Kam
Voyager
Posts: 926
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Post by Kam on Aug 24, 2015 20:53:09 GMT -8
What looks to be the launch of the Queen of Victoria
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Post by Starsteward on Aug 29, 2015 7:57:44 GMT -8
Found some rather stunning footage of the crash on Youtube that I've never seen before: Looking back on that very bleak day in BC Ferries history, when the freighter sliced deep into the port side of the 'Vicky', the fact that there was no fire aboard the ferry is truly amazing. Unfortunately three passengers, including a baby lost their lives in this incident but the outcome could have been catastrophic for a least two reasons. With gasoline dripping from the cars on the platform deck and elsewhere, one wee spark could have set off a disastrous chain of events. As a buddy of mine who was a steward on the 'Vicky' at the time recalls, had the freighter sliced into the port side a few metres farther astern, it would have been a direct hit on the cafeteria which at that stage of the crossing would have been filled to capacity. The actions of the 'Queen of Victoria's crew were exemplary when all hell broke loose, their emergency procedures training were carried out with remarkable acts of personal courage. We are forever grateful.
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Post by WettCoast on Nov 4, 2015 20:18:18 GMT -8
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Post by WettCoast on Jan 28, 2016 15:22:05 GMT -8
Queen of Victoria - second of the 'Seven Sisters' class ferries to be stretched. In this shot she is mainland bound in Active Pass in May of 1970. © Mr DOT by mrdot., on Flickr When the Queen of Esquimalt was stretched a year earlier (1969) she went back into service looking like this ... This photo of the Esquimalt graced the cover of the Queen of Victoria's Sun Deck Dining Room menu. Those upper deck restaurants were a new feature with the stretched Queens on route 1. Although she was stretched she did not initially get the other cosmetic changes that were made to all of the other sisters at the time of stretching. By that I mean the raised funnel & tapered plating above the wheelhouse extending back to the main mast that gave these ships a semi-streamlined appearance. So the Mr. DOT photo shown at the beginning of this post, from May of 1970, is not the Esquimalt, but rather the second vessel to be stretched, the Queen of Victoria. That photo was obviously taken within days of the Victoria returning to service following the stretch operation. This would also have been maybe 10 weeks before the Victoria had her unfortunate encounter with a certain Russian freighter. I have been unable to find the actual date that she went back into service following stretching but it must have been during May 1970. The longer vessel, with this 'streamlined' look, surely must have turned heads at the time. Of course all seven of these sisters over the next few years were modified to look this way and the Esquimalt was retrofitted as well (date I don't know, but probably later in 1970 or 71). This 'look' became the trade mark appearance of the Seven Sisters vessels (what some call the V & B classes). It lives on still with the queens of Burnaby & Nanaimo. The Queen of Victoria was the first vessel to have this 'look'.
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Post by yak on May 30, 2016 23:41:36 GMT -8
Found some rather stunning footage of the crash on Youtube that I've never seen before: It is weird since I am not particularly squeamish, but I literally feel a bit physically ill every time I see the Queen of Victoria nearly sliced in half. I think it is something about the way that her momentum just simply stops carrying her forward. Interestingly the cover of the Queen of Nanaimo's "Critical Incident" binder, contingencies in the event of a major incident, has a photo of the freighter embedded in the side of the Queen of Victoria.
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dave2
Chief Steward
Deckhand!: Todo: Introduction post (I was born less than 100 feet from the ocean. The tide was...)
Posts: 155
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Post by dave2 on Sept 24, 2016 14:25:31 GMT -8
I've just stumbled across some photos of the Queen of Victoria that I don't recall seeing before. August 3 1970 Click the link for Hi Res Photo
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dave2
Chief Steward
Deckhand!: Todo: Introduction post (I was born less than 100 feet from the ocean. The tide was...)
Posts: 155
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Post by dave2 on Sept 24, 2016 14:45:24 GMT -8
March 1970 Queen of Victoria stretching. A change from the Queen of Esquilmalt photos we've seen hundreds of times over the last 47 years. Click photo for high res
Lo res
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Post by PNW_ferrynerd on Mar 27, 2018 9:12:14 GMT -8
So what happend to the Queen of Victoria
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Post by WettCoast on Mar 27, 2018 9:43:16 GMT -8
So what happend to the Queen of Victoria The answer can be found in the pages of this thread. You just need to spend some time reading ...
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Post by Starsteward on Mar 27, 2018 11:20:59 GMT -8
So what happend to the Queen of Victoria The answer can be found in the pages of this thread. You just need to spend some time reading ... For some crazy reason I had forgotten how soon after the 'Vicky' had been through the stretching process she would have her nasty encounter with the Russian freighter. Every time I watch the collision video I'm amazed that there was not some sort of explosion or fire on the 'Vicky' as there was gallons of gasoline and sparks flying both during the collision and during the 'pull-apart'. God we got somewhat lucky, even though there was unfortunate loss of life.
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Post by WettCoast on Dec 13, 2018 9:15:25 GMT -8
Active Pass c1970 with Queen of Sidney (south bound, closer to camera) & Queen of Victoria (north bound). I have some uncertainty about the year that this photo was taken, but am fairly certain that the ferry in the distance is the Victoria. At the time the Victoria was the only vessel in the BCF fleet to have 'this look'.
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Post by Starsteward on Dec 14, 2018 12:46:23 GMT -8
Active Pass c1970 with Queen of Sidney (south bound, closer to camera) & Queen of Victoria (north bound). I have some uncertainty about the year that this photo was taken, but am fairly certain that the ferry in the distance is the Victoria. At the time the Victoria was the only vessel in the BCF fleet to have 'this look'.
The 'Vickie' had obviously been stretched by this time and it looks like her funnel has been heightened as well. I confess kind sir, my brain is running on empty when it comes to offering anything revealing as to 'the look', to which you refer? My only uneducated guess is that is may have something to do with the new outside mid-ship seating areas? Ok, I can hear the 'gong' going off.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 6, 2019 14:57:48 GMT -8
Here's a PDF of a narrative about the 1972 engine room fire on Queen of Victoria: QVIC_fire_1972.pdf (32.96 KB)
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Post by WettCoast on Oct 6, 2019 21:10:09 GMT -8
Here's a PDF of a narrative about the 1972 engine room fire on Queen of Victoria: That read indicates to me that they were on the verge of a very serious situation. Makes me think a little harder on those that want to stay in their cars and sleep on the lower car deck.
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Post by Starsteward on Oct 7, 2019 9:34:35 GMT -8
Here's a PDF of a narrative about the 1972 engine room fire on Queen of Victoria: That read indicates to me that they were on the verge of a very serious situation. Makes me think a little harder on those that want to stay in their cars and sleep on the lower car deck. Reading that report sent chills up my spine as I flashed back to a similar incident I experienced while serving aboard the M.S. Faro in 1970, sailing North in the Atlantic ocean on the Western shores of South Africa. The incident was serious, occurring in daylight hours but we also went to the extent of preparing to abandon ship. Fortunately, as with the Queen of Victoria, timely action by our engineering crew got the situation under control and were able to proceed to our next port of call in France. Fire at sea is THE most serious of events that can befall mariners of all descriptions. Given that commercial vessels of all types carry large quantities of fuel, one only hopes that ships' crews take ALL emergency drills seriously and hopefully are able to successfully manage fire/collision events. As 'WettCoast' alludes to in the case of our ferry system, I would expand that thought to advise anyone working or travelling by sea or by air to pay particular attention to those oft-thought of 'annoying P.A. announcements'. Knowing what to do, where to go in the event of an emergency may well become the difference-maker in one's survival or not. Luckily, we live in a country that has over-seers dedicated to the highest standards of safety in the world, but those standards will only prove to be effective in times of peril if we all take security announcements seriously whenever we venture abroad by sea or air. Reflecting back on the career of the Queen of Victoria, while there was loss of life in her collision with that Russian freighter, the fact that there was no fire given the amount of gasoline that was slopping about, was, in my estimation, a gracious act of God, for which we should be ever thankful.
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Post by paulvanb on May 14, 2020 21:22:57 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on May 14, 2020 21:35:38 GMT -8
Thanks Paul. I've been looking through a few pages every evening. There are lots of transportation gems in that collection.
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Post by Blisswood on Aug 2, 2020 12:35:13 GMT -8
50 years ago today.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 2, 2020 12:39:59 GMT -8
Thanks for mentioning it. Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, but only made it half-way....
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Post by Starsteward on Aug 2, 2020 13:55:31 GMT -8
Thanks for mentioning it. Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, but only made it half-way.... Luckily we weren't following 'Pandemic' travelling rules at the time as the car decks would have been packed with drivers/passengers!
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 2, 2020 18:15:09 GMT -8
Thanks for mentioning it. Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, but only made it half-way.... Luckily we weren't following 'Pandemic' travelling rules at the time as the car decks would have been packed with drivers/passengers! ...and in a bigger sense, luckily there was no global pandemic then. Once every 100 years is enough.
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dave2
Chief Steward
Deckhand!: Todo: Introduction post (I was born less than 100 feet from the ocean. The tide was...)
Posts: 155
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Post by dave2 on Aug 3, 2020 7:27:36 GMT -8
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Post by 1foot2ships on Aug 3, 2020 15:40:19 GMT -8
i saw the same news clip. they used that same youtube video. its shocking how fast the freighter was travelling at the time. its shocking the victoria also 'bounced' quite a bit backwards after absorbing the impact.
starsteward: you wrote something really nice about the crew, but in that same news clip, that survivor says things were entirely opposite. im really sorry, and i dont want to slag anybody, certainly never the men and women of any crew, but im more inclined to believe his version of events. can you provide more insight to reject his memory?
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Post by Starsteward on Aug 5, 2020 9:36:56 GMT -8
i saw the same news clip. they used that same youtube video. its shocking how fast the freighter was travelling at the time. its shocking the victoria also 'bounced' quite a bit backwards after absorbing the impact. starsteward: you wrote something really nice about the crew, but in that same news clip, that survivor says things were entirely opposite. im really sorry, and i dont want to slag anybody, certainly never the men and women of any crew, but im more inclined to believe his version of events. can you provide more insight to reject his memory? What 'version of events' referenced by this passenger are you more inclined to believe? I'm not rejecting his (the passenger's) memory as I'm not God so please help me out here.
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Post by 1foot2ships on Aug 6, 2020 8:10:02 GMT -8
i saw the same news clip. they used that same youtube video. its shocking how fast the freighter was travelling at the time. its shocking the victoria also 'bounced' quite a bit backwards after absorbing the impact. starsteward: you wrote something really nice about the crew, but in that same news clip, that survivor says things were entirely opposite. im really sorry, and i dont want to slag anybody, certainly never the men and women of any crew, but im more inclined to believe his version of events. can you provide more insight to reject his memory? What 'version of events' referenced by this passenger are you more inclined to believe? I'm not rejecting his (the passenger's) memory as I'm not God so please help me out here. no... im not expecting you to have some holy power to adjudge the truth. your praise and gratitude towards the crew that day was opposite to what the survivor claims in his interview so i was just speculating on whether you were there, was a crew member, or had some connection to this accident. watch the video dave2 posted above on aug 3 0827 to see what i mean.
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