Joe Fortes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seraphim “Joe” Fortes (1865-1923) was a former sailor, originally from Barbados and then Liverpool, and a legendary figure in the early history of Vancouver, Canada. 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 official lifeguard 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.
[edit] External links
- Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House restaurant (including a brief biography of Fortes)
- Joe Fortes Branch, Vancouver Public Library
 |
This Canadian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
