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William T. Cotsford was born in Victoria on January 25, 1860, Thomas Cotsford was a man of the sea all his life.

While still at school Cotsford used to take pilots out to meet the inbound vessels in his own small sailboat. When there was no wind, he rowed his craft. This introduction to rowing lead to the sport of sculling and competitive racing. Locally, such races were held either on the Gorge Waterway or Victoria's Inner Harbour. By the time Cotsford was nineteen, he was the champion, single-shell sculler for British Columbia. Successive years saw him collect several other awards.

Rather than finish school, he went to work on the Cariboo and Fly starting as quartermaster and ending up with a mate's ticket. Soon after that, he purchased the steam tug Newera and started his own business doing towing contracts around the “Gulf of Georgia.” By this time he was married and living on Prevost Island. He did not stay there long, moving next to the north end of Salt Spring Island.

In 1923, he and his family moved back to Victoria where he sold the Newera and went to work as the relief skipper of the tugboat Daring. He did this until his passing, March 20, 1937.

The Awards of William Thomas Cotsford:

-- Queen's Birthday Celebration Trophy (May 24, 1890): as winner of the Professional Shell Race and the Sculling Championship of British Columbia;
-- Royal Canadian Humane Association Medal: for conspicuous bravery in saving his nephew Donald McKay from drowning on May 27, 1899. The boating incident, for which the award was made, took place on Cotsford's sailboat Francis while racing off Victoria's waterfront;
-- Silver Sculling Medal: as Champion Sculler of British Columbia for 1879;
-- Copper Sculling Medal: as winner of the professional and national championships held in Victoria, British Columbia, May 24, 1892.