Almost 300 B.C. Ferries passengers spent an unwanted day on a ferry Tuesday after the Queen of Surrey smashed into a dock at the Langdale terminal.
James Baker said he boarded the 7:20 a.m. ferry from Horseshoe Bay to the Sunshine Coast to visit friends. At around 8:10 a.m., as Baker was walking down a stairwell to the vehicle deck, he heard “brace, brace, brace.”
“Then boom, we hit the dock,” he said.
B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said there were 285 passengers on the vessel and there were no injuries.
At around 5:30 p.m. B.C. Ferries got permission from Transport Canada to allow a tug to free the vessel so that cars and passengers could disembark.
At 6:15 p.m., vehicles and passengers began leaving the ferry.
#BCFHeadsUp I'm pleased to share that the crew have safely offloaded all passengers from the #QueenofSurrey. Thanking all involved. #QueenofCowichan will resume service out of #Langdale shortly: https://t.co/oLf074WFTX ^rz
— BC Ferries (@BCFerries) March 27, 2019
Baker said B.C. Ferries did a good job keeping passengers informed, and provided free food and drinks.
“They did a pretty good job for how much they blew it,” he said. “I feel for the captain, it looks like a pretty easy landing and he just didn’t stick it. He hit that dock pretty good. It was crazy.”
Passengers without vehicles who were caught waiting at the terminal were transported for free by water taxi to Horseshoe Bay. On Tuesday evening there were four scheduled departures from Horseshoe Bay and three from Langdale.
In a news release, B.C. Ferries stated that several vessels would be redeployed so that regular service between the Sunshine Coast and Langdale would resume in the morning.
@chrisgailus The @BCFerries #QueenOfSurrey Just missed the birth completely and slammed into the dock ! @GlobalBCMorning #Gibsons pic.twitter.com/XY3mVqVBcQ
— James Baker (@JamesIanBaker) March 26, 2019
Gibsons resident Kurt Penner was in the car lineup waiting to get on the 8:40 a.m. sailing to Horseshoe Bay when he heard a crash.
“It was loud enough that I knew something was up, because that’s not the way it normally sounds when it docks,” said Penner. “I looked up right away and saw that it was not where it was supposed to be. It was off-course and it had crashed into the end of the side dock.”
Penner said he then watched as the ferry crew revved up the engines and tried, unsuccessfully, to pulled away from the dock.
“I’ve seen a picture online of the damage to the steel. I guess what they are going to have to do is bring a tugboat in to pull it off and then I imagine they’ll probably turn it around backwards and back all the cars off,” Penner said.
