The unraveling of the Queen of the North tragedy

Here is a good description of the events after the ferry hit the island. Praise and admiration is owed both to the crew and the people of Hartley Bay

Quote:

12:28 AM

Six miles to the northeast, in the aboriginal settlement of Hartley Bay, Bruce Reece was awakened by the ferry's Mayday, relayed by the Canadian Coast Guard station in Prince Rupert on the marine distress channel, which northern communities monitor around the clock. Within seconds, phones were ringing throughout the village of 200. Men ran to the dock for their trawlers and skiffs, while women began preparing food and hot drinks, collecting blankets and warm clothes and heading to the community center to await survivors.

Reece had just fired up his 21-ft. aluminum powerboat, Miss Ardell, and set off with seven other craft toward open water when he heard his mother's voice on the marine radio. "Leanne and Sandra are on the ship," she told him. He had forgotten that his niece and her daughter were traveling on the Queen. He revved his 250-hp engine and sped into the darkness.

12:30 AM

With the ship listing heavily to starboard, the crew directed confused passengers, some in pajamas, to the lifeboats. One woman, unaware of the collision, complained, "What a silly time to hold a fire drill!" Clarke recalls: "It was surreal, with the stark emergency lighting and the passengers in stunned silence, walking around barefoot in the rain."

In orderly fashion, the passengers descended Jacob's ladders into two wooden lifeboats and three inflatable rafts. Clarke boarded the last raft. Ten feet down, it stopped with a jerk. Fearful they would free-fall 55 ft. to the water below or smash against the hull, Clarke carefully moved to another seat to shift weight away from the vessel. A few seconds later, the lines began spooling through the pulleys, and the raft continued its descent.

Once the lifeboats were in the water, the captain ordered a crew member in each to do a head count. After several recounts, the totals were inconsistent. Nevertheless, the lifeboats motored to stand off 500 ft. from the Queen. Rain soaked the shivering crew and passengers, who huddled together as they bobbed in the dark in icy 3-ft. seas.

Seven minutes after leaving Hartley Bay, Reece saw a foggy, glowing light through the rain. "Even from that distance I could see the ferry was listing badly," he says. "It looked eerie. She was so familiar to us, and there she was--crippled on the rocks." Then he spotted the lifeboats rafted together, surrounded by ship debris. He approached slowly, shouting for his niece. At the third raft, she returned his call. Crowding Duncan, her daughter and six other people onto his boat, Reece roared back to Hartley Bay. The community's fire chief, Edward Robinson, circled the ferry with his speedboat, keeping 20 ft. away, shining his searchlight into the windows and across the deck as he looked for survivors. "Being so close to the ship was sad and scary at the same time," Robinson says. He saw no one.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/4263605?page=2

No you just spouted this MSM lie about the ferry tragedy.  According to the media the crew were incompetent the point that they were screwing on the bridge and they all had to be saved by others. 

Sorry NR but I will not give it a rest. Some of the crew on that fateful night were personal friends and I will defend them in any forum, especially in one that is defined as labour friendly.

[quote=North Report]

Oh, by-the-way, before we get started here, it was the First Nation's folk in the area who came out and rescued the primarily White people on board the sinking ferry.

[/quot]

North Report I thought you were a trade unionist.  The reason that this is back in the news again is because a worker is being charged with criminal negligence for his mistakes.  No company responsibility just a focus on the crew. Your opening post would make every ferry worker I know very upset. 

There were no people on board the ferry when the boats from Hartley Bay arrived.  That is not what you said and it is more than a minor point when talking about a marine accident. 

For your information this ended the careers of other workers because the trauma they experienced meant they could not back on board a ship in a time frame that the company thought was appropriate.  The double effect of not only the accident but the public vilification of the crew caused many of them to suffer from PTSD for extended periods.  At every turn they have heard the story of the incompetent crew and the brave people of Hartley Bay.  I for one will not be silent.

Crew members woke up in quarters that were below the waterline in water up to their knees when they alarms sounded.  They all mustered and kept the passengers calm and evacuated them.  That includes the grandmother with a dislocated shoulder who kept doing the job she was paid for until she was evacuated to a hospital.  I remember her telling me that she hardly remembers much after escaping from her flooded cabin except the pain of people using her shoulders to steady themselves as they were being evacuated. They did their jobs with distinction and don't deserve to be told that the people of Hartley Bay arrived and saved the people on board the ferry.

As for the people of Hartley Bay volunteering well they are a coastal community.  Every coastal community would have done the same thing on this coast and I suspect that goes for the other coasts as well.  Its just what coastal communities do. Remember that the radio is always monitored for vessels in distress. This is an isolated fishing community and like all good mariners they would never hesitate before heading out in rough seas to rescue people.