly" out throught the other door," said Lott today. "Then Bestward told "Curly" to wrap his legs around the cable to the scow. They managed to climb up the breastwork of the scow, the mate pulling the skipper up onto it. "Meanwhile, two blasts on the tug's whistle, apparently caused by "Curly" hitting his head on it, attracted the attention of Lion's Gate signalman on duty. "We sent a tug out from the north shore."
	The Province, Mon. Jan. 12, 1948. Mate Hero in Sinking, Saves Skipper's Life. Capt. B.I. "Curly" Bell, skipper of the 40-foot tug Harvan, is alive today because his 21-year old mate, Ronald Bestward, had presence of mind and courage to act before their craft went down late Saturday. The tug had just passed under Lion's Gate Bridge, pulling an empty scow, when the bridle started to tighten, pulling the tug over on her side. CAPTAIN AT WHEEL Capt. Bell was at the wheel and Bestward had just stepped from the wheelhouse to the deck. The mate started aft to loosen the tow cable but found he was too late. He thought of the skipper and turned back. "The whole thing happened in seconds," Capt. Bell told The Vancouver Daily Province as he sat in his home at 135 East Seventeenth. "I felt the ship start to heel and grabbed at the wheel. Before I could move, the water was at the ship's bridge door. The wheel was in my hand and as the ship went over, I started to pull, but as fast as I pulled the wheel spun. A second more and I would have gone over and under with her, but Ron dashed into the wheelhouse and grabbed me. We dived out the door together and the next thing I remember we were in the water. HELPED SKIPPER Both men worked their way to the scow behind them where Bestward pulled himself aboard and then helped his skipper to safety. As the craft went down, her whistle blew. W. J. Mooney, chief signal officer at Lion's Gate bridge, swung his searchlight on the scene. He notified the Straits Towing Salvage Co., owners of the Harvan, and Dispatcher Gordon Lott swung into action to get Captain Tommy White, skipper of the tug Port-O-Van, to the scene. It was Capt. White who brought the cold and half-drowned men ashore. "IT WAS NOTHING" Bestward, a new man with the company, was laconic about the rescue. "Aw shucks, it was nothing," he said. "Anyone would have done the same. The water wasn't cold. It was colder sitting on that scow for an hour and a half until we were rescued." The Harvan is thought to be resting in about 110 feet of water.
	Vancouver Sun, Tues. Jan. 13, 1948. Salvage Attempt on the sunken Straits Towing and Salvage Co. tug Harvan, in First Narrows, was unsuccessful Monday, due to heavy tide. The vessel sank after being rolled under by a lumber scow, and her two crew men were rescued after scrambling to the scow. Strait's tugs Glenboro and Portovan and a derrick here are making efforts to locate the sunken craft.
	Vancouver Sun, Wed. Jan. 21, 1948. Straits Towing and Salvage Co. today abandoned its search forits tug Harvan, sunk "somewhere in First Narrows." After trying a huge electromagnet, grappling hooks, echo-sounding depth recorder, and testing an undersea metal detector, the firm receieved instructions from marine underwriters to give up the case of the missing tug. Salvors thought they might have located her yesterday after red and white paint was detected on grappling hooks which had "found" something. But further undersea efforts proved fruitless.

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