Joe Fortes
{{Short description|British-Canadian lifeguard}}
{{distinguish|text=Joseph Xavier "Joe" Forte, the American professional basketball player or Joe Forte, the American writer and painter}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Joseph Seraphim Fortes
| image = Portrait of Joseph (Joe) Seraphim Fortes, 1919.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Joe Fortes in Vancouver, 1910
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1863|02|09}}
| birth_place = Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1922|02|04|1863|02|09}}
| death_place = Vancouver, British Columbia
| occupation = Lifeguard
| years_active = late 19th century to 1922
}}
File:Joe Fortes (HS85-10-41838).jpg, Vancouver, Canada. This portrait was part of a collage in a Canada Post Stamp that honoured him.]]
Joseph Seraphim FortesGovernment of Canada 1901 Census records his name as "Joseph Fortis" (9 February 1863 – 4 February 1922) was a British-Canadian lifeguard. He was a prominent figure in the early history of Vancouver, and the city's first official lifeguard.
Early life
Joe Fortes was born in 1863 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. His father was a Barbadian "of full African blood" and his mother was "entirely or largely" Spanish or Portuguese.{{cite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/EN/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=7814|title=Biography – Fortes, Joseph Seraphim – Volume XV (1921-1930) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography|accessdate=13 June 2017}} At 17 Fortes left Trinidad for England. Residing for five years in Liverpool, he learned to swim at St George’s Baths, where he became a swimmer and diver of some note. He won a three-mile race across the Mersey River, received a gold medal for life-saving, and exhibited his talents as part of an 11-person swim team in a tour of English and French seaside resorts.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/joe-fortes-100-years-later-1.6337337|title=Vancouver's first lifeguard Joe Fortes died 100 years ago. What can be learned from his legacy?|accessdate=5 February 2022}} In 1884 he sailed around Cape Horn from Liverpool on the Robert Kerr, arriving in Burrard Inlet, a coastal fjord in southwestern British Columbia, in September 1885. His name occurs repeatedly in the ship's log as Seraphim Fortes.
Arrival in Vancouver
Fortes came to Granville (Vancouver) on the Robert Kerr, debarking on September 30, 1885. Making his home at English Bay, he lived in a tent on the beach during the milder months of the year. After the start of the 20th century, he moved into a cottage at the foot of Bidwell Street on the shore-side of Beach Avenue. His little house was later moved to the other side of the street, just east of Alexandra Park.
Lifeguarding in English Bay
Fortes ran Vancouver’s earliest shoeshine stand, in the Sunnyside Hotel on Water Street. Afterwards, he worked as a bartender and porter at such local establishments as the Bodega Saloon on Carrall Street in Strathcona and the Alhambra Hotel at the corner of Carrall and Water. Known to be clean, sober, and an expert mixer of cocktails, he was most famous, however, for his volunteer work as a swimming instructor and lifeguard.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-17 |title=Перший рятувальник Ванкувера — Джо Фортес - vancouver |url=https://vancouver1.one/uk/eternal/pershyj-ryatuvalnyk-vankuvera-dzho-fortes-2490 |access-date=2022-12-19 |language=uk}} In 1886, during the Great Vancouver Fire, he saved the wife and 8-year old son of a member of parliament. He was a common sight at English Bay beach, where he taught thousands of children to swim. It was not until around 1897 that the city, in recognition of his services, put him on its payroll as a lifeguard; at some point, he was also made a special police constable. He reputedly saved more than 100 people from drowning.{{cite web|url=http://ronsdalepress.com/books/our-friend-joe/|title=Our Friend Joe: The Joe Fortes Story|date=8 December 2011|accessdate=13 June 2017}}
His contemporaries referred to him respectfully and lovingly as "Old Black Joe" or "English Bay Joe". The stocky, dark-skinned man was a friend and teacher to the children, a guard for the bathers and a hero to people in distress. He has been officially credited with saving 29 lives, yet it is believed that the real number is considerably higher.
In 1910, the City honoured Joe Fortes for his many years of service to the public by presenting him with a gold watch, a cheque, and an illuminated address.{{cite news |date=23 December 1910 |title=Honor Guardian of English Bay |page=20 |work=The Daily Province |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53149148/honor-guardian-of-english-bay/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=9 June 2020}}
Legacy
Image:JoeFortes fountain.jpg's Alexandra Park by sculptor Charles Marega]]
Fortes died on February 4, 1922, at Vancouver General Hospital from a paralytic stroke, about three weeks after being admitted for pneumonia.{{cite news |date=4 February 1922 |title="Old Joe" Has Passed Away |page=1 |work=The Daily Province |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53149035/old-joe-has-passed-away/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=9 June 2020}} A record-breaking funeral procession was held for him. Mourners crowded into Holy Rosary Cathedral to bid farewell to a brave, kind and modest friend. Fortes was buried in Mountain View Cemetery. A flat stone marks his grave, simply inscribed: "JOE".
On June 24, 1927, the citizens of Vancouver dedicated a monument to Joe Fortes. The fountain in Alexandra Park by sculptor Charles Marega bears the inscription: LITTLE CHILDREN LOVED HIM.{{cite news |last=Sherlock |first=Tracy |date=18 August 2012 |title=English Bay's guardian of the beach |page=D7 |work=The Vancouver Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53149232/english-bays-guardian-of-the-beach/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=9 June 2020}}
On May 20, 1976, the Joe Fortes Branch of the Vancouver Public Library was dedicated to his name and in 1985, one hundred years after he arrived in Canada, the Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House restaurant opened.{{cite news |date=22 May 1976 |title=Bookworms borrow 1,100 volumes as West End library finally opens |page=12 |work=The Vancouver Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53149212/bookworms-borrow-1100-volumes-as-west/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=9 June 2020}}{{cite news |last=Boyd |first=Denny |date=9 August 1985 |title=Local legend Joe Fortes lends his name to new eatery |page=A3 |work=The Vancouver Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53149185/local-legend-joe-fortes-lends-his-name/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=9 June 2020}}
In 1986, during Vancouver's centennial year, the Vancouver Historical Society named Joseph Seraphim Fortes "Citizen of the Century."{{cite web|url=http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/chronology1922.htm|title=The History of Metropolitan Vancouver - 1922 Chronology|website=vancouverhistory.ca|accessdate=13 June 2017}}
In 2002, he was the subject of a National Film Board of Canada animated short [https://www.nfb.ca/film/joe/ Joe], directed by Jill Haras with a voice cast featuring Blu Mankuma.{{cite web|title=Joe|url=http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=51155|work=Collection page|publisher=National Film Board of Canada|accessdate=17 April 2012}}
In 2013, Canada Post released a postage stamp of Joe Fortes on February 1 celebrating Black History Month. The stamp's release marks the 150th anniversary of Joe's birth. The stamp was designed by Lara Minja.[http://www.canadapost.ca/shop/Postage/Stamps/Domestic/p-413879111.jsf?execution=e1s1 Press Release of Stamp] at the Canada Post Website.
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.vpl.ca/location/joe-fortes-branch Joe Fortes Branch], Vancouver Public Library
- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=7814 Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online: Joseph Seraphim Fortes]
- [http://www.joefortes.ca/ Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House] restaurant
- [http://ronsdalepress.com/books/our-friend-joe/ Ronsdale Press » Our Friend Joe: The Joe Fortes Story]
- Watch [http://www.nfb.ca/film/joe/ Joe] at the National Film Board of Canada website
- [https://vancouversun.com/Canada+Post+stamps+Vancouver+legend+Fortes/7895964/story.html News Article on the release of the Joe Fortes Stamp]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortes, Joe}}
Category:People from Port of Spain
Category:Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada
Category:Canadian people of Barbadian descent
Category:Black Canadian people
Category:People from Vancouver
Category:Trinidad and Tobago expatriates in the United Kingdom
Category:Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Vancouver)