MV Queen of Prince Rupert
Encyclopedia
M/V
Ship prefix
A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship.Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as "SS" for steamship, or purpose, such as "RV" for research vessel. Civilian prefixes are often...
Queen of Prince Rupert was a RORO
RORO
Roll-on/roll-off ships are vessels designed to carry wheeled cargo such as automobiles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers or railroad cars that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels...
ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
operated by BC Ferries
BC Ferries
British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. or BC Ferries is a de facto Crown Corporation that provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia...
that provided the main surface transport link between the Queen Charlotte Islands
Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
and mainland British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, connecting Skidegate
Skidegate
Skidegate is a Haida community in Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southeast coast of Graham Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and is approximately west of mainland British Columbia across Hecate Strait...
with Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and home to some 12,815 people .-History:...
across the Hecate Strait
Hecate Strait
Hecate Strait is a wide but shallow strait between the Haida Gwaii and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It merges with Queen Charlotte Sound to the south and Dixon Entrance to the north...
(thus linking two segments of Highway 16). The vessel also ran on the Prince Rupert-Port Hardy Inside Passage route during the low season.
Built in 1966, the Queen of Prince Rupert was decommissioned on April 20, 2009 following the launch of the Northern Expedition and was replaced by the Northern Adventure on the Prince Rupert-Skidegate Route.
On May 4, 2011 the official registration of the Queen of Prince Rupert was closed. The vessel was sold to Goundar Shipping Company of Fiji and renamed the M.V. Lomaiviti Princess. The vessel departed B.C. waters bound for Fiji on August 5, 2011.
History
The Queen of Prince Rupert was built by Victoria Machinery Depot Co. LtdVictoria Machinery Depot
Victoria Machinery Depot Ltd. was a ship builder located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.This was a historic metalworks and shipyard in Victoria, Canada. From the late 1850s on, with the Fraser Canyon and Cariboo Gold Rushes British Columbia was dependent upon Californian supplies and ships...
(VMD), Victoria and completed in 1966 as the first BC Ferries vessel to serve the Inside Passage from northern Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert. It was the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the fleet until the Queen of the North was added to the run in 1980.
The designer of the vessel was Jorgen Baess, VMD's resident naval architect. The keel was laid on November 30, 1964 and the ship launched on October 15, 1965. The launching did not proceed without incident. The traditional smashing of a champagne bottle against the hull was to be performed by the wife of the Speaker of the Legislature
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the presiding officer of the British Columbia legislature.-The office of Speaker in British Columbia:...
, W H Murray. Moments before, however, a young boy ran across the dock and tripped over the rope which restrained the chains holding the vessel to the ways. Instead of being launched by the pull of a lever, the QPR was sent down the ways prematurely by accident.
Mrs. Murray belatedly pulled a second lever to propel the champagne bottle, but it missed the boat. Harold Husband, president of VMD, grabbed the bottle on its return swing and tried to smash it against the hull, but the bottle only bounced off. Then the winds pushed the unpowered vessel directly towards a grain dock. Nearby tugs quickly moved in to keep the QPR out of danger. To ensure that there would be no bad luck associated with an improperly christened ship, Mrs. Murray later "threw another bottle of bubbly at the frisky ferry" as it lay tied up to a pier.
From 1966 to 1979, the route operated from Kelsey Bay
Kelsey Bay, British Columbia
Kelsey Bay is a small coastal settlement located in the Sayward Valley on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia about 1 mi from the community of Sayward. The wharf at Kelsey Bay was previously the southern terminus for the B.C. Ferries Inside Passage route until 1978, when Highway 19 was...
, the northern limit of the highway system on Vancouver Island at the time.
In its inaugural year, the QPR made the journey in 20 hours, departing at 1:30 pm from Prince Rupert and Kelsey Bay on alternate days. A one way fare was $30, while the cost for an automobile and driver was $60. There were 16 deluxe staterooms on the Bridge Deck, with two berths, shower and bathroom ($11.50 per berth); 22 outside and 55 inside semi-deluxe staterooms on the Promenade Deck, with bathroom ($10.00 and $8.50 per berth); and on the Lower Deck or Tween Deck; 30 2-berth staterooms (5.50 per berth) and 9 4-berth rooms ($18 for the room). Public showers were located on the Tween deck.
In the 1977-1978 season, passenger rates were still $30 between Kelsey Bay and Prince Rupert, while cars were $40 alone. A notable change to the route was made that season during the fall to spring schedule. The ship departed from Tsawwassen
Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal
The Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal is a major transportation facility in Delta, British Columbia. It is located on a three kilometre man-made causeway off the mainland at Tsawwassen and is less than 500 metres from the 49th parallel, Canada's border with the United States...
, enabling northerners to travel directly from Prince Rupert to Vancouver by sea. On the October-April schedule, the ship left Tsawwassen Mondays at 8:00 am, stopping at Kelsey Bay and Bella Bella
Bella Bella, British Columbia
Bella Bella, also known as Waglisla, is an unincorporated community and Indian Reserve community located within Bella Bella Indian Reserve No. 1 on the east coast of Campbell Island in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. Bella Bella is located north of Port Hardy, on Vancouver...
, arriving at Prince Rupert at 6:00 pm Tuesday. Turnaround time was quick, as it departed for the south again at 10:30 pm, reaching Tsawwassen at 6.30 am Thursday. The Thursday to Sunday run called in at Ocean Falls.
In 1979 the North Island Highway
Island Highway
The Island Highway is actually a series of highways that follows much of the eastern coastline of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada....
was completed through to Port Hardy, and a new terminal built at nearby Bear Cove. In 1980, the Queen of the North
M/V Queen of the North
M/V Queen of the North was a RORO ferry built by AG Weser of Germany and operated by BC Ferries, which ran along a scenic 18-hour route along the British Columbia Coast of Canada between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a route also known as the Inside Passage. On March 22, 2006,...
entered service on the Inside Passage route. The BC government decided to utilize the Queen of Prince Rupert on the tourist run from Victoria to Seattle, replacing the coastal steamship Princess Marguerite. In what was seen by many as a politically expedient move, they leased the QPR to the BC Steamship Corporation when the Princess Marguerite was found to violate US pollution requirements. The vessel was renamed the Victoria Princess. To enable loading at Victoria's Inner Harbour, a side-loading door was installed. The Victoria Princess only operated on the route for one summer, however, and in November, 1980, returned to the BC Ferries fleet as the Queen of Prince Rupert to begin its service between Prince Rupert and Skidegate.
When the Queen of the North
M/V Queen of the North
M/V Queen of the North was a RORO ferry built by AG Weser of Germany and operated by BC Ferries, which ran along a scenic 18-hour route along the British Columbia Coast of Canada between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a route also known as the Inside Passage. On March 22, 2006,...
sank on March 22, 2006, the Queen of Prince Rupert was in drydock undergoing its annual refit. It was quickly pressed back into service, and made its first voyage of the season less than a month later. On April 20, 2006, the vessel made its first crossing through Wright Sound
Wright Sound
Wright Sound is a waterway on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Wright Sound is south of Prince Rupert and lies at the southern opening of Grenville Channel and between Gil, Gribbell and Pitt Islands...
where its sister ship had sunk. The Queen of Prince Rupert stopped at the spot and passengers threw into the water 99 white roses (the number of people rescued) and two red roses (for the two people missing and presumed dead). The Queen of Prince Rupert continued covering both the Inside Passage
Inside Passage
The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific coast of North America. The route extends from southeastern Alaska, in the United States, through western British Columbia, in Canada, to northwestern Washington...
and Queen Charlotte Islands routes until the replacement Northern Adventure was ready for service in March 2007. This necessitated considerably reduced service in the busy summer tourism season, and had a significant effect on the economies of coastal communities.
Previous to the Queen of the North disaster, crew's quarters on both vessels were below the water line, beneath the car deck. Passenger staterooms below the waterline had not been used for a number of years, but the crew's bunks and mess continued in use. Immediately after the sinking, however, the passenger cabins on the Queen of Prince Rupert's Promenade deck were given over to the crew, greatly reducing the number of staterooms available to travellers, but ensuring the safety of the crew.
The Queen of Prince Rupert was decommissioned at a ceremony in Prince Rupert on April 20, 2009. The brand new Northern Expedition as well as the newly purchased Northern Adventure (which is the QPR's replacement on the Prince Rupert - Skidegate route) were present along with the QPR in Prince Rupert Harbour on April 19, 2009, marking the only time to date that all three vessels were in the same location together.