BC Ferry hits rock, sinks, 101 passengers rescued

<strong>Written By:</strong> BC Mary
<strong>Date:</strong> 2006-03-22 17:14:09
<a href="/article/111409736-bc-ferry-hits-rock-sinks-101-passengers-rescued">Article Link</a>

Some information indicated there were 101 crew and passengers aboard The Queen of the North when it hit a rock off Gil Island in Wright Sound and sank; some suggested 102, he said.

Bate said the Coast Guard would continue to search for a passenger they don’t even know exists as several other ferry passengers remained on board the icebreaker.

The orderly rescue of dozens of people from the ferry’s lifeboats — 42 crew members and 59 passengers — and the fact that no one was seriously injured is nothing short of miraculous, said the president of B.C. Ferries.

<a href="http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=6955797a-e3b3-4b99-b49d-9b354042e874">http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=6955797a-e3b3-4b99-b49d-9b354042e874</a>

let's hope no one is lost...

At the 6 pm TV news 2 passngers were listed missing.

The village that played a great part in the rescue and comfort for the survivors is basically a First Nation settlement.

Ed Deak,

At the 6 pm TV news 2 passngers were listed missing<<

Apparantly they were seen in the village and disappeared after that. They've been asked to report in and their disappearance turned over to the RCMP - Missing persons.

It could have been far worse. The vessal is capable of handling a lot more passangers and the storm wasn't severe.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.

As I listened to a CBC reported a statement from official with regard to the marine accident blame was laid squarely on the shoulders of the NDP for the condition of the ship than was in the Marine accident
and the one that sank/run aground.

How many years has the BC Ferries service been under Campbell’s watch?
Certainly long enough to have had Steamboat Inspection.

And certainly long enough for BC Ferries Corp to make decisions on mandatory records!

Liberal’s slash and burn economics affected all sectors of B.C.’s econometric picture.
Should anybody missed the point, under the guise of paying down a negative budget they claimed they inherited; the liberals did not maintain the fleet. PERIOD
In doing so they are directly responsible for the sailing safety of the passenger cargo they ferry. PERIOD
It is their liability, a liability taxpayer will shoulder

An a personal note
I may be retreating off line and within the framework of society
I have been a survivor all my life and shall continue to do so until my dying da
Diogenes

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Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding.
Ezra Pound

"It could have been far worse."

Luckily they only had ~110 aboard. There were only lifeboats for that many, and the ship was 'rated' for 600.

Didn't the Titanic teach us anything???

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"I think it's important to always carry enough technology to restart civilization, should it be necessary." Mark Tilden

The silver lining to this story is the tiny village of Hartley Bay, pop.
200. Without hesitation, the Gitk'a'ata First Nation rose heroically to
this emergency and are credited with rescuing most -- perhaps all -
- of the survivors of this sudden shipwreck.

Toronto Star reports "Tiny village pulled off incredible sea rescue"
and tells of men in shirtsleeves racing their boats out into the storm
after midnight, and beginning to haul in the survivors. And of
women, children, and elders who met the survivors at the dock
with blankets and an escort to their cultural centre.

I'm so proud of them. I hope British Columbia ... and Canada ...
does something to honour the marvelous people of Hartley Bay. At
very least: the new ferry (built in a B.C. shipyard) should be called
The Spirit of Hartley Bay.

The ship hit a rock and it made no difference whether it was a new, or old ship. The Titanic was on its maiden voyage.

The Campbell govt was trying to sell off the ship and the ferry line and the prospective buyer was on board, together with some corporation executives. So, the condition of the ship couldn't have been that bad if they were showing it off.

As far the BC ferry fleet is concerned, the NDP government has made a monumental mistake in spending almost half billion on the fast ferries, while letting the rest of the fleet go to pot, now with over 40 year old ships. I wasn't very popular with the NDP when I suggested, as soon as the ships hit the water and the first performance figures came out, that they will end up as skindiver toy breakwaters off the coast somewhere. And it almost worked out that way. It was a stupid concept, stupid design that had no chance in hell to work. So where were experts to tell this to the government?

So, the Libs. corrected the situation in a hurry, by turning a $1.6 billion NDP surplus into a $6. billion tax loss in their first term, then by buying new ferries in Germany, without even permitting BC shipyards to bid for them. So much for " free enterprise globalized market economy", when your own people are cut out of the bidding process.

The fast ferries may have been a concept and design mistake, but they were well built, top of the line workmanship, so there was no reason why the order for the new ferries had to be sent offshore.

In any case, had this accident happened only a few km. from that native fishing village, where people are listening to their radios all the time and somebody picked up the mayday call at 1 am, then raised the alarm with the boats taking off into the night, while the village laid out the welcome for the survivors, it could have indeed become a major disaster.

Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.

Ed: I have just heard a rumour that the BC government is thinking
of buying back the Fast Cats. Do you have any updates on that?

If BC did buy them back, the Cats are probably not suitable for that
northern run, but could relieve some of the Tsawwassen - Swartz
Bay routes so that one of the older ships could go north.

Having travelled on public ferries in New Zealand, Australia, and
across the English Channel, I've always been particularly proud of
BC Ferries which outshines the whole lot ... especially our big
Spirit ships ... and I think BC Ferries has been treated shabbily for
far too long. Something like CBC ... starved and harrassed until
they stumble, providing "proof" of their unworthiness.

I'm a bit worried by the steady emphasis in news reports on the
past accidents of BC Ferries. When you consider the traffic as well
as the complexities of the routes, the loadings seasonally and
commercially, the varied ports, along a coast which was once
called The Graveyard of the Pacific (nearby), I think BCFS has a
fine record -- not perfect -- but above the expected norm. So why
the emphasis on mistakes, errors, accidents ... ?? The media does
mostly what Gordo wants, after all.

I too wish that Glen Clark hadn't gone into Fast Cats -- only
because I couldn't see the urgent need for speed; but they were a
phenomenon of the time and made some sense, especially in the
area of skills training. Toronto & New Jersey have just
experimented with a FastCat operating between the two, and gave
it up for reasons which never mentioned design.

Knowing one of the naval architects who worked on BC's fastcats,
I've never accepted the hype that they were worthless except as
scrap. That abusive, destructive campaign against those ships
was IMO a perfect example of the Neo-Con's willingness to destroy
whatever stood in the way of their grab for power.

But it's good to think of the people of Hartley Bay. Wouldn't it be
grand to see a new, BC-built ferry sailing proudly as "The Spirit of
Hartley Bay"?

I haven't heard any rumours about buying back the fast cats.

I don't think they would work anywhere, because of their fuel inefficiency. Small speed increases equal large fuel consumption demands. This is something somebody should have told Clark. Newton figured it out 300 years ago.

I spent many years in motorsport to the factory rally team captain level, so I do have a bit of understanding of engines and the fast cat concept was a dead duck from the beginning. Now the buyers don't know what to do with them either, so they may want to try to sell them back.

Ed Deak.

That water is damn cold up there. I pray that everyone returns to land safely.

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" There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so ." William Shakespeare

I'm so proud of them. I hope British Columbia ... and Canada ...
does something to honour the marvelous people of Hartley Bay. At
very least: the new ferry (built in a B.C. shipyard) should be called
The Spirit of Hartley Bay. <<

Here,Here! I wonder if there is a way to intoduce that motion to those that could. It's a wonderfull idea.

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Expect little from life and get more from it.

The Titanic taught us many things.

- Carry enough lifeboats for passengers and crew. Ferry was.
- Use an international standardized distress signal (Titanic was first ship in history to transmit S.O.S) Ferry did.
- Do not try to run through iceberg waters at full speed (Ferry was not)

The reason the ship sank was that somehow, it strayed off course, a safe course it had been sailing for years. The investigation will hopefully reveal how this happened. I hope it wasn't because the entire bridge crew nodded off! Perhaps the ship's GPS receiver was on the fritz? It was interesting what the captain said to the premiere when he met him after the accident (and will no doubt be reprimanded for) he said, 'When are we getting more ships?' an obvious implication that the ship he was sailing was out of date and should have been replaced years ago.

I am so proud for that village, I hope the premiere reccommends the entire village for some sort of national award!

"- Carry enough lifeboats for passengers and crew. Ferry was."

Ferry was not. It had 2 lifeboats. 53 people each. The ferry was rated for 600 people. So if it were full, 493 would be floating in the water, 15 minutes from death.

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"I think it's important to always carry enough technology to restart civilization, should it be necessary." Mark Tilden