The Marine Division of the British Columbia Provincial Police had humble beginnings. The earliest mention of a police boat was the sloop Maybelle, skippered by Constable A.D. Drummond. In 1890s, Drummond made patrols of the islands and the inlets of the southern end of the Gulf of Georgia.

After the major re-organization of the Provincial Police Force in 1923, the Marine Division began to expand. Soon there were patrol boats stationed all along the coast of British Columbia.

The pride of the fleet, the P.M.L.#14 was built in 1930 at the Shelbourne Shipyards Limited, Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, and christened the Margaret S.11. Immediately she joined a fleet of rumrunners operating between New York City and the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, of the south coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. When prohibition was repealed in 1933, the ship was brought round to Victoria and offered for sale. After Lloyd's of London England declared her sound, the British Columbia Provincial Police bought her for an undisclosed figure, and had her converted into a patrol launch. The conversion work was done by Armstrong Brothers of Kingston Street, Victoria.

While there, the vast hold that once held bottled goods was turned into accommodation for a crew of five, with additional facilities to hold five prisoners. At the same time the large fuel tanks were removed creating space for two additional Staterooms and a Court Room aft.

Renamed, the P.M.L.#14 was commissioned into the Provincial Police Force in July 1938. She was attached to "A Division" and operated out of Victoria, first under the command of Sergeant H. Raybone, and later, Sergeant F. Brooksbank. Her patrol was the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island. She remained with the Force until April 1942 when, she was chartered by the Royal Canadian Navy for the remainder of the Second World War. At this point in her varied career she became known as Her Majesty's Canadian Navy Ship "Ripple".

The Fishermen's Reserve navy was formed in 1938 on the British Columbia coast. It mainly consisted of ships and men from the fishing and towboat industries, whose knowledge of the coastal waters was unique. When the Second World War was declared, these vessels, armed with machine guns, depth charges and minesweeping-gear, sailed for designated patrol areas off the coast. H.M.C.S. Ripple's patrol area was the Johnstone Strait west to Yorke Island, and the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Until October 1941 and the arrival of the first corvettes on the coast, these small ships were the only naval presence on Canada's West Coast. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, orders were given for the internment of all Japanese-Canadian fishing boats on the British Columbia coast. Some of these ships became part of the Fishermen's Reserve navy. At its peak, the Fishermen's Reserve numbered 900 officers and men and more than 50 vessels of varying sizes. However by the end of 1944, the Fishermen's Reserve was no longer needed, and so gradually the ships and men returned to their peacetime duties.

On July 23, 1945, H.M.C.S. Ripple was sold by Crown Assets disposal to British Columbia Packers Limited. Re-named the Texada, she once again underwent an extensive refit, this time for fish packing and related duties. After the conversion, she hoisted the B.C. Packer's flag, and went to work for the company.

When I last saw the Texada, she was tied up at the B.C. Packers Celtic Shipyards (on the Fraser River) and up for sale. According to a company spokesman, she had not been used extensively for the last few years and, if the right buyer came along with a healthy offer, she would be sold out of the company. In the meantime the ex-Margaret S., ex-P.M.L.#14, ex-H.M.C.S. Ripple was waiting for her next calling.