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Post by bcferryfan87 on Jun 10, 2011 21:04:22 GMT -8
Thanks for all the pics - that's neat seeing it off of Cali; good luck to what I'll always call the Queen of Esquimalt; many trips with my dad especially to Vic and back in the 80's during the summers; I always remember the simple things like as it backed out early in the morning from Tsawassen and the rattling from the engines, as you are in the Cafeteria; and the way they served the breakfasts with the little piece of watermelon, on the plate under the plastic lid. Simple things but I remember; i liked that ship; I'm sorry it's gone, but I hope we cherish the memories, and hopefully it has some useful life left; the old Vancouver is for sale I see; I don't know what would be involved for someone buying it say as a restaurant or something; what about the asbestos and that? anyways, All the Best to the Esquimalt; we solute you and thank you for your service and for all the nice memories and safe journeys you provided to us. You truly were a "friend at sea" (bc ferries old ad line in the late 80s).
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FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,948
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Post by FNS on Jun 10, 2011 23:27:25 GMT -8
I would like to thank FerryNut for all his hard work on keeping an eye on our Queen as she retires to Mexico. Not being a tech person I am always impressed by those that can do these things then share them with those of us poor souls who would have missed it other wise. Thank you once again. It's been my pleasure. Special thanks go out to the pilotage site in displaying the time of departure from Port Alberni. Also to two ship tracking sites as well as the tug having the AIS equipment. Thanks also to the available webcam sites as I was able to capture the QUEEN OF ESQUIMALT's pass by at interesting places. A greater thanks go to the tug's captain for choosing to pass by the east side of Catalina Island as we were able to see the ferry from Avalon's webcams. A huge thanks for the creation of this forum. This is a great internet site of people sharing the love of ferries. As a "Voyager", I "cranked" things up a notch to provide this coverage of the QUEEN OF ESQUIMALT's final voyage for all to view and keep in their memory boxes.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jun 13, 2011 12:43:03 GMT -8
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Jun 13, 2011 21:28:35 GMT -8
Those were neat photos. I hope they have more photos of her farther south!
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Jun 17, 2011 7:12:14 GMT -8
I am hoping she is lucky enough to get caught in a storm and sink with some dignity like the Susy.Q did, instead of having to endure her more inevitable and gruesome fate.
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Post by Kahloke on Jun 17, 2011 7:58:58 GMT -8
I am hoping she is lucky enough to get caught in a storm and sink with some dignity like the Susy.Q did, instead of having to endure her more inevitable and gruesome fate. According to Ferrynut's post above, PJ arrived in Ensenada on June 10th, so unless they have plans to move her somewhere else, I'm guessing her fate is already sealed.
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Jun 17, 2011 20:28:26 GMT -8
I am hoping she is lucky enough to get caught in a storm and sink with some dignity like the Susy.Q did, instead of having to endure her more inevitable and gruesome fate. According to Ferrynut's post above, PJ arrived in Ensenada on June 10th, so unless they have plans to move her somewhere else, I'm guessing her fate is already sealed. Man, so sad. Nothing like getting the news after the story has already been written .
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Post by markkarj on Jun 19, 2011 0:32:19 GMT -8
Assuming this ship is destined for the breakers, is there a specific firm that does this work in Ensenada? My understanding is that WSF's old steel-electrics wound up here, although I haven't searched hard enough to find the firm responsible for breaking up the ships.
Is there a yard or area where they'd do this work, similar to Alang India? Do they beach the ship, or have other facilities like a dry dock to do the work?
Although this sounds a little morbid, I suppose I'd like to find out more about ship-breaking on the Pacific coast. I'd always assumed that ship-breaking happened in India (mostly), China, Turkey, and I think one location off the Gulf of Mexico in the US.
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Post by Scott on Jun 20, 2011 20:00:25 GMT -8
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mrdot
Voyager
Mr. DOT
Posts: 1,252
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Post by mrdot on Jun 20, 2011 21:08:08 GMT -8
:)looks like some ferry re-sale fast buck bureauucrat could have held out for alot more to these would be Chinese sailors, who might have turned our Esquimalt into a floating gambling den! at least that would have been a less ignoble end than a mexican recicling den! :'(mrdot
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,175
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Post by Neil on Jun 22, 2011 18:53:18 GMT -8
Wow. Thanks for posting that, John. That's a fairly incendiary piece of writing, when you consider what Ms. Montgomery is suggesting BC Ferries might have/should have wondered or known about the sale of the Queen of Esquimalt. Of course, she's not making any actual allegations, but... I think this also shows the difference between newspaper journalism, and blogging. I'm not sure she would have voiced the same sort of musing suggestions if she was still writing for the Province. That's not necessarily a criticism, just an observation.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2011 22:15:34 GMT -8
Neil, that's a really good point, there are a number of differences between blogging and reporting for a commercial news organization. Oddly, the differences aren't what you'd imagine. It's not so much a matter of bloggers being freer with innuendo or opinion or whatever it sometimes looks like. (Quite the opposite. I work to precisely the same standards, and am careful to do so: I foot my own legal bills now, no boss to cover my nut.) For me -- and this is as someone who reported for more than 30 years, including stints as copy editor of news stories, opinion pieces, features and blogs on news sites -- the real difference is simple: People return your calls if you're a reporter, because they feel they have to respond to your organization. Bloggers, not so much. Then again, speaking as someone who only reported on material that I had the documents to back up, it wasn't always easy getting comment when you were calling from a newspaper either. Even when you had the documents. Especially from BCFS. I'd love to still be able to call people up, tell them what I want to know, ask for comment and then actually get an answer. But you know, it's not going to happen. Anyway, my only point in writing the blog item that Mr. H linked to your site was to say a few things about a topic that I'd had a ton of emails and comments about privately. Mainly, it just seemed like a very odd sale -- way more than the ferry's value, given its age, condition and lack of compliance. Flagged out to Cambodia, which is pretty much the bottom of the barrel as flags go, according to every maritime industry and labour official I know (and not a flag that China normally uses). Then abandoned in Alberni. Coupled up with increasing reports of Chinese officials kiting money out of China on similar kinds of fake deals, including to Canada, I just thought it said something about the kind of thing you have to be wary of. To be clear, as far as I know, the company got its money, and a great price for the Esquimalt, and sold the other three ferries, so good for them, quite honestly. The only point I was making about the company is that in many places in the world, a company is responsible for knowing when it might have an iffy transaction on its hands, and to do that, you have to be right on top of the industry you operate in. Interesting times we live in, eh? (By the way, while I'm clocked in here uninvited, and I'm sure boring you all, let me take this opportunity to say how much I love reading your board. You are a colourful cast of characters, and smart enough to depress me most days.) Thanks for listening.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,175
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Post by Neil on Jun 28, 2011 21:45:35 GMT -8
Neil, that's a really good point, there are a number of differences between blogging and reporting for a commercial news organization. Oddly, the differences aren't what you'd imagine. It's not so much a matter of bloggers being freer with innuendo or opinion or whatever it sometimes looks like. (Quite the opposite. I work to precisely the same standards, and am careful to do so: I foot my own legal bills now, no boss to cover my nut.) For me -- and this is as someone who reported for more than 30 years, including stints as copy editor of news stories, opinion pieces, features and blogs on news sites -- the real difference is simple: People return your calls if you're a reporter, because they feel they have to respond to your organization. Bloggers, not so much. Then again, speaking as someone who only reported on material that I had the documents to back up, it wasn't always easy getting comment when you were calling from a newspaper either. Even when you had the documents. Especially from BCFS. I'd love to still be able to call people up, tell them what I want to know, ask for comment and then actually get an answer. But you know, it's not going to happen. Anyway, my only point in writing the blog item that Mr. H linked to your site was to say a few things about a topic that I'd had a ton of emails and comments about privately. Mainly, it just seemed like a very odd sale -- way more than the ferry's value, given its age, condition and lack of compliance. Flagged out to Cambodia, which is pretty much the bottom of the barrel as flags go, according to every maritime industry and labour official I know (and not a flag that China normally uses). Then abandoned in Alberni. Coupled up with increasing reports of Chinese officials kiting money out of China on similar kinds of fake deals, including to Canada, I just thought it said something about the kind of thing you have to be wary of. To be clear, as far as I know, the company got its money, and a great price for the Esquimalt, and sold the other three ferries, so good for them, quite honestly. The only point I was making about the company is that in many places in the world, a company is responsible for knowing when it might have an iffy transaction on its hands, and to do that, you have to be right on top of the industry you operate in. Interesting times we live in, eh? (By the way, while I'm clocked in here uninvited, and I'm sure boring you all, let me take this opportunity to say how much I love reading your board. You are a colourful cast of characters, and smart enough to depress me most days.) Thanks for listening. Unfortunate that the marine beat is one of many that the Sun and Province newspapers have dumped, especially so given the seaward focus of our economy. Guess these days a young Alan Daniels would be put to work contributing to fluff pieces like the Sun ran on Saturday- three full pages in their first section on how to choose a puppy. Unbelievable. No more labour reporting, and no consumer reporting, after the car dealers and the advertising department got peeved at nasty editorial types digging into places where their noses didn't belong... newspapers almost seem to be trying to make themselves inconsequential, which is deadly. The talent in the newsrooms is largely wasted, however much of it that remains, after various chain wide centralizations and buy outs. And if the content inside your old paper The Province can be judged by what's on the front page most days, a person need never pick it up, and they'd be none the less informed. The ' Esquimalt sale certainly was an odd one. I see by looking back a few months in another thread of this forum, that Washington State Ferries sold their four 'steel electric' boats for the scrap price of $200,000 American, total. The ' Esquimalt was much larger than any of those four so would have commanded a higher amount. With the huge amount of excess tonnage on the seas these days, it's really hard to believe that anyone would have bought a 46 year old ferry- which would probably need extensive adaptation- for a cargo vessel in far away Cambodia, especially at the price they sold it for. BC Ferries did seem to believe the sale was legit; I recall one of their now departed managers saying, when the boat was still moored at Deas, that the new owners were attempting to assemble a crew to take it to Asia. Perhaps that was just for public edification. David Hahn has a reputation for candour, at least when it suits his purposes. It would be interesting to see if he has much of a response to the suggestion that the transaction was tainted, and that BC Ferries might have been, umm, somewhat lacking in curiosity as to the nature of their good fortune in selling the ' Esquimalt. Chances are he would chalk it up to superior acumen in management, as he's done with eveything from building in Germany to the cleanliness of the washrooms.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jun 30, 2011 21:43:57 GMT -8
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Post by Ferryman on Jul 28, 2011 21:11:07 GMT -8
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mrdot
Voyager
Mr. DOT
Posts: 1,252
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Post by mrdot on Jul 28, 2011 21:46:04 GMT -8
:)good god please spare me from a mexican recycleing den, this picture kind of puts you to mind of a nazi final solution! I hope this isn't whats to become of all our old heritage, and the next generation can look to wall mart roll backs! :'(mrdot.
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Post by Scott on Jul 28, 2011 22:02:14 GMT -8
Wow, you're right. What are the chances? Not only is it amazing that you found it, but that the guy even happened to take the photo on his weekend with buddies in Mexico. Thanks for sharing!
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Post by ferryfanyvr on Jul 29, 2011 7:43:04 GMT -8
Ugh...a picture we've all been waiting for but dreading at the same time. Memories of all the times I rode on her in her later years when she was supplementing service on routes 2, 3, and 30 have come flooding back. A very surreal scene, indeed.
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Post by WettCoast on Jul 29, 2011 10:57:56 GMT -8
So this would be the part of the ship that we see in the Mexican photo from Fat Tony? They match fairly closely. I would be happier if I had something more 'ironclad' that this is indeed the Esquimalt. Instead of a silhouetted photo something well lit showing what remains of the paint work, and just possibly a name or identification feature that guarantees that this is our boat. So sad to see the death of the Q of E .
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Post by lmtengs on Jul 29, 2011 11:01:05 GMT -8
So this would be the part of the ship that we see in the Mexican photo from Fat Tony? They match fairly closely. I would be happier if I had something more 'ironclad' that this is indeed the Esquimalt. Instead of a silhouetted photo something well lit showing what remains of the paint work, and just possibly a name or identification feature that guarantees that this is our boat. So sad to see the death of the Q of E . I left a comment last night on his blog post asking if he has any more photos of the ship that show more detail. He hasn't responded yet, and there's no guaranteeing that he will, but we can cross our fingers.
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Kam
Voyager
Posts: 926
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Post by Kam on Jul 29, 2011 11:04:01 GMT -8
Wow
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Post by swartzbaydreaming on Jul 29, 2011 11:31:06 GMT -8
So sad, I hate seeing the end of one of the V's. Those ships were the lifeline to the island in my childhood in the 80's. It is the final step in a long successfull career. We will miss you old girl...., Here in BC you were loved by many!
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Post by swartzbaydreaming on Jul 29, 2011 11:33:25 GMT -8
By the way great pics of the QOE everybody. It is a great way to pay tribute to a fallen queen.
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Post by lmtengs on Jul 29, 2011 11:38:21 GMT -8
So there's two gone, five to go... Queen of Ocoa, ex. Queen of Victoria, ex. City of Victoria --Scrapped Queen of Vancouver, ex. City of Vancouver --Up Howe Sound with a hole hacked into her side Princess Jacqueline, ex. Queen of Esquimalt --Scrapped Owen Belle, ex. Queen of Saanich --Up the Discovery Passage somewhere not really doing much. Queen of New Westminster --In active service Queen of Nanaimo --In active service, with pending replacement plans. Queen of Burnaby, ex. Royal Victorian, ex. Princess Marguerite III --In active service, with pending replacement plans
Should also mention the demise of the V class prototypes better known as the Sidney class.... Good idea. Coho --In active service Queen of Sidney, ex. Sidney --Rotting on the Fraser River West of Mission. Queen of Tsawwassen, ex. Tsawwassen --Retired, Currently listed as 'for sale' on Harlow Marine's site.
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Post by WettCoast on Jul 29, 2011 11:48:52 GMT -8
Should also mention the demise of the V class prototypes better known as the Sidney class....
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