frederick mallandaine
Fred was born on 20 August 1869 in Victoria and baptised at St John’s Church one month later. When he was twelve years old, his family moved into their newly build home on Simcoe Street in the James Bay area of the city where he and his brothers became involved in the newly formed James Bay Athletic Association and participated in both athletics and rowing.
At the age of 15, Fred was employed as a clerk in the employ of Robert T. Williams in his bookbinding and publishing office at the corner of Government and Broad Streets. Five years later, in 1889, Fred appears in the Henderson City Directory employed as a carpenter and still living with his family on Simcoe Street. The following year, Fred was living in Vancouver and working as a ‘paper ruler’ with the News Advertiser newspaper.
But he returned to Victoria and by 1893, was working as a Clerk in the Land Registry Office on Langley Street where he remained for the next two years. Sadly, Fred died on 11 November 1895 while on a duck hunting trip. He left home alone on Thursday, 7 November, after telling his brother Edward that he intended to camp until Sunday if the shooting was good and he rowed out to Albert Head in his small Whitehall boat and set up his camp. He was last seen alive on Sunday afternoon near the Albert Head lagoon and on Monday, his boat was sighted near Clover Point by a passing schooner. When they recovered the boat, they found Fred dead in the bottom of the boat without oars or rowlocks. He was just 26 years old.
An inquest was held into the circumstances surrounding his death and the coroner found that Fred died of ‘exhaustion from exposure in an open boat’ on Monday. A gale had picked up over the Straits of Juan de Fuca on Sunday evening and it was thought that Fred’s boat drifted from shore due to the force of the wind and waves. He likely attempted to recover the boat without setting in the oars and rowlocks and when he was unable to row back to shore, he perished in the cold and rain.
The Daily Colonist reported the event and noted that ‘for years he had been prominently identified with local aquatic and athletic sports and his genial personality will be keenly missed, not for months but for years, more especially in the ranks of the James Bay Athletic Association of which he was one of the first and most enthusiastic members.’
The funeral was held at St James Church and Fred was buried at Ross Bay Cemetery. His father left a legacy in his will for a headstone for his son and it was completed following his death in 1905.