What would they need such a long log? A very odd and unusual thing.... a flagpole

It was put aboard the 450-foot-long ocean freighter Wavecrest, bound for the Thames River and Kew Gardens.

It was the longest flagpole in the world. It was erected to celebrate the centenary of the Province of British Columbia and the bicentenary of the Botanical Gardens in 1959.

http://www.designroots.ca/2018/05/17/__trashed-2/