Harper is just slue-footing the Liberal's foreign investment(fish farms)campaign funds.
Hope you enjoyed the Carib. trip, Rafe. With the advacement of global warming, those beautyful beaches will be awash in your future.

Nice style, Rafe ... as you ring the changes on reasons why we should love you. I must admit, it isn't as difficult as it once was <>.

Just wondered if you'd talk next time about the sinking of the Queen of the North and specifically about how to honour the Gitka'ata First Nation at Hartley Bay for their rapid, remarkable rescue of so many of the shipwrecked passengers.

Have you heard the rumour about a new ship for BC Ferries (preferably B.C.-built) sailing route 10 with a name honouring the Gitka'ata as Spirit of Hartley Bay?

While Googling Hartley Bay, I learned that this community is in the heart of the Great Bear Rain Forest, home of the Kermode Bear ... specifically the white Spirit Bear, which "about a thousand years ago," the Gitka'ata swore their hereditary chief would protect forever.

I also learned that the Campbell government wishes to use the Spirit Bear as the symbol for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Looks as if a lot of good things might come together, for the long run, with a BC Ferry sailing those waters, reminding the world of the Spirit of Hartley Bay. What do you think?

I have also heard the rumour about calling it the Spirit of Hartley Bay, i think it will be a fine idea. They were also dammed lucky that the CCG ship was nearby, normally it would have been hours away, in which case it would have fallen completly on the shoulders.

Another great story about a small community coming to the rescue. I saw a show on this where one of the last remaining survivors came to visit the town and was greeted by one of the ladies that saved him. He was the first black person they had met and they tried to wash the oil off of him until he told them that he was born that colour!

http://ngb.chebucto.org/Articles/truxton.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Truxtun_(DD-229)

Nothing against naming the new ship The Spirit of Hartley Bay but I really think the best way to honour the good people of Hartley Bay in this regard would be to keep the moratorium on the exploration of offshore oil and gas.

If we so value their "spirit" as we say...then honour their truly precious gift of "lives saved" by ensuring that their way of living is saved... and that their community is allowed to thrive on... and endure.

seems their shellfish beds may well be contaminated by the diesel, alas, sometimes no good deed goes unpunished...naming seems a rather pathetic gesture in such a case....

another snotty missive aimed at the low rent crowd.
it shows some people will buy anything,like the meandering thoughts of a sun baked brain awash in the latest beverage du jour(what were you imbibing?)
i have been reading this site since it started and have yet to read a piece by rafe mair that does not push his smuggness in our faces...
you are really outliving your welcome,you should take that advice you got and retire.

My my this is turning into a self centered tirade. The ferry sinking is about the only way Victoria and Vancouver know there is more of BC. Time for Vancouver Island to separate while there are still a few logs. BC ferries no they are going to be the private ferries with only the big runs still owned by the people.

Good article Rafe (as almost always!).
Oh, mcdull, re: Island separation; Grand idea!

Lynn, Alcibiades: can't we do both? A naming, and a saving? In fact, they'd do well together -- one more widely ceremonial, the other more intensely nurturing.

In suggesting that the northern ferry be named Spirit of Hartley Bay, I never for a moment thought of it as excluding all other acknowledgements.

BC Mary
Certainly. Good Idea - the naming is easy - probably a fait accompli; the saving - more difficult. I guess it depends upon the memory and the damage done - to take a riff from Kurt Cobain.

Where does the name Hartley Bay come from? Wouldn't there be a more appropriate name for the new ferry? All the villages up there are going back to their proper names, would 'Spirit of Hartley Bay' be seen as derisive?

mikev
why not let's let the people of Hartley Bay decide? point is to honour them and their actions - but I can't see why the suggested name ~ fitting as it does the BC Ferries tradition ~ would necessarily be a problem. if, given the fact the sinking ferry 'may' have wrecked their shellfish harvest for some time, the most important current consideration is not finding a name but fashioning a solution or remedy to that problem, no?

Absolutely, BC Mary, a fine idea...a naming and a saving...

When it comes time for the Gitka'ata First Nation to christen the ship though... could we just somehow send Gordo out of country...maybe off to Maui again for a return engagement... so we don't have to watch his usual cloying photo-op charade?...while visions of oil and gas tankers dance in his head.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use the name of the new ferry to honour the people, I'm just saying we shouldn't go to them and say 'we named it Spirit of Hartley Bay for you, now look at us pat ourselves on the back'. It would be just perfect if they actually got to decide. Maybe they would like Spirit of Hartley Bay. Maybe they would like Spirit of Txalgiu. Maybe they have some other idea. Naming the ferry is a fantastic idea, I just wonder if there shouldn't be a little discussion on what the name should be before it's written in stone, that's all.

mikev
I agree completely: Spirit of Txalgiu sounds terrific to me - leave the decision (if that's the way it's going) to the Gitka'ata First Nation - as lynn says though. Just watch Gordon Campbell find a way to turn the choice into something he and his odious 'government' can take credit for.

If that ferry had been as full of passengers as it sometimes is, and not carrying almost equal numbers of crew and customers, no matter how well things went in the dark that night I think this would have been a major tragedy in terms of lost lives (in addition to whatever damage the environment has sustained) too.

All the more reason to give credit to the good people of Hartley Bay.

I agree with you "BC Mary". The hearts and spirits of the brave Gitka'ata people is easy to acknowledge. One local lady touched me deeply when she said "We are all of one Heart...".

Thank you too Rafe for this insightful article...

Peace...RTB

lynn, I had to smile ... I wrote to Carole James (Leader of BC Opposition) and Gary Coons (critic for ports & ferries) and others, about naming the Spirit of Hartley Bay. But somehow I choked on writing to Gordon Campbell or Kevin Falcon ...

This is how I see the proposed name. Many more people would recognize and understand the name Hartley Bay which will always be associated with the sinking of the Queen of the North, and would remember the incident in years to come; whereas Txalgiu is much less accessible to most of us, and specific to other chapters of history. (I, a lifelong British Columbian, don't know what Txalgiu means nor how to pronounce the word.)

And doesn't our general nation-wide feeling of gratitude and pride, mean us, as well as the Gitka'ata First Nation? It has nothing whatever (in this instance) to do with oppression or white-guys insulting First Nations. [Damn, why do these old horrors get dragged into a story of modern heroism and co-operation!] The naming -- and the sailing -- should be a lasting gift of honour, from the people of B.C., to the Gitka'ata for what they did on 22 March 2006.

Then, let a bronze plaque inside the Spirit of Hartley Bay explain in more detail, including the word Txalgiu and with consultation among the Gitka'ata, why we wanted one of our ships to carry that reminder.Wewanted ... ourships ... to me, that means all of us. No segregation.

Yes, yes, yes! Let the Spirit of Hartley Bay sail through waters protected by that moratorium on oil- and gas-drilling operations; past the protected Great Bear Rain Forest; through clear waters protected from fish farms ... in other words, let The Spirit of Hartley Bay guide us all into a much better future.

I do believe there is a spirit of Hartley Bay, and that it calls upon all of us to show and to celebrate the strength of purpose to save life.

Well done Rafe! It remains conintuously refreshing to read these pieces in the Tyee: thoughtful ruminations on the confused state of our world and the role we play in it. Rafe's questions are those we were raised thinking about: how to balance great wealth and great poverty; how do we reconcile our own privilege with the misfortune of others; what is the role of "earned" status vs luck, inheritance and greed. While these defining issues once occupied the pages of North America's media, they have been squashed in favour of stories of stock market values, kidnapped children and Hollyood scandal. As a society, we are truly lost. But for readers of the Tyee, we are truly privleged.

I find it strange that Spirit of the North
was on Automatic Pilot at night.

In my experience as a seaman we NEVER would be on Auto Pilot at night...and this was aboard a freighter not a passenger vessel. Auto Pilot was strictly for daylight open sea use...any adverse conditions..extremely rough seas..fog..close proximity to land or reefs..sea traffic.. you had a seaman on the wheel.

bob: I found it strange yesterday when item after item was censored, and kept secret from the public, such as the name of the captain, the cost of the submersible, photos of the sunken Queen of the North, etc.

And yet this morning, Canadian Press comes out with this explanation quoting only "sources close to the investigation" and "people who had spoken to other crew" etc.

Ferry on autopilot before it hit rocks
Bridge crew failed to slow ship: Source
Alarm rang as vessel sailed off course
Mar.Â*28, 2006.

DIRK MEISSNER
CANADIAN PRESS

VICTORIA—The doomed BC Ferries vessel Queen of the North was on autopilot when it went off course and sank after striking Gil Island, sources told Global TV yesterday.

The two members of the bridge crew — a third was on a meal break — also failed to get the problem under control, said Global, citing sources close to the investigation and people who had spoken to other crew.

The ship sank in about 400 metres of water around 1:30 a.m. last Wednesday, an hour after tearing its bottom out on the rocks of Gil Island. Although 99 people passengers and crew made it ashore, two passengers are missing and presumed dead.

Global said the ferry, en route from Prince Rupert and Port Hardy, was on autopilot as it neared Gil Island, where it was scheduled to make a turn. An alarm sounded as it veered off course moments before the collision.

That triggered a cascading series of errors, one ferry official told Global. The key mistake was a failure to reduce speed, causing the ship to sail past its turning point and plow into the rocks at a speed of 19 knots.

The two bridge crew members also failed to ask for help from other officers to cope with the off-course warning, sources told Global.

The investigation so far has apparently also ruled out drugs or alcohol as factors in the accident.

The ferry's crew was sent on leave after being interviewed by Transportation Safety Board investigators but one was apparently hospitalized for severe emotional trauma, Global said.

BC Ferries president David Hahn said yesterday it's too early to conclude human error was behind the sinking of the passenger ferry Queen of the North.

But he didn't reject reports that have already reached that conclusion.

Safety board investigators have also said there were no reports of mechanical problems with the steering system.

A retired ferry captain who sailed the northern waters where the ferry sank believes human error caused the vessel to go down.

[Continued next comment ...]

[Continued ...]

Lewis Glentworth, who retired from BC Ferries last September after 30 years, said there are too many mechanical checks on the vessel's bridge deck that would prevent a system failure.

"I think he's very credible," Hahn said of Glentworth.

"I know Lew, he's a very solid captain and has been up there for a long, long time. He's very credible. I'll leave it as that."

Federal investigators plan to spend at least two more days in the Prince Rupert area probing the sinking, but it will take much more time than that before they come to a conclusion about what happened.

"A couple more days, yes, is what we're anticipating," spokesman John Cottreau said.

But Cottreau said he wouldn't estimate when the final report into the sinking would be complete and made public.

A one-person submersible capable of reaching depths up to 900 metres was back in the water yesterday, Cottreau said.

Photographs and video taken during the submersible's first dives on Sunday are now in the hands of safety board investigators, Cottreau said.

A ferries spokeswoman said Sunday the ship appears intact and is resting upright on the ocean floor.

Graham Clark, one of the passengers aboard the ferry that night, told Global the initial impact came on the star bow — the right-hand side of the ship — which caused it to rise up and veer to port. A few seconds of silence was followed by "grinding, tearing sound," he said.

"It's quite an unpleasant sound to listen to because you know that a ship is being destroyed," said Clark.

The ship's engine room was torn open and flooded, causing the vessel to lose electrical power immediately, he said.

It was clear the ship would have to be evacuated, said Clark.

"Within a few seconds she was totally vertical and as she went down she hit the wall in the rocks underneath — it's a very shear wall like a cliff," he said. "And then she was gone and I just felt very sad."

B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner visited the wreck site yesterday to look at efforts to clean up spilled diesel fuel and oil.

"In think it's safe to say at this point that the situation from an environmental perspective has been stabilized," Penner said in a telephone call from Prince Rupert. "There is still work to do."

Penner said cleanup contractors were deploying booms to capture fuel still leaking from the sunken vessel.

ferry on autopilot shows that human error also known as pure stupidity is acceppted by this goverment(provincial) as capability.anyone running autopilot in the areas around the coast of british columbia is brain dead and anyone stating that is the norm is not an experienced seaman.off the coast,autopilot,in and around the coast,piloted.

the reason no information is getting out is that transport canada has assumed the investigation is of importance to national security,so no information has to be divulged.anything coming out as far as news goes is speculation and just good old national enquirer type bullshit.

beer4me: David Hahn was on Global last evening saying pretty much the same things.

You figure it's bs? If so, why is it being said?

Sorry, but lots of ships and small vessels use auto-pilot both during the day and at night. Auto-pilots reduce fuel consumption and crew fatigue. However as a auto-pilot is slaved to either to a gyro-compass or fluxgate compass, the heading must be checked against the magnetic compass, on my ships it was every 15 minutes. Having a mate and 2 quartermasters is typical crewing arrangements, for a night watch. I suspect that after they went through the “calling in point” at the south end of Grenville Channel, they either forgot to input the course correction, or inputted incorrectly, we plotted the track from the calling in point to where she hit as approx. 15-20minutes at 15kts. Likely the Mate was busy doing paperwork or checking something else. He should have confirmed their closest point of approach in the radar and should set his alarm zones to allow for corrective action, likely he had either set then to narrowly or turned them off during the passage through Grenville. Certainly Human error was the problem, an attentive mate, a anlog radar and a chart would have shown him the problem. Visibility would have been bad at the time, so unlikely they would have seen much out the windows.

what is being said was already out in the public domain from initial reports before transport canada took over.they are just repeating what they have over and over,if you listen carefully.

since transport canada took over,nothing has hit the news...nothing

any news,after,transport canada took over and portrays itself as new,news,is bullshit,unless it is from transport canada,if from other sources,it has to be really investigated by the reader/viewer/listener as to the source and the news itself.

you of all people ,should know how the media plays with words and delivers empty rhetoric to fill time/space.how many news spots out there telling you about the same thing,day in,day out.

Well in my experience on Scandanavian ships in the early 70`s..auto-pilot was never used at night

Colin..were your ships passenger ships? Ferries?

autopilot is for open water not coastal navigation only those who wish to take chances/endanger others risk usage in and around the coast.[B

In adverse nighttime sailing we would have a mate and helmsman on the bridge..the mate staying close to the radar and a man stationed on the bow in radio contact with the bridge. Crew fatique wasn`t an issue as we had watches..8-12 12-4 4-8 a mate ,an Able Seaman and an Ordinary seaman on Deck...An Engineer and Oiler down below.

Bob
I did a stint with BC-ferries, mostly on the C class

But spent most of my time on Coast Guard Cutters, Icebreaker and then hovercraft.

Even with auto-pilot the bridge is manned and you have specific tasks to do, checking the navigational instuments, doing the weather, etc.

Our smaller cutters didn't have auto-pilot, do box searches in a quartering sea was fun.

Asymmetrical federalism? Sovereignty-Association? Associated-Sovereignty (aka Quebec-style Canadian federalism)? What's the difference?

Asymmetrical federalism means Quebec gets more powers but also gets its 25% share to make laws on the rest of Canada that do not apply to Quebec.

Sovereignty-Assocation means a 50-50 sharing of power between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

Associated-Sovereignty means Quebec separating within Canada. This ultimately leads to outright separation by les Canadiens-Anglais.

Separation is better than all of the above options. Although federalism is still a nice option.

Jottings from a cruise ship???

One point I'd like to make on Cruise Ships in general.
Cruise ships are bigger than hotels.
Cruise ships call the water from showers, laundry and anything not constituting sewage, "gray" water.
There are probably about 200 cruise ships in operation worldwide. Thousands (millions?)of gallons of "gray" water from these ships are pumped directly into the ocean on a daily basis.
I have noticed soapy residues along the inside shoreline of Vancouver Island during the last few years...
Poluting our oceans will end life as we know it.
Am I the only one worried about this?

jack's,300 kilometers of the coast of tofino are tons of chemical warfare dumped by britain in the 1950's they had no way to dispose of it properly,so canada being a british colony,the brits figured they could dump it on our front door.they also dumped around ireland.

there are reports of people becoming strangely ill in that area around the irish coast and from mariners fishing and travelling through there.

the ocean is nothing more than a trash can for morons in power.

anyone interested about that chemical dump,can find it here...

cbc.ca/bc/story/bc_weapons20051114.html

gives you an idea of the idiots running this world,then and now.

In my view the Provincial Auditor General needs to do a complete review of BC Ferry finances and procedures.

The Corp must undertake an independant review of the SMS.

The needs to be a judicial enquiry into the sinking and the effects of the Coastal Ferry Act on this disaster.

There needs to be an independant and public review of ferry services and public requirements.

The Transport Canada mandate should be also be reviewed to ensure that it is as responsive to public safety and environmenatal needs as it is to corporate needs.

The integrity Transportation Safety Board's investigation must not be comprimised by people like Graham Clarke, YVR Chair and small ferry operator who is looking to sneak away our vital coastal transportation links.

I must also note that BC Ferries pr team do deserve bonus's. The company does have a knack for coming up sweet after every disaster. Masterful.

The pr team is now up and running in the Charlottes. No matter how unsafe the Queen of Prince Rupert is they are rushing to get her back out on the water even though she also suffers from the same old antequated design flaw as the North. She too is a single compartment vessel. These type of ferries have been banned in Europe.

Does anybody remember the El Salam 99 disaster? Herald of Free Enterpise? The Estonia?

BC Mary, thank you for raising the concept of the Spirit of Hartley Bay and for convincing others of the need to honour these heroes.

I too am proud to call myself Canadian when I see such generousity and spirit from an entire community of Canadians that few of us had even realized existed the evening before.

Oh god, I'm getting maudling again.

Does anybody remember the El Salam 99 disaster? Herald of Free Enterpise? The Estonia?

Yes I do and lets not forget all the other 3rd world ferry disasters that happens so frequently, many of them with death tolls higher than the Titanic or Empress of Ireland.

In fact I think the highest death toll from one passenger ship was a German ship sunk by the Soviets, around 4,000 people in WWII in the Black sea I think.

A link to the TSB site with some video

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/media/communiques/marine/2006/comm_m06w0052_20060328.asp

by the way, here is a site on the group responsible for overseeing the oil cleanup

http://www.pacific.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/er/index_e.htm

Remember the Sea Shepard? Your tax dollars paid to clean it up.

http://www.pacific.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/er/seashepherdII/incidentreport_e.htm
\

Well there it is out in the open, that's just what I'm talking about - "Aaawww isn't that cute, the natives are trying to hang on to the tattered remnants of their culture. Well we'll just stick with the name we gave you, mmmm'kay?" Other chapters of history?? You mean throughout all history, except the last century. Right? I think they'd be more honoured if people made a little effort to learn something about them, and not just by reading a pamphlet while sailing past them in a cruise ship. Maybe I'm out of line here and they'd wonder what my problem is, but that quote is exactly the kind of attitude I'm worried that "Spirit of Hartley Bay" will present to the people there. The condescending colonialist saying yeah yeah that's nice whatever you've got set up there, but we know better so we'll do it our way. All those villages are going back to their proper names, and I don't want to be dissmissive of that. I don't think it's just a tourist gimmick.

Colin, can you send me a note, pfl4athotmail.com

Thanks for your comments Colin, you are absolutely right.

Just last week there was an other ferry disaster in Kribi Camerroon claiming more than 125 lives.

With regard to the Al Salam Boccaccio 98 (name correction), I believe she was a sistership of the Queen of the North though structurally altered. You will recall pictures of her showed that another passenger deck had been built. There is no doubt this will be a contributing factor in her rapid loss of stabilty coupled with free surface effect whilst the crew fought the blaze.

She was built in Italy in 1970 and left Italian registry in 1999. Both the flag state, Panama, and her clssification society (RINA?) said she was a fine ship.

Extract of casualty report:

Sank in the Red Sea in 27 08 N 34 57 E after fire broke out after sailing from Dhuba 02 Feb 2006. Car deck flooded, causing vessel to lose stability. 415 of the 1,398 people rescued as of 06 Feb. Wreck found 16 Feb

One of my concerns in future will be that when BC Ferries finally disposes of the QPR and Chilliwack, they may be sold to the developing world potentially leading to another maritime disaster.

The Ferry system health and safty officer left after eight weeks, the day after the sinking. seems he is going back to captain on a large cruise ship.What did he know that we arn't about to find out as BC Ferries is excempt from FOI and Gordo and gang arn't about to tell us much. Besides Gordo doesn't want any political interference around ferries according to teh Minister of transport.
But Gordo was quick to come up with a few hundred millions for new boats. Independent, like heck , we still own the boats and the routes. Spirit of free enterprise is up for grabs as a name.

Rafe, I must admit that I was never much of a fan of Social Credit. I have to admit though now, that W.A.C. Bennett looks a lot better in retrospect, compared to the current lot. Of course I never cared much for Nixon, but from the perspective of today I'd really like to see him back in the White House, instead of the Bush Crime Family.

I've grown to respect you a lot as a man of independent thought whether I agree with you or not on a specific issue. Most issues today though, I find myself more in agreement than otherwise.

In this article you said:

Few of your class, the (P)resident idiot non-savant comes to mind, seem to acknowledge this simple fact and somehow seem to think they earned all of their success on a level playing field.

Last week I asked in the comments to your last article how the drunk driver's Americanized fixed election dates would work with a minority government and a vote of non-confidence. I feel that both the American system and the Parliamentary have their strengths and weaknesses. But I always felt that the option of non-confidence votes created a kind of accountability in the shorter term that is totally lacking in the totally cylically choreographed American system. I would love to read or hear your opinion on this subject.

Two things converge. Yesterday (somebody told me), the idea for a ship called the Spirit of Hartley Bay was discussed on the 6 o'clock news, taken out on the street for random reaction, all of which was positive.

But on The National, the people of Hartley Bay said they felt abandoned because there's over 200,000 litres of diesel oil slowly leaking from the sunken ferry and so far as they could see, nothing is being done to either pump out the fuel, clean up the spillage, or prepare the village of Hartley Bay for the contamination of their clam beds.

Shouldn't we be contacting Gordon Campbell and Kevin Falcon and David Hahn to demand action on the clean-up?

BC Nary
Announced tonight that 'Spirit of Hartley Bay' it is. On the oil spill, you can bet it's being "studied"....Have you noticed how often the Premier says it's all because of the NDP and the fast ferries? What a troll! If it turns out the safety honcho resigned because the Corp refused his recommendations or failed to approve his budget I'd expect Gordo to find a scapegoat within the corporation too.
Was there any information disclosed on the 28th about the contents of the BCRail/Basi/Virk warrants, BTW?

sorry, 'Mary', above

The warrants were ordered to be opened to the public, but have to be redacted to protect personal information and information from scheduled witnesses, which will remain sealed until they testify at the trial. Some information may be available tomorrow (Friday), or if not certainly next week.

The judge ruled (finally) that the public had a right to know, partly because the trial was going to be held without a jury, so there was no chance of tainting the jury pool.

I don't know about you, but I've been waiting to find out what is in those warrants for a couple of Christmases now. It was certainly a scene right out of BC politics, a raid on the Legislature during the holidays. Watching the police wheel dolly after dolly of files out of the offices of the aides to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transportation. Hmmm, both have retreated to private life, I wonder their stepping down was like a rat stepping down from a sinking ship. One can only hope.

I found it somewhat incredulous that the Ferret Collins would leave Finance just before being able to enjoy the triumph of introducing a "balanced budget" in order to become an executive of a small airline at a time when major airlines go belly up almost weekly.

G., The new ferry will be the Spirit of Hartley Bay?? who announced? what'd they say?? is it for sure? Oh, I hope it's a go.

To answer your question: Info dribbled out on March 28th about the search warrants, as follows:
VANCOUVER -- A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled the media will be allowed to look through search warrant information used in the 2003 raid on the B.C. legislature. But heavy editing ordered by Justice Elizabeth Bennett will stall that process for a few days. She ordered the release of information contained in four warrants that led to charges against two former ministerial aides and a third government employee. "There is a presumption of openness in the courts," Bennett ruled Tuesday.
However Bennett wants personal information edited out, along with statements from three people who may be called as witnesses. "Clearly the conflicting rights must be balanced," Bennett said. Etc etc. But so far, nothing further announced.

Meantime, there's that oil spilling out into the ocean near Hartley Bay. How about writing a draft or better still, an Open Letter to Gordon Campbell. Surely to gosh they can pump out the fuel tanks?

Hi Mary
Thx for the warrant details, I guess - not much there really I guess so we're still waiting till the trial I suppose.
I was in the car with the radio on and the announcement included a wee clip of little Gordon saying that the new ferry (the one they voted the funds for the day the Queen of the North sank) will be called the Spirit of Hartley Bay. As for the dreck coming up from the depths....they are apparently still studying same. Three options I heard (experts apparently the same group that refloated the Irving Whale) are:
1. pump out the diesel in the tanks - no mention of other hazardous matl's on board, just the diesel; leave hulk on bottom; or
2. refloat the whole shebang - patch up holes in hull and refloat somehow or other; or
3. fill hulk with mixture of special concrete and epoxy so it's essentially sealed on the bottom forever.

No analysis of the relative risk involved in these three options. Seems fairly clear, given the fact this is not the open ocean, that something will have to be done fairly quickly. Some danger I'd think to migrating whales as well as to local flora and fauna. Diesel is, however, lighter and more easily dispersed than bunker oil - whatever comfort there is in that.

shipping news

Word at the café is . . .

Naturally there will be much speculation swirling around the sinking of the Queen of the North. So let’s begin . . .

by kevin potvin

The Queen of the North, which now sits at the bottom of the ocean off the BC coast, possibly with two bodies still aboard, was apparently the subject of a potential sale from BC Ferries Corp to a private company that would also purchase rights to that sailing route.

The particular sailing that ended in tragedy, they say, had on board no ordinary manifest of passengers. Executives from the potential purchasing company were on board so that executives from BC Ferries, also on board, could show off the stellar attributes of the ship and its route that were being offered up for sale—including, they’re saying, the brand new computer-controlled navigation device.

Everyone was thoroughly impressed, and they retired to the dining hall to discuss business. But the computer navigator was only a demon-stration model. No complete course to the destination had been plotted.

The ferry hit rocks at full speed with no warning because, we’re led to believe, there was no one in the wheelhouse to notice the ship was sailing no particular course. This is what they are saying down at the café, but we know nothing over here at the newspaper.

from The Republic

now I know why Gordo and Hahn were so concerned

"now i know why gordo and hahn were so concerned"

no kidding,they had some dumb putz on the ferry looking to buy the route...

and now it's an even better deal cause they are gonna have a new ferry,AT OUR EXPENSE...

SOMETHING SMELL FISHY HERE ?

Bob
Interesting report. I find it hard to believe that there was no one on the bridge, that would be absolute gross negligence. But what I do find as a interesting possibility is that the visitors may have well disrupted the normal routine of the bridge watch and that could have been a factor that led to the events. It will be interesting to see if the vessel called into the Marine Traffic Centre as it left Grenville Channel.

I suspect that this vessel will not be raised. It was already old and obsolete and only retains scrap value, not to mention the impact of 7,000 tons dropping 1,400’ will also cause damage (yes I know tonnage changes in water and the possible softening by the silt). The shape of the ferry, the amount of damage and the depth it is at and the amount of silt would make it an extraordinarily difficult salvage. It could be done, by at huge expense, you would need something like the Glomar Explorer or the Giant to lift it, good weather for a few weeks and you still might not succeed.

They might be able to access the hull at the fuel tanks, using an ROV to drill into the tanks, insert a valve and pump them out such as they did on the Japanese fish boat off of Vancouver Island. This may be the only way to remove the majority of the fuel from the ship, fuel tanks from the vehicles will likely be to hard to reach.

The Irving whale was a barge and had a shape that made recovery easier than the ferry. Also at 220’ put it easily in the reach of human divers. The ferry is at 14,000’ and to my knowledge beyond the reach of any diver, possible even in a Newt Suit (I seem to remember it was limited to 1,200’ but could be wrong) By the way the whale is back in operation.

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-70-525/disasters_tragedies/irving_whale/
http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/whale2/

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/index.asp

I would say this is a strong possibility..I too find it hard to imagine no one on the bridge...
Why did the B.C. Ferries Safety head resign almost right away?

Arrgh!!! I am on drugs or not enough coffee I wrote 14,000 rather than 1,400. Sorry

hey..nobodies perfect...made a mistake myself once...think it was 1954..or maybe it was 1955

Hey bob (feline variety), I hate to break it to you but after all those years (since 1954-1955) you had to go and make another mistake on March 31, 2006. i.e.:

should be "nobody's perfect," this is a contraction of "nobody is." I guess that's the result of gloating, they do say pride goeth before a fall.

Of course I'm just kidding around (thanx Cathy Jones).

rkewen
Someone still 'watches' this hour has 22 minutes?
Maybe that's not fair - you could be just remembering - as for me, their routines got way too repetitive about 3 years ago for my jaded tastes.

rkewen
Sorry about that, my remark about your TV viewing, it was unfair. Maybe your viewing options are limited - no offence - I know you were just kiddin around.
Cheers