Otto Estabrooks SS Sicamous Captain 1914 and War Hero

ESTABROOK, Otto Ludlow (1889–1978)

Otto Ludlow Estabrook followed in the footsteps of his father, George Ludlow Estabrook, even to the extent of being for a short while the Master of the SS Sicamous, the second person to hold that position. Born on 20 December 1889 at Upper Gagetown, New Brunswick, Otto was the first of three children of George and his second wife, Sarah Brown[1]. At the time Otto was born, George was already a Captain. He was only about three when his father decided to move west in search of better-paying employment; Otto, his mother, and his stepsister Mabel were to follow a year later[2].

Young Otto’s early life would have been dominated by steamships, as his father worked initially on the Columbia River, and then the Arrow and Slocan lakes, moving from place to place as the demands of the job required. When Otto was nine, the family relocated to Okanagan Landing at the north end of Lake Okanagan. The company George had been working for had been absorbed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and he was added to the growing community of men that was needed to operate the CPR’s extensive Lake & River Service network. George’s first command on Lake Okanagan was the SS Aberdeen, and by the time he was 14 or so Otto was given the job of deckhand on that sternwheeler on its runs up and down the lake[3].

In the following years, like his father Otto found that he was moved around between the various CPR steamboat routes. With his increasing experience, he was transferred to work on the SS Nelson on Kootenay Lake, a small passenger-cum-freight sternwheeler, running strawberries from the lakeside growers to where they could be taken by train to the markets on the coast[4].

June 1907 found Otto working as a deckhand on the SS Okanagan, considerably bigger than the Aberdeen or the Nelson. Later that year, in Vancouver he wrote the examination for his Mate’s certificate. This qualification meant that Otto would be second only to the captain of a ship and capable of taking command whenever the captain was off duty. As Mate he worked on the sternwheelers SS Moyie on Kootenay Lake and SS Minto on the Arrow Lakes[5][6]. Neither of these vessels were as big as the Okanagan, but they would have been a challenge nonetheless for a newly qualified Mate.

Finally getting his Master’s certificate in 1909 he was given command of tugs on the Arrow Lakes, before moving on to captain the sternwheelers SS Rossland, in 1911, and SS Bonnington, in 1912, both also on the Arrow Lakes[7]. In 1914 he was moved back to Lake Okanagan to work on the steam tug SS Naramata[8]. He later recalled that he did not mind this ‘constant switching between Kootenay and Okanagan lakes’ as he enjoyed travelling[9].

Otto’s father, George, had been given special dispensation in 1914 from the CPR’s compulsory retirement age to give him the privilege of serving as Captain on the newly launched ‘Queen of the Lake’ SS Sicamous. This vessel was even more luxurious and, at 61 metres long, bigger than any other on Lake Okanagan. But as the year was drawing to a close, the question arose as to who was to take over as its Master from the soon-to-be superannuated George Estabrook. Such a plum position could only be decided on the basis of seniority, and Captain William Kirby was identified as the man for the job. However, as Kirby had to relinquish his duties to his replacement on Slocan Lake, Otto, who had already been acting as pilot on the Sicamous, was given temporary command; he was by now a Captain in his own right[10].

With Kirby installed on the Sicamous, in 1915 Otto was given the command of the SS Okanagan, only marginally smaller than the Sicamous, which operated on the eponymous lake[11]. But by now the First World War was very much under way, and young Canadian men were flocking in their thousands to join the colours. Otto decided to join them. He presented himself to the recruiting centre at Vernon Camp and signed his Attestation Paper on 18 September 1915[12]. His medical report noted that he was missing the index and middle fingers on his right hand; he had lost these in a childhood accident but their absence had not affected his career so far – nor, as we will see, would it affect his service as a soldier[13].

Otto was assigned as a Private to the 54th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. After two months of basic training, on 22 November the battalion sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the HMT Saxonia, bound for England[14]. Arriving on 2 December, there followed more months of training, drills, exercises and route marches before he and his comrades were considered ready to be sent to the war zone[15]. It was not until 18 June 1916 that Otto proceeded to France, where he joined the 2nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry. On 25 June he arrived in the trenches, attached to his battalion’s machine gun section, just in time to experience the beginning of the grinding Somme offensive that took most of the second half of the year[16]. His unit was entrenched at Pozieres, having moved there from the battlefield of Courcelette, but Otto found that he was unable to walk. On 26 August he was admitted to Albert Hospital in northern France suffering from myalgia, a muscular condition brought on by his combat experiences.

From Albert he was moved to hospitals in Boulogne, then Aldershot and Wokingham in England, and finally to the Canadian Red Cross Hospital in Buxton, Derbyshire. He was in a bad way, complaining of pain in his hip, thigh, calf, and foot. It was not until January 1917 that he was pronounced fit enough to leave hospital and move to St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex to start the long process of regaining his strength[17].

When he arrived back in France in June 1917, the 2nd Battalion was all set to join the Passchendaele offensive. Otto played his part in this costly and bloody battle, earning for himself the prestigious Military Medal in November, which was awarded to soldiers in recognition of acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire. The following month he was promoted to Lance Corporal. By now the tide of war was beginning to turn, and the Canadian forces were instrumental in forcing the Germans onto the back foot. In February 1918 Otto was promoted to Corporal, and in May to Lance Sergeant. Through another example of courageous action, he was awarded a bar to his Military Medal in June, and promoted once more in August, this time to Sergeant[18].

Only weeks before the war’s conclusion, in late September 1918 Otto received a gunshot wound to his left arm. Once more, he was sent to hospitals in France and then England[19]. In early 1919 he was repatriated to Canada, leaving Liverpool on 1 February on the requisitioned Cunard liner RMS Carmania. Seven days later he arrived back in Halifax, and was demobilised on 11 March in Vancouver{20].

Apart from the mental and physical scars that he must have carried, Otto soon continued where he had left off: he returned to work as a Master on CPR ships. From 1919 to 1922 he commanded the sternwheeler SS Kokanee on Kootenay Lake, reputedly the fastest ship in the service[21][22]. For the next ten years, 1922 to 1932, Otto commanded the twin-screw SS York, a small (27 metres) ship that had been employed pushing and pulling barges up and down Lake Okanagan. In 1921 the York was given a new purpose, carrying passengers from Penticton, down the winding channel of the Okanagan River, then along Skaha Lake to Okanagan Falls, where it linked with the rail line to Oliver and Osoyoos[23]. This must have been very frustrating work for such an experienced captain, as the channel between Penticton’s two lakes was notorious for silting unless it was constantly dredged. His reward came when he was returned as Master of the Rossland until 1947, and the Minto until his retirement in 1951[24].

In 1924, Otto married Mary Douglass Williams, a music teacher, at Mary’s father’s house in Naramata[25]. In June of that year, it was announced that Otto was building a new residence on Winnipeg Street in Penticton, perhaps giving rise to the naming of Estabrook Avenue as the short lane that today links Winnipeg and Martin streets[26]. The couple continued to live in Penticton, where Otto died on 9 September 1978[27]

Robert Nield

26 January 2025

[1] New Brunswick, Canada, Births and Late Registrations, 1810–1906, ancestry.ca

[2] British Columbia Regional Digitised History (BCRDH), interview with Otto Estabrook recorded by Milton Parent in Penticton, August 1977

[3] BCRDH, interview with Otto Estabrook

[4] BCRDH, interview with Otto Estabrook

[5] ‘Estabrooks – Father and Son’, Eric D Sismey, Okanagan History Society 35th Annual Report (1971), p128

[6] BCRDH, interview with Otto Estabrook

[7] ‘Estabrooks – Father and Son’, Sismey, p128

[8] Vernon News, 23 Jul 1914, p11

[9] BCRDH, interview with Otto Estabrook

[10] Penticton Herald, 7 Jan 1915, p1

[11] Penticton Herald, 15 Aug 1915, p5

[12] Attestation Paper, 18 Sep 1915, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[13] BCRDH, interview with Otto Estabrook

[14] Casualty Form – Active Service, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[15] Record of Promotions etc, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[16] Casualty Form – Active Service, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[17] Medical Case Sheet, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[18] Casualty Form – Active Service, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[19] Casualty Form – Active Service, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[20] Discharge Certificate, Canada, World War I CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918, ancestry.ca

[21] ‘Estabrooks – Father and Son’, Sismey, p129

[22] Sternwheelers of Kootenay Lake, touchstonesnelson.ca

[23] wikipedia

[24] ‘Estabrooks – Father and Son’, Sismey, p129

[25] British Columbia, Marriage Records, FamilySearch.com

[26] Vernon News, 5 Jun 1924, p9

[27] findagrave.com