QUEEN OF THE NORTH - Photos & Discussion

[markkarj]

ferryman said:

Thank you. Yes, that's the article I was speaking about.

A question and an observation:
1) Where would they have put the extension? I'd imagine that stretching a ship like QOTN would have potentially been much more complicated/expensive than the initial stretch of the V class ships

2) It's interesting that BC Ferries was looking at stretching the ship at the time. Now, as the QOTN and QPR are replaced, it's pretty clear that the new ships will be close to the size of the vessels they're replacing. I wonder if they ever thought about or conducted planning on using bigger ships on those runs (I can imagine them full during the peak season, but really empty during the off season).

M

[Low Light Mike]

Mark: I think that since the proposed lengthening was in 1982 or prior, that this stretch-idea was conceived before they had adequate history of ridership on this route, in all seasons. Here in 2006, we have benefit of over 25 years of stats on ridership of Q-North, and same re the Queen Charlotte's service.

Back then, maybe they were just being naively optimistic, or taking a "If we build it, they will come" attitude.

Re the actual stretch, I'm no naval achitect, but I'd guess that the extra space would have been midships somewhere......that's likely the easiest place to do the cut & paste work. Back in '82, this was when Q-North was running from Tsawwassen to Rupert(I think?), and so it was still stateroom-based, as opposed to day-lounge centric. So maybe there would have been more staterooms on Decks 6&7, and maybe some sort of passenger activity lounge on Saloon-deck 5.....just a guess.

Thinking about that ship, I sure miss her......

[markkarj]

flugelhorn said:

Thinking about that ship, I sure miss her......

I know what you mean. Although I'd not been on board, I'd always wanted to do the inside passage cruise QOTN. I was on QPR back in the early 80s, but I was so young that I don't remember all that much about it.

[WettCoast]

The Scotia Prince, another former Stena ship and a 'sister' to our departed QotN. This ship, once called the Stena Olympica (I think) was stretched in between the funnel and the mast.

[Koastal Karl]

The Scotia Prince would of been a perfect replacement of the Queen of the North. Might be a little big but still it's a nice looking ship. But I mean the Sonia isent that bad. I miss the Queen of the North too. I wanted to do the Inside Passage Day Cruise this summer but we ended up doing the Discovery Coast trip instead of the long inside passage trip on the Rupert. I will have to do the inside passage next summer on the Sonia.

[Barnacle]

I was just about to speculat that, traditionally, the easiest place to stretch a ship like this is between the mast and the funnel--it's aft of the pilothouse and forward of any relevant places in the engine room, so it's about the least complicated space on the vessel where the hull is full-bodied.

And the tragedy of the loss of two lives aside, the Queen of the North was indeed a fine-looking vessel. I can't help but wonder if stretching her would've improved her flooding characteristics.

[markkarj]

barnacle said:

And the tragedy of the loss of two lives aside, the Queen of the North was indeed a fine-looking vessel. I can't help but wonder if stretching her would've improved her flooding characteristics.

I heard a lot of media about the QOTN sinking. Initially, there were suggestions about her single-compartment design (rather than a multi-compartment design) contributing to the loss of the ship. But later, BC Ferries indicated that a hit of that type would have destroyed the hull of any ship.

[Barnacle]

Ah... I wasn't aware of the extent of the underwater damage.

Alas.

[WettCoast]

The stretching of the Scotia Prince allowed the hull to be upgraded to a two-compartment classification. The same would likely have occured with the QotN. Such an upgrade might have slowed the sinking from ~75 min to 90 min. That is an educated guess on my part. My understnding is that the QotN's hull was severely damaged in several locations on the starboard side. I had even heard that the starboard propeller shaft had been ripped out, though I have not seen anything to confirm this.
I understand that a brand new ship designed to the latest hull stability standards would have been doomed had it have 'grazed' a rocky island shoreline the way the QotN did.

[Low Light Mike]

I talked with my acquaintance after church today.......he was an electrical-engineer officer on both QPR & Q-North, and he retired in 2005.

I asked him about the planned 1980's stretch project, and yes, he recalled this plan. He said it would have been the usual V-Class type slice, same as was done with Scotia-Prince.

I probably got this wrong, but I think he said the new section would have been between compartments 3 & 5.....that's all greek to me.

I asked about what the extra space would have been used for. He said that more berths on Deck-6, with Pullman-style bunks, in order to increase overnight capacity. He said that the ship was really hurting for capacity during summer overnight runs from Tsawwassen....so they were looking for more space.

[markkarj]

flugelhorn said:

I talked with my acquaintance after church today.......he was an electrical-engineer officer on both QPR & Q-North, and he retired in 2005.

I asked him about the planned 1980's stretch project, and yes, he recalled this plan. He said it would have been the usual V-Class type slice, same as was done with Scotia-Prince.

I probably got this wrong, but I think he said the new section would have been between compartments 3 & 5.....that's all greek to me.

I asked about what the extra space would have been used for. He said that more berths on Deck-6, with Pullman-style bunks, in order to increase overnight capacity. He said that the ship was really hurting for capacity during summer overnight runs from Tsawwassen....so they were looking for more space.

Thank you for looking into this and letting us all know about this. Very interesting stuff...

[WettCoast]

flugelhorn said:

He said that the ship was really hurting for capacity during summer overnight runs from Tsawwassen....so they were looking for more space.

I do not ever recall the QotN being used on summer service from Tsawwassen to Prince Rupert, just Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. It was used for off-season service between Rupert and Tsawwassen. If anyone has concrete evidence such as an old schedule that shows that she did indeed make the long run between Rupert and Tsawwassen during the summer I would like to see that.

Initially the QotN did do an overnight service between PH & PR and I would bet that there was an issue with cabin availability, and hence the desire to stretch the ferry adding cabin and car deck space . When they changed over to a summer 'day cruise' service this problem was solved.

I recall sailing on the QotN in Aug of 1982. It was an overnight service. I was on the QotN at the time that the QPR had its grounding incident in Gunboat Channel. We waited at Bella Bella to take on all the passengers from the QPR.

[WettCoast]

BCF's Inside Passage & QCI schedule - Summer 1984

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DOT collection

[Neil]

The connection to Tsawwassen only existed from some time in the late '70s until the winter of '83-'84. My old schedules don't show it ever being offered in the summer.

[Low Light Mike]

I obviously got my story wrong re the Queen of the North's summer service, and whether that included Tsawwassen - Rupert route.

Point withdrawn. Pardon my trollness.

[Balfour]

For those you who have never heard what the Queen of the North's horn sounded like, towards the end of this video her horn sounds. A very beautiful sounding horn.

ca.youtube.com/watch?v=MIA7heXTUSc

note that this is not my video.

[Canucks]

Great find Coastal Skier! It is nice to hear a deeper sounding horn on a BC ferry, was it a two tone?

[Balfour]

Jun 22, 2008 20:54:41 GMT -8 Canucks said:

Great find Coastal Skier! It is nice to hear a deeper sounding horn on a BC ferry, was it a two tone?

I believe so...

Scott could even tell you what notes the horn uses

[Mill Bay]

Jun 22, 2008 20:41:22 GMT -8 Balfour said:

For those you who have never heard what the Queen of the North's horn sounded like, towards the end of this video her horn sounds. A very beautiful sounding horn.

ca.youtube.com/watch?v=MIA7heXTUSc

note that this is not my video.

Wonder why they took so long to turn the camera on at the start.

If nothing else, this is a great find simply because it provides a glimpse of a now lost ship-board experience. But also kinda creepy because the guy kept putting his fingers over the camera and then there's that mug shot of him .

The horn was neat, but that note would be really spooky sounding if you were a smaller boat hearing it out in the fog.


There was also another video in the list called 'The Last Sunset: The final voyage of the Queen of the North'.
ca.youtube.com/watch?v=MkYZq8LLJrY

[Curtis]

I believe I've seen that video before with the Queen of the North's Horn at the end.

I'm questioning if that video of her last voyage is real or not. That part where the music stops and the ship looks to has just struck Gil Island makes me wonder if that was just an effect or that was actually it.

[Barnacle]

That was an effect, and a rather cheesy one at that.

[Northern Exploration]

That is a crew member taking the video and I think it may have been posted once before buried in the postings of the sinking. He has a number of them about the QoftN. I remember him from one of my trips north. He is on the top deck that wasn't open to the public. The unique sound of the exhaust (kinda like a jet) and that deep Cruise Ship type horn bring back memories.

In the beginning he goes out one of the two doors near at the back of the cafeteria. There was a funny little room on each side at the back of the cafeteria. The crew used the one the port side as a break room. On the starboard there were a few seats. The sill was very high and the door kinda of squat looking with the extra high sill. That back deck was above the car decks but felt lower to the water for some reason. The high sill would have kept water out in a following seas I suppose.

One flight up was a deck at the end of the first floor of staterooms (Prince of Wales Lounge was forward on this deck). One more deck up was the outside staterooms with ensuite heads and crew cabins forward. One more floor up again was a protected area with more garden chairs. The side decks here were fairly narrow and there were machinery rooms (emergency generators etc.) and the air intakes were up here. Forward on this uppermost deck was a plexiglass or lexan foward observation room. At various times it was blue or yellow tinted. There were no lights at night in this area so you had to go slow because there were often couples making out or people smoking. It was quite narrow. If you stood in the middle there was just room for one person to pass you.

Ships have personalities and the QoftN had a very unique one.

[Mill Bay]

Full page BC Ferries ad on the rear cover of Fall 1987 of "Beautiful BC" Magazine

[hergfest]

That photo looks really touched up. Edited over the Expo lettering?

[WettCoast]

Sept 13, 2008 20:01:42 GMT -8 hergfest said:

That photo looks really touched up. Edited over the Expo lettering?

It is, for sure. For starters, the photo appears to be in Georgia Strait, just off of Howe Sound. Look at the islands & mountains in the background. Next, count the lifeboats. Remember that the Q of Surrey I lost all but one boat per side, when she was transformed into the QotN, in 1980. The Expo paint job did not happen until 5 years after she lost those boats.

No doubt the photo was taken in the 1974 to 76 period when she was dressed in dogwood blue, and serving on route 2.