QUEEN OF THE NORTH - Photos & Discussion

[Fenklebaum]

I believe that DOT's shot is of the Surrey during a layover. The loading ramp is seen to be up, with the crew gangway in place.

Fenk, laid-over

[Retrovision]

Would this have been on an out of service movement or might the Queen of Surrey (1) have been on route 1 at some point?

Great photo, btw. Thanks go out to DOT yet again, and to you, Jim, for your efforts.

[Low Light Mike]

dane said:

Interesting the Queen of the North/Surrey is bow in on the Island, opposite of every other vessel. Must have been a pain in Horseshoe Bay.

During 1974-75:
- she docked bow-in at Horseshoe Bay
- she docked stern-to at Departure Bay.

....same as any V-Class.

Now, let me look back in this here thread, to see what might have set you off on that path:
-ok, so it's the Swartz Bay photo from DOT, where she's bow-in.
- she's making smoke, for some unknown reason. I believe that Jim posted that pic, or a very similar one before, and he commented that she was likely being stored at Swartz, and was maybe just being moved.
- but she definitely was NOT in-service for that Swartz pic. It was taken in winter 76-77, and so this is after the Cowichan / Coquitlam / Alberni were in-service, and so the Surrey was laid-up......and Elvis was still alive.

Exhibit 2:
- remember Hergfest's uncontested winning photo in our March 2007 flagship contest? That showed the Surrey doing the turn inside Departure Bay, getting ready to dock stern-to.

Exhibit 3:
- my memory. I remember seeing the Surrey docking bow-in at Horseshoe Bay, in the 1974-75 era. I was fascinated by the bow-visor.

[Deleted]

Interesting how the stern door looked on Queen of Surrey at that time. It looks as though it just dropped down onto the deck. She never did serve on the Swartz Bay route did she? Thanks for the pic it's very nice.

[WettCoast]

Queen of Surrey 1 never operated on any pond crossing route other than Route 2 during the years 1974 to 76. She was then laid up until 1980 when she came north as the Q North.

As many will know, BCF modified the Surrey's bow with a 'Mouth Retainer' for use in docking at Horseshoe Bay. Some may not have realized that they did similar work at the stern which is evident in this picture. It does indeed look as if they dropped the rear hatch directly onto the rear mouth retainer for docking at Departure Bay. Also, it has been pointed out earlier that it is common practice for ferries in storage to be docked backwards, especially at the Van. Is. terminals. Why? - I do not know.

[Neil]

For some bizarre reason, I couldn't find an existing thread for "Historic BC Ferries Balloon Photos". Guess 'seven sisters' hasn't posted his yet.

So. I'm confident that this is this first ever balloon scan on this forum. Finally, I've made my mark.

Now, all I need to make it perfect is to see ShipRider 16 post, "Great balloon, Neil."

[WettCoast]

I am guessing that that balloon dates from 1980 when the Q of Surrey had just been rebranded as Q of the North and was on tour. I feel slighted as I was in Prince Rupert in late May 1980 for the 'Open Ship' there and did not get one of these inflatable souvenirs. What a pity!

[Mike C]

I like how they put Queen of the North in quotations, almost if they were questioning if that were it's real name...

"Mommy, we're on the Queen of the North... if that is it's real name..."

[Neil]

mainlander101 said:

I like how they put Queen of the North in quotations, almost if they were questioning if that were it's real name...

"Mommy, we're on the Queen of the North... if that is it's real name..."

Good point. Quotation marks imply a slogan, or perhaps a moniker. Many years ago, though, shipping companies more commonly used them around vessel names, so maybe the person who designed the balloon was really old.

[Scott]

I've seen quotations used in place of italics before. For some reason this brings back a memory to me of having a Queen of the North balloon once when I was a kid. We did the Inside Passage cruise around 1986.. give or take a year. I'm pretty sure we got a balloon with the ferry on it:) Long gone, unfortunately.

[EGfleet]

admin said:

I've seen quotations used in place of italics before. For some reason this brings back a memory to me of having a Queen of the North balloon once when I was a kid. We did the Inside Passage cruise around 1986.. give or take a year. I'm pretty sure we got a balloon with the ferry on it:) Long gone, unfortunately.

You are correct, when using the proper name of a ship if you can't use italics you can use "" marks. You'll see it done in a lot of older shipping journals. They also tended to put the ships name ALL IN CAPS as well if they couldn't do the italics...It's a pet peeve of mine, which is why you'll often see in stories I've posted I'll go back and put the ship name in italics. Yes, I know...picky English major...Can't be helped though. ;D

[Low Light Mike]

Story first (photos to come in a few days, after I get a chance to scan them):
-----------------
I was at my parents for lunch today and after we ate, my Mom asked me to look at some family photos that she found that had "ferries" in them.

No, she wasn't talking about about a picture of Uncle Jebediah driving the Studebaker onto the Motor Princess, she was talking about photos with little-me in them, and photos taken around that time.

There was one picture of a Nanaimo street scene, with the Nanaimo Harbour ferry landing in the background, and what looks like Quinitsa in it (the era was a few years too early for Quinsam).

Oh, and one of a stretched, unlifted Q-Esquimalt in Active Pass.

....And then I saw the picture that I always hoped we had somewhere, but I never realised we did, until she showed me today. I beheld it, my breathing and heart-rate quickened, and then I said to her: "Mom, that photo could only have been taken between 1974 and early 1976."

Yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about!

Oh, and then there was a photo of 6-7 year old me, on the aft-end of Deck-8 of that special ship. You know the spot & scene: where the outside deck is shaped like an aft bridge-wing, looking forward to the wraparound bow-end solarium, wooden hand-rails wrapping the deck.

My scanner is eternally busted, so I'll take those pics to work, and scan them there.

[WettCoast]

Fluge...

Ask your Mom if she can find the negatives...

I am looking forward to what you will have to show us.

[Low Light Mike]

...I took another chance on my junk scanner, and it worked long enough to scan 3 photos:
======================

Horseshoe Bay: 1974 or 75.
- Q-Surrey at Berth#1
- because it's still a single-decked berth 1, I think this might be '74, not '75.....assuming that double-deck berth construction would have started in '75 sometime, in anticipation of the Jumbo-C's. But maybe that's what that Atco trailer is for?





==================

- Deck-8 aft, looking forward.



==================

- Deck-8 aft, looking forward.



---------------------------------------
all photo credits to Kurt B. The first photographer that I ever met, and who had his own black & white dark-room in our basement. That 1960's & '70's developer equipment was pretty neat to observe. No, I never drank any developer, stop or fixer chemicals.....

[WettCoast]

Great photos, thanks to you and your Mom, Mike. Did you get into any of the rinsing agent?

I take it that the originals are in b&w?

[Low Light Mike]

wetcoastkidjst said:

Great photos, thanks to you and your Mom, Mike. Did you get into any of the rinsing agent?

I take it that the originals are in b&w?

Yes, all of my Dad's photos were black & white. I grew up thinking that that was the norm for photography. I didn't realise that there was a world of colour to capture too. ;D

He had a Pentax, using 35mm film. He loved Hilton's photo supply store in Chemainus (on the Island Highway, near Fuller Lake Arena).

[Retrovision]

Thanks for posting the quality photography from those rare angles, Mike.

-

hornbyguy said:

Well, I guess if the Spirits can be historic, so can the Trailer Princess. At least it's old and gone.

My photo of Spirits passing was in reference to the question of passing green to green that was brought up by an actual historical photograph posted, taken of passing vessels at the same point near Active Pass...

tsawwassenterminal said:

queenofcowichan said:

Nice Picture! Its odd that the 2 ships are passing Green to Green instead of Red to Red.

Passing Green to Green is surprisingly common these days with the Spirits on Route 1. When a Tsawwassen-bound Spirit, probably the same for a V, is late and the vessels would be passing off of Helen Point (southern entrance to Active Pass), the late vessel seems to most often hold on the outside of the turn to wait for the on-time vessel to pass as it would be too narrow of a passage otherwise, as seen in this photo of mine taken from Village Bay, Mayne Island...

-

I've noticed the topic of commercial traffic popping up OT lately in atleast a couple threads, so thought - especially considering its importance to the history of coastal shipping of B.C. - I'd start a specific thread in the most appropriate category/board, found here:

Commercial Shipping: Barge to Ferry, CNP to WMG

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

flugelhorn said:

wetcoastkidjst said:

Great photos, thanks to you and your Mom, Mike. Did you get into any of the rinsing agent?

I take it that the originals are in b&w?

Yes, all of my Dad's photos were black & white. I grew up thinking that that was the norm for photography. I didn't realise that there was a world of colour to capture too. ;D

LOL, Fluge, that comment takes me back. You are not the only one who to find himself under that impression. Both my father and my uncle shot nothing but B&W for years, and both had their little photo labs tucked under the stairs in the basement...

[Scott]

I was looking through an older album tonight and found this one from the Queen of the North in 1987. That's my younger brother and I up on the top deck:)

[Low Light Mike]

Good pic, John-Boy. Do you remember any details of the trip, from that long ago?

Where did you stop at, on the highway trip from Rupert to the Mainland? ie. Barkerville, Ft. St. James, ??

Was that your 1 and only time on the ship?

[Scott]

Please keep sharing these beautiful sketches. Did he have a show at the Maritime Museum?

Flugel - I don't remember a lot... a few moments here and there - I was 7 or 8 years old. But I still have some pictures. The ferrytrip was a daytrip from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. We had stayed a few nights in Port Alberni with friends, then driven up Island. I think my dad had planned that we would go to the Queen Charlottes but the ferry was down. Instead, believe it or not, after a stop in Terrace and a trip down to Kitimat and a tour of the aluminium plant we took a road trip down through the Rockies and came back home through the southern part of the province with a stop at Fort Steele. This trip was with my dad, mom, brother, and three sisters (youngest one hadn't turned 1 yet) in a 11-passenger van camping most of the way:)

There were also one or two fresh water ferry trips... Balfour being one for sure as I have a (bad) pic of it somewhere from that trip.

[Mill Bay]

admin said:

I was looking through an older album tonight and found this one from the Queen of the North in 1987. That's my younger brother and I up on the top deck:)

John, I'm having trouble believing you would have looked that young in 1987.

[markkarj]

Hi folks:

I read elsewhere on the board that BC Ferries (back in the Hodgson era, so I'd suspect around 1982 or 1983) was looking at lengthening the Queen of the North. The plan apparently didn't go ahead due to the province's financial position at the time.

Does anyone have any detail of the plan? How much she would have grown by, where they were planning on placing the new section, that sort of thing...

I find it fascinating how BC Ferries has chopped up ships and expanded them. Interesting stuff...

Mark

[Low Light Mike]

I'll ask an acquaintance of mine, who worked on Q-North from the start in the 80's. Maybe he remembers some of that plan....

[Ferryman]

I remember someone posting about this, and they managed to find some proof. Here's a News Clipping from the Vancouver Sun, back in 1982, posted by JST, from his brother, DOT's collection.