Hartley Bay News

Reliable performance was a prime prerequisite for the new transporter recently built for the Gitga’at First Nation community located in a remote region of northwest British Columbia.That’s one of the main reasons why Volvo Penta diesels were specified for the new boat.The new 55-ft. aluminum transporter, built in the Adrenalin Marine shipyard in Delta, British Columbia, is powered by a pair of Volvo Penta 13-liter 700 hp diesels. The engines were supplied by Surrey-based Cullen Diesel Power Ltd…

Two recent shipping incidents in BC Canada waters have heightened the fears of the Gitga’at First Nation facing the prospect of the world’s largest oil-tankers passing right past their village of Hartley Bay. Enbridge has teamed up with other multinational oil giants to build the Northern Gateway Pipeline to carry oil from Alberta’s tar sands to a port in Kitimat where it would be loaded onto tankers roughly double the size of the infamous Exxon Valdez. The shipping lanes proposed by Enbridge plunge straight through the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest and prime whale habitat. In the first incident, a cruise ship docked in Vancouver with a dead Fin whale impaled on its bow. This second largest animal on Earth, is especially vulnerable to being struck by ships.

In late November 2003, ABD Enterprises of North Vancouver, BC, delivered the 69 ft. (21 m) aluminum crewboat/passenger ferry Tsimshian Storm to North-Co-Corp. Ferry Services Ltd. of Prince Rupert, BC. The vessel was designed by Robert Allan Ltd., Naval Architects of Vancouver, BC to serve the Northern BC Coast First Nations communities of Kitkatla, Metlakatla, and Hartley bay, out of a base at Prince Rupert. Of all aluminum construction, the Tsimshian Storm is configured to carry 45 persons with generous seating space, and two tons of deck cargo. It is operated on coastal voyages with a crew of two persons. The aft deck and main cabin are at the same level to enable use of wheelchairs, and to serve for MedEvac purposes as required.

The Transportation Safety Board hopes to have its final report on the sinking of the B.C. Ferries vessel Queen of the North ready by September, the National Union of Public and General Employees reported. Officials with the board are apparently anxious to establish a faster standard for issuing major reports by getting this one out within six months rather than waiting a year or longer to complete its work, as has often happened in the past. The March 22 incident claimed two lives when the ferry sank after ramming rocks at Gill Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Ninety-nine passengers, including 42 crew members, escaped, many aided by residents in the nearby coastal community of Hartley Bay. The writing of the report is scheduled to start this week.

British Columbia Ferries could get a first glimpse of its sunken vessel Queen of the North this weekend. Nuytco Research Ltd. has been hired by the ferry operator to survey the remains of the 37-year-old ship, which sank south of Prince Rupert after its hull was ripped open as it steamed off course and struck a submerged rock. Two passengers remained missing and were presumed dead. About 100 passengers and crew were rescued, with only a few minor injuries reported, after the Canadian coast guard and residents of the small Indian community of Hartley Bay raced to the scene. Initially, the Nuytco sub will be the eyes for Canada's Transportation Safety Board, which has jurisdiction over the site but has not yet arranged for its own survey of the wreck. The B.C.

Two people are now feared dead after an ocean-going ferry sank when it smashed onto a rocky island on Canada's Pacific coast on March 22. Police have begun a missing persons investigation for the couple, whom witnesses reported seeing on shore with the 99 others rescued from the ferry Queen of the North, but who have not been heard from since. According to Reuters, BC Ferries now fears those witness reports were wrong and that the couple from the town of 100 Mile House, British Columbia, went down with the ship. The Queen of the North is believed to have gone off course and struck Gil Island shortly after midnight local time, about 75 miles south of Prince Rupert, on a trip down the Inside Passage on the northwest coast of British Columbia.

On March 22, off B.C.'s north coast, rescuers plucked dozens of people from lifeboats after The Queen of the North, sailing south on a 450-kilometer overnight trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy along what's known as B.C.'s Inside Passage, hit a rock just after 12:30 a.m. and sank in choppy seas and high winds. All of the 101 people aboard - 42 crew members and 59 passengers - were rescued and accounted for. Most were taken to a community center in Hartley Bay where the town's residents brought them blankets and coffee. Others were aboard the Coast Guard vessel the Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The 125-meter-long vessel was reported to be completely submerged about 135 kilometers from Prince Rupert after hitting Gil Island in Wright Sound, listing to one side and then sinking.

On Wednesday, BC Ferries' Queen of the North, hit a rock off Gil Island in Wright Sound. BC Ferries Emergency Operations Center confirms that all 101 passengers and crew were safely evacuated via BC Ferries lifeboats. Some of the passengers and crew have been taken to Hartley Bay, which is approximately 75 miles south of Prince Rupert. Others are on the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier. Passengers and crew will then be transported to Prince Rupert via Canadian Coast Guard vessel. Canadian Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier was on the scene by 2:15 a.m. Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board have been notified.