Seraphim “Joe” Fortes

A young black sailor of Caribbean origins, Seraphim “Joe” Fortes arrived in
Vancouver, then known as Granville, in September of 1885. He discovered his
beloved English Bay Beach by chance c. 1887, while rowing supplies to a logging
camp. Over the following years Joe defied the prejudices of the time, endearing
himself to Vancouverites as the city’s first Official Lifeguard. He also patrolled the
area every night as a Special Constable of the Vancouver City Police. Thousands
paid tribute to Joe at his civic funeral on February 7, 1922. His small cottage
stood on this site from 1905 to 1928.

Sponsored by Karen Seaboyer in memory of Al and Fern Seaboyer

The City of Vancouver is located on the ancestral, unceded and traditional territories of the  xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

Learn more on the Musqueam Place Names Map, First Peoples’ Cultural Council of BC’s First People’s Map of BC and the Squamish Atlas . Further resources can be found on VHF’s Indigenous Heritage Resources page.

Of Serafim/Seraphim and Joe (1863-1922)

At VHF ‘s 2022 PTM plaque presentation for Seraphim “Joe” Fortes, 100 years after his death, we agreed that for the accolades and namesakes, we did not know Fortes, the person. Some of the many challenges in spotlighting historical figures and looking back at documents and photographs, are the gaps and limitations. There are so many questions one would have liked to ask Seraphim about the Granville (Vancouver) of 100 years ago. How do we shape his legacy for the next 100 years?

Please note the spelling of Seraphim vs Serafim references the English version from the Hebrew word for Seraph vs the Spanish spelling of the name. It’s referenced that once in Granville/Vancouver, he became known as “Joe”. 

Early Years

Serafim Fortes father was a West Indian sugar plantation worker and his mother of Spanish ancestry, and when he was born in what is believed to be Trinidad, he would have been a British subject. (Details on Trinidad in the 1800s can be found in the book “Our Friend Joe” by Lisa Anne Smith & Barbara Rogers). The year of his birth (February 9, 1863 or 1865) and details on his early schooling may be inconclusive, but records show he was a deckhand on a boat loaded with sugar to Swansea, Wales then Liverpool, England, then across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. A subsequent crossing brought him to Liverpool again where he settled in around the 1880s.

St. George’s Pier Head Public Baths, Liverpool – The Daredevil Club Wager

Serafim’s Liverpool, an industrialized city, with its overcrowded population, also had a large Black community and improved sanitation with a public bath complex and swimming pool. He was employed as an attendant there, and swimming as a sport had increased in popularity in the 1870s. In 1881, Serafim swam 1,312 yards across the River Mersey. This caught the attention of Captain Wagstaff, an honorary member of the “Daredevil Club”. A challenge was put out to any member of that club “to swim across the Mersey River in the dead of night, the fastest swimmer to be awarded a sum of no less than a thousand guineas.” (p13 – 14) Wagstaff paid for Serafim’s membership fee to the club and while a person of African descent had not been part of this club nor participated in elite society’s events, Serafim Fortes was included and allowed to participate.

Not only did Serafim go on to win the race, but rescued a competitor who was “cramping”, and Fortes became a “swimming sensation”. He made exhibition swimming performances at Blackpool and was presented with a medal and flowers by the daughter of the Mayor of Liverpool. Serafim went on tour to France in the company of those from the Order of Good Templars, whose Lodges were open to all regardless of race or gender.

(All references sourced from Chapter 2, Liverpool Years, Our Friend Joe, Smith & Rogers. 2012).

Robert Kerr to Granville 

In 1884, a 20ish aged seaman Fortes boarded a Hudson’s Bay Company merchant vessel, the Robert Kerr, on its route from Britain to the Americas loaded with coal for Panama City. During this time Fortes endured many challenges including the death of the captain and an undocumented assault, but ended up in Esquimalt on August 23, 1885. The boat was towed to Burrard Inlet and Fortes was discharged from service on September 30th, 1885.

(All references sourced from Chapter 3 & 4 of Our Friend Joe, Smith & Rogers, 2012)

[edits forthcoming on the next aspects of Fortes’ life in Granville/Vancouver].

Lifesaving

The Lifesaving Society has existed since 1894. Crystal Pool (now Aquatic Centre), built as the Connaught Club in 1929, shows the trajectory of what took place, after Fortes’ time.

Places of Interest in Vancouver

• Joe Fortes Drinking Fountain at Alexandra Park 1926
• VPL Joe Fortes Branch (est. 1976)
• Seraphim Joe Fortes is buried in the 1919 Section of Mountain View Cemetery.

Resources

• Seraphim Joseph Fortes – BC Black History Awareness Society
• Joe – NFB Film
• Our Friend Joe by Lisa Anne Smith
• Joe Fortes Illuminated Address, Hastings Mill blog.
• CBC article: Ashley Moliere 2022.
• Soliloquy for Seraphim by Ruby Smith Díaz – CAG Timelines
• Montecristo Magazine “Grappling with the legacy of a Black Icon in Vancouver“. 2025, by Ruby Smith Diaz.
• “His Name was Seraphim :a new book offers fresh perspective on Joe Fortes, one of Vancouver’s most celebrated figures” 2025 by John Ackermann.
• Lani Russwurm for Forbidden Vancouver: The Remarkable Scurry Family

Nearby Places That Matter Sites

• Sunset Beach Park
• Davie Street Village
• Celebrities