Remember the Queen of the North

[Koastal Karl]

This is the month to remember the Queen of the North. Please take a min this March 22nd to remember the Queen of the North and the two passengers that went down with the ship. Seeing I cant be up north on the Rupert this date I might take that day March 22nd to get on a ferry down here. Not sure what route or time but we should all plan a time and if your able to, REMEMBER HER! Not saying take a min from work or anything as that might look kind of odd, but if your free and able to, you should anytime that day.

Post you comments, respects, to the Queen of the North here in this thread. All through this month we will remember her.

[Mike C]

22nd, 22nd... ah yes, Thursday! If only that were a weekend...

I am in complete agreeance with Mr. Koastal here. Not only did we loose two valuable people, but we lost one of the greatest ships to sail the coastal waters.

Think of it as a second Rememberance Day...

Thanks

[Curtis]

mainlander101 said:

22nd, 22nd... ah yes, Thursday! If only that were a weekend...

Uhh...Don't you have Spring Break??

On March 22nd I'll most likely be riding A Ferry. So I'll take my moment of Silence on whichever ship it'll be need it be the Surrey, Chilliwack, Tsawwassen, Etc. Etc. Probably would be good on the Chilliwack since It's a Northern Vessel.

It'll probably be a moment of Silence followed by a reading of something such as a poem.

[Koastal Karl]

I wonder if there will be any rememerance from BC Ferries that day?? She sank in the AM so maybe that same time during the PM they should have moment of silence. I wonder if the flags will be at half mast?? They could at least do that on March 22nd.

[Low Light Mike]

I don't think that you'll see much of any type of symolic remembrance from BCFS on 3/22/2007. It's not part of the corporate culture to dwell on such an event.

I suspect that the rose-ceremony on board the QPR last April 2006 was mandated more by maritime tradition, than by BCFS's intentions.

I think that the 3/22/2007 observance is a quirk of us ferry-freaks...ie. meaningful to us, and likely only to us.

[Mike C]

prqueenkid16 said:

[
Uhh...Don't you have Spring Break??

Right. Knew that. Except for the fact that I'll be on Vacation...

...in Hawaii

[Northern Exploration]

I have promised to post my guidebook that I got on my first trip on the QoftN. I am having problems with my scanner but will make sure I do so sometime this month as my tribute to her. It was prior to the most recent refit which made the lounges, cafeteria, and buffet much nicer. They also added that private lounge which was glassed in, had recliner chairs and you could reserve and pay extra for. The Inside Passage will always be one of my most favourite BC "musts" for my trips there. The frozen veggies on the buffet and poor quality coffee (no starbucks or other better quality coffees at that time) were my only very minor criticism but that relates more to the service than the Queen itself. I never had a stateroom on the tween deck or the promenade deck but always had one on the boat deck. I found it very quiet and comfortable. One couldn't call it luxurious but then I only slept from about 12 midnight to 6am. I was too interested in the unloading and loading. It was also nice to have a place to change into dry clothes when it got a little damp from the mist and rain.

[kieran h]

ive found a video on youtube of the queen of the north it was made last month there getting into the bridge
go to

[Balfour]

Who here remembers how they heard about the sinking and exactly what they did that day?

I remember my step-brother saying "A BC Ferry sank, the one that looks like a cruise ship!" I was in disbelief until I saw the story on the CBC website and on the BCF website and of course the thread on this site.

I also remember how cold and rainy that day was and getting my Produce Job at Safeway secured.

Quite the day!

[Low Light Mike]

I was traveling to Salt Spring Island, for a business day-trip, on 3/22/2006.

Before leaving home, early in the morning, I went on the Internet to check news headlines, and I went to Canoe.ca. I saw a headline about a ferry sinking, and at first I assumed that it was somewhere in Asia. I looked closer, and saw that it was in BC.

Then I copied/pasted the article onto Mac's thread on the ferry forum.

I took the Howe Sound Queen twice that day. During my car trip, I listened to Philip Till on CKNW, during his special reports.

At the end of the day, I got home, and watched the TV news reports, and updated myself by reading the ferry-forum.

I was distraught, at the loss of my favourite ship in the fleet.

[Doug]

I was getting ready for school and my dad phoned me from work. He told me the ferry we were on the summer of 2004 sank.

[Ferryman]

Re: How I heard about the Q. of the North sinking.

My alarm clock had woke me up at my usual 6:30am. Instead of it being an alarm, I have it set for the radio to come on. Anyways...at 6:30, there's usually a news report that I like to listen to for things that have happened overnight, or the day before. Of course I'm still on the edge of being asleep when this is on. The top story was of course about the North. My eyes were wide open, and I was sitting up the second I heard "The BC Ferry Queen of the North has sank overnight". I bolted down the stairs to see if my parents had known about it. Turns out they were already watching Global TV, and were waiting for me to come running down. That was when I had of course fired up the computer to find more details, and was even hoping to be first to make a post about it. Of course I was about 6 hours too late.

I remember it being a typical west coast day, which was similar to today. Raining, with the usual high humidity. The whole incedent was on my mind all day while I was still in class, and was quite confused as to what happened, because the media was giving very vague details that morning.

It's hard to believe it has been almost a year since then.

[Curtis]

I had woken up to an alarm-radio as well. except my dad came in and told me it had sunk, I though it was a joke to get me up. Then the radio had a Transport Update and they said "For BC Ferries at this hour no delays or cancelations though we must inform that service to the north coast is suspended due to the sinking of a BC Ferry" That got me up. TV was on when I went into the living room. Pretty simalar to Chris' Story.

[CN2972South]

I remember getting of a night shift and hearing on the radio on the way home that something happened to the Queen of the North and service was suspened. All I thought was that she broke down and needed assistance. It wasn't until I got home and turned on the TV that I learned she sunk.

[markkarj]

qsandwich said:

Who here remembers how they heard about the sinking and exactly what they did that day?

I work for Northern Health, the regional health authority that includes Prince Rupert. I'm their director of communications, so a big part of my job includes helping the media with stories.

My pager buzzed at 3:30 that morning. I crawled out of bed, saw CKNW's newsroom number (where I also used to work), and said to myself, "Something bad just happened if I'm getting paged this early."

I called up the newsroom, and my old boss (Gord Macdonald) told me that the Queen of the North sank, and wanted to know if there were any of the passengers at our health facilities. News like that shakes you awake pretty quickly.

I spent the better part of that day helping reporters, and doing media interviews myself.

[Northern Exploration]

National Post Article

Queen of the North

Union hopes crew of sunken B.C. ferry will be recognized as heroes.

As the first anniversary of the sinking of the Queen of the North nears, the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers' Union is still holding out hope her crew will finally be recognized as heroes by the ferry company. "It has never been acknowledged officially," Richard Goode, acting first vice-president of the union, said this week. "That's been a contentious issue with the union, that our people have never been made heroes. and they were heroes," Mr. Goode observed. The Queen of the North sank in the early morning hour of March 22, 2006, while it was sailing in Wright Sound off the coast of British Columbia. The vessel, which was off its usual course, struck Gil Island and sank about an hour later. Two missing passengers are presumed dead. CanWest News Service.

I imagine not much will be said until the findings of the TSB etc. are published. The fact that two people are missing and presumed dead, lawsuits have been launched or are pending, and the whole story hasn't been made public may also be complicating matters. I can hear the lawyers saying to BCFC to keep statements to a minimum. Sometime this year hopefully we will hear what really happened and can feel safer that steps have been taken to make sure it doesn't happen again. I imagine if you saw the operating and procedural manuals for the NorAd and noticed the changes from the QoftN, you would get a clue as to why the ship was off course and what went wrong. Unless the wreck is explored entirely we may never know what happened to the couple. Unfortunately speculation that they were stuck in the elevator or slept through all the commotion after taking some sleep aides may never be solved. Gaining access to the elevator and/or all the staterooms at that depth would tricky too. The two issues of being off course and not accounting for all passengers may come down to the mistakes of a couple of bridge crew and whoever was responsible for evacuating the areas the couple were in. Unfortunately for the rest of the crew who did their jobs and helped people evacuate the ship etc, they will have to be under a cloud of silence and even suspicion. Time will tell and hopefully some will be vindicated and others held accountable. I wonder if in his comments Mr. Goode said anything to the family of the couple that the reporter didn't include or whether he is only concerned for spinning the situation for the union adjenda.

[Hardy]

Similar story for me also about how everyone heard it. Was up at 0445 getting ready for work, and heard something on the radio (100.3 Victoria). Hit NW and heard the info. Put on Global at 0530 just as I was heading out to work and caught part of it. Spent most of the morning calling various vanline dispatch offices to find out if there were any shipments on board the ferry (as I work in the moving industry). Quite a surreal day.

You hear about maritime accidents all the time, usually third world, and you are just kind of ambivalent about it. Then you get something like this that happens close to home in an area you know to a ship you know, and it hits you in a different way.

[Koastal Karl]

What does everyone plan to do tommorrow on the anniversary?? A moment of silence should be observed for the ship and the two people who went down with her. Maybe like tommorrow night from 9-11pm on MSN group convo(Queen of the North edition) talk, remember her, share stories, photos, ect... moment of silence during the session at whatever time. Sound good??? Who ever wants to join in can. Take the time to remember the true lady of the North. Graham should just be leaving now 4:35pm on the Queen of Prince Rupert northbound for Prince Rupert. Now I wish I hadent cancelled the trip.

[Doug]

Sounds like an idea.

[Low Light Mike]

Wow, it's now been > 1 year.

[Ferryman]

R.I.P. Queen of the North, one year ago today.

[Curtis]

One Year Ago Our Northern Flagship had Sank 135 Km Southeast of Prince Rupert en-route to Port Hardy. Hard to believe It's been a year.