Historic BCF photos - general thread

[Political Incorrectness]

That's an awesome pic Jim, thanks again for showing another one from the historical collection.

[WettCoast]

A few more oldies for you...

Queen of Victoria backing out of Tsawwassen Terminal in 1981 or 82



Q of the North @ Tsawwassen Terminal - Christmas time - early 1980's

Both photos by DOT

[Mill Bay]

Thanks Wet Coast Kid...

These are pretty neat...

Another bright clear image of the true lady of the fleet, in the old blue scheme from a good angle where her 'overbite' doesn't stick out too far and mar her appearance.

And about Queen of Coquitlam launch photo, I was just thinking how the picture taken from such a low angle makes the lines look a lot like the Island Home sailing out of Martha's Vineyard.

Or maybe a stealth ship, because she looks so dark...

[Curtis]

Great DOT Photos, JST
The Photo of the Victoria is Quite Nice
The Pic of What looks like the Esquimalt Is What I'd like to call A very Sensational Photo.

[Political Incorrectness]

Jim, that is one spanking pic of the Queen of Nanaimo, talk about a hit at 11:30 at night! Thanks again!

[Mill Bay]

Awesome pic of the Nanaimo, but for some reason the expo colours just look so bad on her in that one.

[EGfleet]

I found this in an old edition of "The Sea Chest" which is put out by the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society...it was detailing the last of the San Francisco steamers that came north.


(credited to the Williamson Collection)

Aside from the nice stern shot of the recently stripped down Langdale Queen, it gave a detailed account of her final movements:

14 May 1978 sank at moorings at the marina at the foot of Bute Street.

16 December towed to Lynn Creek Boat Basin.

11 May 1982 sold to Alaskan Equipment Corp for 80K; towed to Britannia Beach in June of the same year.(so now we know when that postcard photo was taken.)

16 December of 82 she brook her moorings and was "flung about" causing heavy damage to the dock's piles and to the ship. After the storm she was towed to "the Burnaby shore inside the Second Narrows Bridge."

Seems she sat there for the next six years until 1988 when "after years of neglect, most of the deteriorating deckhouse and superstructure were removed." She was then used as a pontoon at the Goodwin-Johnson long loading site near Berry Head, North Burnaby, Burrard Inlet.

So now that we know where all she was at, anyone who might have had photos of these areas at these times might have inadvertantly snapped a photo of her.

This same edition also had the only photo of the Malahat in Black Ball livery before the fire and boxy rebuild I've ever seen. I'll post that one too if anyone is interested.

[SS San Mateo]

evergreenfleet said:

This same edition also had the only photo of the Malahat in Black Ball livery before the fire and boxy rebuild I've ever seen. I'll post that one too if anyone is interested.

Definitely post that, please.

I've seen a picture of her after the fire, but before she was rebuilt. It was on a calendar (not sure which year, but it was sometime this decade).

[EGfleet]

vashondude said:

evergreenfleet said:

This same edition also had the only photo of the Malahat in Black Ball livery before the fire and boxy rebuild I've ever seen. I'll post that one too if anyone is interested.

Definitely post that, please.

I've seen a picture of her after the fire, but before she was rebuilt. It was on a calendar (not sure which year, but it was sometime this decade).

Oh, I'd love to see that. I've heard such a photo exists but I've never seen it.

Here's how she looked right after coming to Puget Sound.


After WSF took over ferry operations, the Malahat went into the yard at Winslow. She had hull plate work done and bow doors were fitted on her so she could do the Port Angeles-Victoria run. She then did the night freight run between Seattle and Port Townsend after the Chinook dropped that portion of the route.

It seems odd that Captain Peabody didn't take her to Canada, even for a short time...in addition to the new wheelhouse, she had her tail shaft and propeller replaced and additional work done up until he sold her in 1956. ALthough the article mentions "She was a hard vessel to steer and keep on course with her wheelhouse so far forward. Passengers were alarmed by her antics when running across the Strait of Juan de Fuca." (Apparently she rolled heavily.)

Maybe Peabody felt she'd be unsuitable for the Horseshoe Bay run given these shortcomings.

Oh! And the odd shape to her stack and what seems to be a second wheelhouse on her stern is caused by the San Mateo, which is parked directly behind her.

[old_wsf_fan]

That is a great photo! I have a postcard of her, after she was rebuilt. It was too bad that design change was made to her after the fire. I favor that early design.

[Ferryman]

Thanks for posting those, Evergreenfleet. Getting a good look at the Langdale Queens hull still makes me wonder if that was what I saw sitting at the Porteau Cove Ferry dock back in May, with all rumours put aside...

[pscurr]

A Christmas Puzzle..Name this ship

[Retrovision]

Obviously a classic Spaulding non 'Sidney' class vessel (looking forward at the entrance to the Forward Observation Lounge at starboard), but which? A shot in the dark, I'll guess Queen of Vancouver, but please correct my mistake.

[Ferryman]

Wow! That's a really neat photo. I had no idea that there were gift shops in the forward lounge. My guess is Queen of Victoria, just for historical significance.

Gawd, could you imagine if BC Ferries allowed people to smoke inside still? It's bad enough walking through a smokey solarium.

[WettCoast]

The most recent photo above by "pscurr" was taken on one of the Seven Sisters, but which one? It is definitely not the Sidney or Tsawwassen, however. The time would be during the later half of the 1960's, after the introduction of Canada's new maple leaf flag. The floor is not carpeted. The first carpets were put in place when the vessels were stretched in the late 60's or early 70's. The gift shop was known as the 'newsstand' at that time. It too was relocated at the time of stretching. The skinny phone book at right suggests to me that this in possibly one of the Route 2 ships (Nanaimo, Burnaby, or New West).

Perhaps a higher resolution version of this photo could reveal clues as to the identity of this vessel.

My final guess: - The QoR.

[Northern Exploration]

Actually the first Winnebego was produced in 1966. It was a new mass produced RV with a sandwich wall type. It was like the VW Bug of the Motorhome world. There are other motorhomes that predate that. They were more rare North of the border than they were in California and other parts of the US. By 1972 my dad had bought an Apollo motorhome and was thinking of selling them in Vancouver. It was pretty advanced and luxurious with a generator, large fridge/freezer, steel roll cage, A/C etc. The thick green shag carpet that was throughout wasn't such a good idea when we went to the beach in Oregon, and all up and down the east coast.

There was a system that streamed the waste water (both gray water and sewer) into the hot exhaust pipes and vapourized it supposedly. Called ThermoSan. It reduced the number of times you needed to pull into a facility and empty the waste tanks. When there were rude drivers on the road us kids used to joke about turning it on and spraying the offenders with something offending.

We used a Phillips 66 station on Granville across from one of the early White Spot drive in only restaurants as the home base for the enterprise. I haven't been able to exactly locate where it was as both are long gone.

I always wanted to take it on the ferry when we went to the Island but dad was alway nervous about it. No way would we ever chance the road to Long Beach in it. Today's road as wild as it is, is so much better than it was. The main motivation for me was to be able to load with the buses . Not much of a reason when there were beds already waiting for us at the relatives.

Later the motorhome was taken on many ferries including to PEI and many others. But never a BC Ferry .

It held 105 US Gallons of gas and got around 12 mpg if we were on a level highway going about 70mph.

[pscurr]

I know it is out of the sequence, but it is part of the history of this great province we live in. The camper/ RV/ trailer are all part of how the BCF system deals with transport on the coast. The love/hate of the RV on the highway in the summer has had a long history. I still wonder what the family from the Mid west US must think when they drive onto a BC Ferry for the first time and travel to the island or the Sunshine Coast through a landscape that we sometimes take for granted. We do live in a part of the world that is quite spectacular. For all its shortcomings and the potential for improvement, BC Ferries can be proud almost 50 years later.

[Scott]

I just scanned a few images from my collection of photos and postcards.

The only one taken by myself, the Queen of Oak Bay in the early 1990's. She still had the "visors" that lifted up on the upper car deck:




The second is a postcard of either the Cowichan or Coquitlam (I'm not sure which). It looks like the older C-class visors were all one piece at one point as it seems to form a sort of arch over the traffic loading and unloading here:





Another old postcard from 1974 or 75? showing the original Queen of Surrey (ie. Queen of the North) departing Horseshoe Bay.





Staying in Horseshoe Bay, here's a photo of a pre-stretched (I'm pretty sure) Bowen Queen. Anyone have any idea why she's not fully painted? She seems to have vehicles on board. Don't know who took this photo or when it was taken.





Lastly, another photo of the Pender Queen. I'm guessing that here she's laid up somewhere in Vancouver - possibly retired from the fleet? Again, not sure who took the photo, but I got it from somewhere.

[hergfest]

Looks like the Howe Sound Queen in the Queen of Surrey pic, in berth at Horseshoe Bay.

[kylefossett]

yes that would be the Hound dog. also known as the howe sound queen

[Scott]

How come it looks like her (Howe Sound Queen) bridge is missing?

[Mirrlees]

That photo of Bowen Queen in the weird paint; might she have been masquerading as a WSF for a movie shoot?

[hergfest]

My guess would be sea trials after she was built, cause that looks like fresh metal not a strip job. I'm probably wrong though.

[Scott]

First I thought it was post-stretch, but when I compared it to other photos, I'm pretty sure it's pre-stretch. When I purchased that photo, I got it along with one of the "old" Bowen Queen (what became the Vesuvius Queen) so my guess is it's most likely like hergfest said - sea trials after she was built. It just has a car on it.. but it might be only one.

[Ferryman]

admin said:

How come it looks like her (Howe Sound Queen) bridge is missing?

Haha!! That was what I was thinking as well! But then I had a look around the surrounding areas of the HSQ, to find that a tree branch on a tree beside the photographer is covering the bridge. That branch blends in well with the cliff.