Post by tyty on Apr 1, 2006 14:59:44 GMT -8
This article was published in the Terrace Standard newspaper last Wednesday.
Terrace is the town where I was born and raised, and I check out the news from up there every now and then. This was the top story -- the account of a local man who worked on board the Queen of the North.
The gentleman featured here, George Kozak, talks about BC Ferries' plans to move the crew's sleeping quarters to locations above the water line of a vessel (I'm assuming he's referring mostly to the Queen of Prince Rupert).
One of the things with the Queen of the North was that passenger quarters were also on the lower part of the ship -- on the Tween deck, if I'm not mistaken.
I remember the first couple of times I overnighted on the QON my parents ordered staterooms on that deck. My father figured it's easier on the stomach in rough seas to be down there than up top, like on the Promenade deck.
Anyway, I found this to be an interesting read and decided some of you on this forum would agree.
His training paid off as ferry began to sink
By Sarah A. Zimmerman
GEORGE KOZAK is thrilled to hear BC Ferries will no longer allow crew members to sleep below the water line of its vessels after a hole was torn in the side of his room when the Queen of the North ferry ran aground last week causing it to sink.
Water poured into the sleeping quarters of Kozak, a Terrace resident and an eight-year staff member with BC Ferries, shortly after midnight March 22 when the ferry rammed into jagged rocks on Gil Island.
"It just ripped it open," he said last week from his home in Terrace.
And for that reason, BC Ferries announced less than 72 hours after the ferry sunk that crew accommodations will be moved above the water line.
"When we did the evacuation and whatnot with the crew cabins being below the water line there was water coming into the crew accommodations," says BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall. "And we don't want that to ever happen again."
Kozak couldn't agree more.
"I think it's a smart move because the water was coming into my room," Kozak says. "I don't want to see that anymore."
Kozak was asleep when he felt the ferry hit ground.
"I felt the first touch and I figured we were making a landing, we were parking and figured 'oh, what a rough landing,' and then I felt the second hit and I knew something was wrong," he recalls. "That's when the water started coming in the room."
Kozak says he didn't have time to feel afraid or scared, he just knew he had to get out of there and help passengers and crew members off the ferry.
"We're trained to do a job and we're trained to save people and the crew and I guess that's all that kicked into my head," he says. "Grab your pants, put them on, grab your shoes, don't worry about socks, grab your jacket and run...that's what I did and the rest was history."
Kozak was the chief cook on the run from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy but once the ferry started to go down he switched immediately into his passenger control role.
"Keeping them calm, cool and getting them ready for the rafts, making sure you have your head count and you don't lose anybody and keeping them calm and cool - that's what passenger control was all about," he says.
He was responsible for checking rooms in one portion of the boat and rounding up 24 passengers and making sure they got safely into a life boat.
He'll never forget the faces of those people, he says.
Passengers such as Terrace couple Ed and Barb Kenney have been praising the quick action and diligence displayed by the vessel's crew members.
"They were certainly banging on doors and saying 'everybody out,'" says Ed Kenney, a retired high school teacher. "They were very efficient, very professional."
Crew members worked thoroughly rounding up the passengers, getting them into lifeboats and life rafts and off the ferry to safety, he says.
"They did at least four head counts that I remember them doing it in the life boat, they were asking if anybody was separated from somebody they were with as a buddy system check," says Kenney.
But Kozak says the passengers should also be recognized for how well they dealt with what was frightening situation.
"I was very proud of the way the passengers listened to me as I took charge doing passenger control," Kozak says.
"All I have to say is it was a rude awakening and we did our job."
Terrace is the town where I was born and raised, and I check out the news from up there every now and then. This was the top story -- the account of a local man who worked on board the Queen of the North.
The gentleman featured here, George Kozak, talks about BC Ferries' plans to move the crew's sleeping quarters to locations above the water line of a vessel (I'm assuming he's referring mostly to the Queen of Prince Rupert).
One of the things with the Queen of the North was that passenger quarters were also on the lower part of the ship -- on the Tween deck, if I'm not mistaken.
I remember the first couple of times I overnighted on the QON my parents ordered staterooms on that deck. My father figured it's easier on the stomach in rough seas to be down there than up top, like on the Promenade deck.
Anyway, I found this to be an interesting read and decided some of you on this forum would agree.
His training paid off as ferry began to sink
By Sarah A. Zimmerman
GEORGE KOZAK is thrilled to hear BC Ferries will no longer allow crew members to sleep below the water line of its vessels after a hole was torn in the side of his room when the Queen of the North ferry ran aground last week causing it to sink.
Water poured into the sleeping quarters of Kozak, a Terrace resident and an eight-year staff member with BC Ferries, shortly after midnight March 22 when the ferry rammed into jagged rocks on Gil Island.
"It just ripped it open," he said last week from his home in Terrace.
And for that reason, BC Ferries announced less than 72 hours after the ferry sunk that crew accommodations will be moved above the water line.
"When we did the evacuation and whatnot with the crew cabins being below the water line there was water coming into the crew accommodations," says BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall. "And we don't want that to ever happen again."
Kozak couldn't agree more.
"I think it's a smart move because the water was coming into my room," Kozak says. "I don't want to see that anymore."
Kozak was asleep when he felt the ferry hit ground.
"I felt the first touch and I figured we were making a landing, we were parking and figured 'oh, what a rough landing,' and then I felt the second hit and I knew something was wrong," he recalls. "That's when the water started coming in the room."
Kozak says he didn't have time to feel afraid or scared, he just knew he had to get out of there and help passengers and crew members off the ferry.
"We're trained to do a job and we're trained to save people and the crew and I guess that's all that kicked into my head," he says. "Grab your pants, put them on, grab your shoes, don't worry about socks, grab your jacket and run...that's what I did and the rest was history."
Kozak was the chief cook on the run from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy but once the ferry started to go down he switched immediately into his passenger control role.
"Keeping them calm, cool and getting them ready for the rafts, making sure you have your head count and you don't lose anybody and keeping them calm and cool - that's what passenger control was all about," he says.
He was responsible for checking rooms in one portion of the boat and rounding up 24 passengers and making sure they got safely into a life boat.
He'll never forget the faces of those people, he says.
Passengers such as Terrace couple Ed and Barb Kenney have been praising the quick action and diligence displayed by the vessel's crew members.
"They were certainly banging on doors and saying 'everybody out,'" says Ed Kenney, a retired high school teacher. "They were very efficient, very professional."
Crew members worked thoroughly rounding up the passengers, getting them into lifeboats and life rafts and off the ferry to safety, he says.
"They did at least four head counts that I remember them doing it in the life boat, they were asking if anybody was separated from somebody they were with as a buddy system check," says Kenney.
But Kozak says the passengers should also be recognized for how well they dealt with what was frightening situation.
"I was very proud of the way the passengers listened to me as I took charge doing passenger control," Kozak says.
"All I have to say is it was a rude awakening and we did our job."
