Ferries' Horns

[DougNotLoggedOn]

Greetings all. Just wondering about the BC Ferries' ship whistles. I noticed (it might just be me ) that BC Ferries' ship whistles have changed...from two soundings to one. Am I correct or is it just me?

[mvqueenofnewwestminster]

No, your absolutely right. I've noticed that too. Chalk it up to yet another cheapening of our ferries by modern day government, where such distinguishing features of the 2 -3 tone horns that were trademarks of the Dogwood fleet during the 60's & 70's, are deemed to be "frivolous" expenses today, when designing new ships.
The focus today, is to build ships for less money, as opposed to the economic boom times for BC during the 60's & 70's. Of course they're going to look at the cheapest way to have horns on the ships & unfortunately, due to the economic climate of the day, features like the classic 3-tone horn are sacraficed.
I don't like it any more than anybody, but at the same time, I'm a realist & know that money, more than anything else dictates the ship design today. It sure is a sad fact, that it's come to that, but it has.
I've often fantasized about building a time machine & going back to those days. Especially at the age I am now, where I'm old enough to appreciate how good those days were.

[Ferry Guy]

I loved the old 3 tone horns, The new horns like the ones on the spirits are week and don't make a big "umph" at active pass

[The Ferry Man]

The Spirts are the only boats that ive noticed with a different horn but the rebuilt queens of cowichan and coquitlam both still have their classic horns they just dont sound them long enough to hear the classic 3 notes cause you only hear maybe one of the notes but all the others are still the same except for the gulf island vessels are different but they always have been because theyre smaller but that will most likely change as time goes on with the new vessels soon to come

[Ferryman]

What would be the best ferry horn, C-Class before/after refit, good old classic V-Class or sidney, spirits, of litttle gulf island ferries, I like the classic V-Class horn especially going through active pass when they lightly blow it and then it blows hard letting each of the 3 bull horns go one at a time and to me that was something that would make V-Class ferries unique, I havent been on a V-Class on that route since 97 or so and i hope to one last time before they get sold

[NMcKay]

when i used to hear the horn on the klatawa. it tskes me back. but yes. id have to say the small "K" class are the best

[Ferryman]

Noticing more and more peoples responses to the horns on the BCF these days really seems like they do change them, but thats strange if they change them

[Ian]

On the grand piano at my school i found the same corde the v-class use. i'll post it later i forgot what it is called. But wow is it sweet sounding.

[Balfour]

I have also found a few ferry horn chords on a keyboard. If you have a synth, set it to a brass sound, then you will get a pretty accurate sound.

[Ferryman]

I found two sites on the internet with the horn sounding. One was 3 blasts when it was about to back out but I don't know which V-Class it was, and another one that gives 5 short fast blasts. I also found the notes out myself on the piano using the V-Class horn sound on that site too. Here I'll post it to show you guys...

Sound 1:
www.vanmag.com/sounds/wavs/ferryhorn.WAV

Sound 2:
www2.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/Sound/BC_Ferry.aiff

I like the second one more though.;D

[Balfour]

The one with the 3 blasts is a 2 tone, I think it is the Esquimalt, but not the Saanich, because it's horns start separately. The 5 blast sounds like a C-class, maybe the Coq or Cow.

[Ferryman]

On the site it shows a picture of Cow so I guess it's hers, but it's an old picture and I don't think her horn sounds like that anymore, it sounds like it's only one horn now

[Low Light Mike]

Why does the on-board public address warning refer to the horn as "the ship's whistle"? Is the horn technically a whistle?


Maybe anything with air blown thru can be classified as a whistle? Maybe even the pipes on a pipe-organ?

[Balfour]

I have never heard the pipes on an organ referred to as whistles, but some pipes are small enough that they're like whistles. They are usually the loud mixture stops.

[Ferryman]

Anyone know anymore links to sites with the sound of a BC Ferry Horn?

[Koastal Karl]

Heard the Queen of Cowichan's horn today. I have to say those C class horns dont startle me like they did before as they sound really different and they dont have that big blast effect as there is only 1 tone, like you guys have mentioned before.

[Ferryman]

I really like the C-Class horns. Coquitlam sounds like its a 2 note horn though. Cowichan has always had a one tone horn I think, because I remember travelling on her almost every 2 days in July of 03 on the 6:30 am, and that was before the refit. But always coming back to Nanaimo just before she would get into Departure Bay she would sound the horn longer than they would leaving the dock. They would sound it enough the other 2 notes would come in after about 2 secs from when the first note started and it would come into the classic 3 note tone like on the V-Class, Best sounding chord ever and I don't know why, and I sure wish my camera was running so I could record it. Oak Bay, Surrey, and Alberni have the same horn, it sounds a bit different to me like it's deeper by like one note. But when I was out fishing just off of Horseshoe Bay Labour Day weekend I think it was and Oak Bay was sitting there ready to leave and then it made the lower sounding horn with all 3 notes, and then all of the sudden somehow got a bit higher sounding like Cowichan did as described above in the sound of Queen of Vancouver

[Balfour]

I have heard many different sounds on one C class. I've heard 1 tone, 2 tone, and 3 tone on the Cowichan and Coquitlam. The last time I was on the Cowichan which was in August 2003, they only sounded 1 note as we left DB.

[Ferryman]

Yeah the Horseshoe Bay end always sounded like a one tone horn to me and the Nanaimo end sounded like a 3 tone if sounded long enough

[Doug]

I think they don't blow a full blast at Horseshoe Bay because the residents don't like the noise...but they can shut up because the ferry terminal (most likely) has been there longer than them and it's probably even older than a lot of them too. It's just a matter of time before the dumb government of ours bans the full whistle for ferries leaving Departure Bay...if that is the case.

I'm going to start a new subject on resident issues so please, post.

[Koastal Karl]

Yeah, I know what your saying. Some people are just plain morons. I mean why the hell do you move right by a ferry terminal then complain about the noise?? You dont like noise, then dont move there. It's the same with the airports, people move by an airport, then they complain about the noise of the planes. You dont like it then living by an airport or ferry terminal is not a good idea.

An example, a few people on the Saanich Peninsula dident like the noise of the floatplanes overhead and wanted the flight path changed, I mean come on, like their gonna change a flightpath just for few morons who realized their living right in the flight path of the planes coming into the airport.

Havent heard any ferry related situations. Sorry, this just pisses me off!

[Ferryman]

Yeah no kidding. If I lived in Horseshoe Bay I would be telling them to use the horns as much and as loud as they want. But I don't think Horseshoe Bay is even a loud place for the Ferries Horns because it's all double enders going out of there so the horn is faced out of the bay and isn't as loud. The loudest place to me is Tsawwassen because it's basically all single enders and their horns point toward the terminal, and it's crazy in the summer when there's a horn going off like every hour, and when you're walking around that place, and then when you least expect it one of the horns goes off and makes you jump and sometimes if the wind is blowing in the right direction makes the hair on the back of your neck go up. Another place where people complain about the noise is the rich people that live in the most elegant appartements in Downtown Vancouver. They complain about all of the Floatplanes going in and out of there all of the time, and besides how could you live right in the center of a big city and not expect any noise

[Balfour]

I like the sound of Ferry horns, but sometimes they do startle me, and sometimes annoy me, like on the Nanny, the captain seems to obsessed with blowing the horn. It also has a very high pitched horn. Thankfully I get used to it at around 10 minutes into the voyage.

[Ferryman]

I think the horn can be scary sometimes too. Especially when it's foggy and dark out and when you can't see outside through the windows but all you can hear is the horn blowing every 2 minutes or so. Figured that out after riding the Coq a few times in the fog.

[NMcKay]

yeah. Right now it doesn;t seem to be the noise they are worried about. it seems to be the Wash from the ferries. there are some studies going around about how much they degrade the Shoreline.