Post by Ferryman on Jul 16, 2006 22:22:48 GMT -8
Today I was at a pawn shop for ship stuff in North Vancouver. I decided to take a look at which books they had, and I came across the book that I can't really remember the name of now..."Up on the Wheelhouse.." I think it was....
Anyways, it was a book full of old stories from former tugboat operators in local waters in or around Vancouver. One story I came across was about the Queen of Coquitlams near capsize, back in 1980. I don't think much of us knew too much about it, and this little story revealed a little more info I never really thought about.
She (Queen of Coquitlam) had a few posts placed up against her hull, in order to keep her stable on the floating drydock in North Van. Somehow, one of them ended up punturing a hole in the hull, and she went over. She fell to the side until she hit the side of the drydock. There were a few workers on board the ship when this happened, and managed to call for help on a the radio. The drydock even started to take on water on the side the Coquitlam was leaning towards, so something obviously had to be done immediately. It was a Sunday afternoon, so most of the workers had the day off, so the workers were slow to respond to this serious incedent.
The Queen of Surrey was also being built, and sitting in the water, beside the drydock the Coquitlam was on. Seeming the drydock and Coquitlam was leaning towards the Surrey, the Tugboats were called to tow the Surrey straight out of there immediately. They were told not to worry about the dock lines or the gangways that were connected to the ship. The Tugs managed to tow the Surrey out of there to where it was safe. But not too much longer after that, divers had to be called to the scene to remove a line that got wrapped around the rudder of the Surrey.
Meanwhile, the Queen of Coquitlam was eventually lowered back into the water, and one of the compartments had to be sealed off, as it ended up completely flooded from the puncture that was made from that post on the drydock.
I wrote this to the best of my memory from what I read in that book. I was really suprised when I read that, due to the bit of the chain reaction that happened there. The only thing is though, is that I don't really know why a post punctured the hull, as I thought they were fairly evenly spaced. Does anyone else have anything to say about this incedent?
Anyways, it was a book full of old stories from former tugboat operators in local waters in or around Vancouver. One story I came across was about the Queen of Coquitlams near capsize, back in 1980. I don't think much of us knew too much about it, and this little story revealed a little more info I never really thought about.
She (Queen of Coquitlam) had a few posts placed up against her hull, in order to keep her stable on the floating drydock in North Van. Somehow, one of them ended up punturing a hole in the hull, and she went over. She fell to the side until she hit the side of the drydock. There were a few workers on board the ship when this happened, and managed to call for help on a the radio. The drydock even started to take on water on the side the Coquitlam was leaning towards, so something obviously had to be done immediately. It was a Sunday afternoon, so most of the workers had the day off, so the workers were slow to respond to this serious incedent.
The Queen of Surrey was also being built, and sitting in the water, beside the drydock the Coquitlam was on. Seeming the drydock and Coquitlam was leaning towards the Surrey, the Tugboats were called to tow the Surrey straight out of there immediately. They were told not to worry about the dock lines or the gangways that were connected to the ship. The Tugs managed to tow the Surrey out of there to where it was safe. But not too much longer after that, divers had to be called to the scene to remove a line that got wrapped around the rudder of the Surrey.
Meanwhile, the Queen of Coquitlam was eventually lowered back into the water, and one of the compartments had to be sealed off, as it ended up completely flooded from the puncture that was made from that post on the drydock.
I wrote this to the best of my memory from what I read in that book. I was really suprised when I read that, due to the bit of the chain reaction that happened there. The only thing is though, is that I don't really know why a post punctured the hull, as I thought they were fairly evenly spaced. Does anyone else have anything to say about this incedent?
Thanks.
