QUEEN OF THE NORTH - Photos & Discussion

[Ferryman]

Interesting. You learn something new everyday.

[WettCoast]

Here's a picture for you all dating from the 28th of August 1974 taken at Horseshoe Bay.

from JST's old slide/negative collection

Queen of Surrey (I) @ Horseshoe Bay Terminal, West Vancouver - 28 August 1974
© WCK-JST by Jim Thorne, on Flickr

[Queen of Nanaimo Teen]

Wow, great photo. Thanks for posting it! Oh, and did anybody notice she has 3 lifeboats on 1 side instead of one? Just thought I might point that out ;D

[WettCoast]

klitsa said:

Wow, great photo. Thanks for posting it! Oh, and did anybody notice she has 3 lifeboats on 1 side instead of one? Just thought I might point that out ;D

Actually it is four lifeboats per side. One is further forward than the other three - look closely.

JST

[WettCoast]

Another view of the ship that was then called the Queen of Surrey - from late May 1977 at Swartz Bay Terminal.
Three years later this vessel was modified for service on the Inside Passage route & renamed Queen of the North.

Queen of Surrey (1) laid up @ Swartz Bay Terminal - late May 1977
© WCK-JST] by Jim Thorne, on Flickr

[Low Light Mike]

re the above Q-Surrey 1977 photo:

- seeing as how she has her visor up, and her funnel is smoking, I presume that she was in-service, while that photo was taken?

Or was she just laid-up there?

I just assumed that Q-Surrey only ran on Route-2 for 1974-1976, and was decommissioned after the Cowichan/Coquitlam started service.

Did the old Surrey every work Route-1, in 1977?

Assuming that she's just "sitting idle" at Swartz Bay, then that might explain why she's berthed bow-in at Swartz.

Jim, can you please clarify?

Thanks!

[WettCoast]

flugelhorn said:

re the above Q-Surrey 1977 photo:

- seeing as how she has her visor up, and her funnel is smoking, I presume that she was in-service, while that photo was taken?

Or was she just laid-up there?

I just assumed that Q-Surrey only ran on Route-2 for 1974-1976, and was decommissioned after the Cowichan/Coquitlam started service.

Did the old Surrey every work Route-1, in 1977?

Assuming that she's just "sitting idle" at Swartz Bay, then that might explain why she's berthed bow-in at Swartz.

Jim, can you please clarify?

Thanks!

The old Surrey never was used in revenue service on Route 1 or any other route between the time it was taken off Route 2 and when it entered northern service in 1980 as the QotN.  It spent a lot of time laid up at Swartz Bay during the winters, and at Deas during the summers. In this photo the funnel is smoking and that indicates to me that I was in the right place at the right time. They must have been just firing up the engines as something that needed to be done every so often, or perhaps they were preparing to move her out as this berth would have been freed up for service over the summer months. As to why she was in bow first I do not know except that ferries are often stored bow-in at Swartz.

[WettCoast]

For another more close up view of the Surrey (QotN) at SWB in June 1977 click here

[Low Light Mike]

Jim: When you saw that ship in 1977 at Swartz, did you think to yourself that "gee, that would be a great ship for the inside-passage service...." ?

I wonder why it took until 1979 or so until they (BC Ferries) made the decision on how to use this fine ship.

I suppose that it had something to do with the fact that the QPR was doing fine on the Inside Passage, and that there was not yet a Queen Charlottes run being done.

But Jim, surely you must have seen the potential when you saw her, back in 1977..........

[WettCoast]

flugelhorn said:

Jim: When you saw that ship in 1977 at Swartz, did you think to yourself that "gee, that would be a great ship for the inside-passage service...." ?

I wonder why it took until 1979 or so until they (BC Ferries) made the decision on how to use this fine ship.

I suppose that it had something to do with the fact that the QPR was doing fine on the Inside Passage, and that there was not yet a Queen Charlottes run being done.

But Jim, surely you must have seen the potential when you saw her, back in 1977..........

Ironically no....

I was, at the time the photo was taken (early June 1977), on my way from Victoria to Vancouver for a wedding. One of my brothers was getting hitched. (I come from a big family, having six brothers & two sisters.) I was with my parents and I was at the time a resident of Sooke, where I lived with my parents. Northern ferry service did not, at that time, loom large in my consciousness.

At that time I was an unemployed 'bum', having completed a BA degree at UVic the previous year. I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. A lot of people in their early 20's tell me similar stories.

Also at that time I had another brother living in Kitimat, having almost completed his first year of teaching here. He told me to come on up - there were lots of jobs. After the wedding that is exactly what I did. As they say, the rest is history. I have been here for almost 30 years now. And northern ferry service is something that became very important to me, and remains so.

As to the original Queen of Surrey...

I believe that it was known generally within BC Ferries and knowledgeable people in the maritime life of BC that she would make a fine addition to the northern fleet. But BCF opted to do nothing until BC Steamship Company (then a provincial crown corp running the Princess Marguerite) said that they wanted to acquire her to replace the Maggie. BC Ferries gave them the Rupert instead.

[Low Light Mike]

Thanks for that story, Jim.

I remember seeing the Queen of Surrey for the first time, in 1974 or 1975, coming back from a family trip to the Okanagan. I would have been in Grade 2 or 3 at the time....so I was a little tyke, but I was interested in detail stuff of names/places/geography, even back then.

So I was really fascinated by seeing Queen of Surrey, berthed bow-in at Horseshoe Bay, with that "strange looking" bow visor raised. I had never seen anything like that before.

I remember my mom telling me that "that ship used to swim in the Atlantic....", or something like that.

Unfortunately, I don't have any memories of the interior of Q-Surrey back then........I guess that my photographic-memory is a bit sketchy...or maybe my brain ran out of film.

[Curtis]

Very Intresting Information. That explains why the QPR ended up doing the Seattle-Victoria Route.

Now I'll add some info from some past posts here...
If memory serves me right...on this forum, I believe somebody posted ages ago while talking about the Northbound Positioning Cruise (Tsawwassen to Port Hardy) the QotN used to do and he said that the QotN was the first ship to have a Children Play Area. And if my memory goes further into remembering, correct me if I'm wrong, I think another person mentioned she once had a disco. If she did then that's just Groovy.

[queenofcowichan]

2 of those lifeboats are in service as the Protection Connection. The Island Mist and Island Queen are former lifeboats to the Queen of Surrey. They opperate from the Dingy Dock Pub to Nanaimo Harbour.

[WettCoast]

Queen of Surrey the first again for this photo history installment. This view, taken at Horseshoe Bay in August 1974, shows the modifications made to the bow close up. The photo, part of the DOT collection, originates, I believe, from BC Ferries.

[queenofcowichan]

Nice pict of the Queen of Surrey. Let me see if I got this straight, The visor lifts up as the ship nears the berth and the onboard ramp would be lowerd onto the deck and the shore ramp would be lowered onto the bow? Is this correct?

Re The third PC boat, yes I did see the third boat when I went over to Protection 2 years ago to take pictures of the Norwegian Sun. But as of last week I have yet to see it in service And I have no Idea which ferry this lifeboat would have come from,

[Retrovision]

Great photograph of the former Queen of Surrey and her unique bow sponson, Jim.

queenofcowichan said:

Nice pict of the Queen of Surrey. Let me see if I got this straight, The visor lifts up as the ship nears the berth and the onboard ramp would be lowerd onto the deck and the shore ramp would be lowered onto the bow? Is this correct?

Good question - were the modifications to the bow more extensive than just the sponson?

Here are a few pics of her as the Queen of the North, showing her inner ramp







Cheers,
Graham

[Northern Exploration]

When you were a foot passenger you barely noticed the inner ramp. I don't remember if the stern had a similar arrangement or not. You can see the inner doors if you look closely. The "nose" came down and the inner doors swung shut.

[queenofcowichan]

I Remember when arriving at Port Hardy at the end of the Positioning cruises I was on in the early 1990's the policy was for foot passengers to remain up top untill the vehicles were off loaded. I remember watching from the top lounge The visor been lifted up. It looked weired for me to see the front end been raised.

The Stern of the Queen of The North and QPR is basically the same as the other ships in the fleet alowing the ship to dock at any of the southern docks.

[hergfest]

How about this. My Dad took this Labor Day weekend 1974, she is turning around to dock at Departure Bay.
i18.tinypic.com/34tahc3.jpg

[Low Light Mike]

Thank you, thank you ! The shot of Q-Surrey turning-around in Departure Bay is something I had hoped to see a photo of.

Excellent !

[Ferryman]

Beautiful Picture. I've never seen a picture of her in Departure Bay until..........just now.

[Curtis]

That's another excellent photo of the Queen of Surrey I

[hergfest]

You can thank my Dad. He said he was suprised as hell when she turned the corner, had never seen her before. I think he said they had just missed the earlier boat too.

[WettCoast]

Hergfest, your father snapped a true beauty. This photo belongs in our current Miss March contest. I have taken liberties as you see below. To enter just say yes. And to you and your dad I say Thank you!

[Retrovision]

wetcoastkidjst said:

Hergfest, your father snapped a true beauty. This photo belongs in our current Miss March contest. I have taken liberties as you see below. To enter just say yes. And to you and your dad I say Thank you!

Hergfest

If there were ever a flagship header photograph that deserved to run in such a contest unopposed, it certainly would be that one. Thank you, Jim, for taking the liberty to create that great banner.