Boat Collector's Graveyard ~ July
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Queen of Sidney Passenger & Car Ferry. The 102 metre Queen of Sidney was one of the first BC Ferries built in 1960 to service the route between Tsawwassen and Vancouver Island. She was retired in 2000.
At least four film production companies used this backdrop for filming B-grade movies. The walkway in the foreground was constructed for film crews to safely board the ship.
Not all the vessels share the same 'fame' as the two ferries, but it seems all will eventually share the same fate.
Presumably for moving stuff onto and off of the floating scrap yard.
Built: San Francisco, CA 1922. Length: 230' 4" Beam: 63' 8" Draft: 12' Car Deck Clearance: 11' 6" Speed: 13 knots; Horsepower: 1,400 Propulsion: triple expansion steam engine; Cars: 50: Passengers 659 Now lying abandoned in the Fraser River alongside the Queen of Sydney
These photos were taken on a bright sunny afternoon mid summer. But the mould that is eating away the paint on the Queen of Sidney and the other vessels is testimony to the cold damp conditions on the river during the prolonged winter months.
It took a little bravery, or foolishness, to get this close to the place where all this stuff is "stored". After walking down the unpaved private road on the agricultural land adjacent to where the Queen of Sydney is moored, and after passing various signs declaring "Private Land - Keep Out", I came across this fresh sign hung across the road. This one caught my attention. That's when I thought I had better go no further. But this was close enough to gain the attention of the yard dogs which by this time were causing a ruckus, followed by two big men who emerged from what at first appeared to be abandoned shacks. "What do you want?" one shouted. "Didn't you see the signs? Things weren't going good, but no one seemed to be carry arms, so I politely explained my interest in doing a photo-shoot of the boats. After a long silence I was told I could proceed, but I was not to publish the location of the place, or sell the photos. Strange - who would have thought you could hide a 102 metre ship?
Once the flagship of the B.C. Ferries fleet – the 102-metre MV Queen of Sidney with a capacity for 989 passengers and 138 vehicles. The vessel was the ferry company’s pioneering vessel and serviced the Vancouver to Victoria route in 1960 until it was decommissioned in 2000.
The miscellaneous collection of things metal serve as a backdrop to the decaying boats. Withe passing of time and ravages of the elements, each item becomes its own tombstone. It's difficult to tell whether any of the items would function without serious intervention. Everywhere one turns there is more scrap and metal junk apparently left where last operated. That's a mini-tugboat on the other side of the tractor. These tiny tugs were used to marshall logs onto conveyers known as "green chains", where the logs would be milled into dimensional timber.
