Retired B.C. and Washington State ferries rust and rot at vessel graveyard on Fraser River.
If you think the graveyard of vessels on the Fraser River
Producers pay up to $2,500 a day to film here, including for the Flash Gordon TV series and an action flick starring ex-wrestler Steve Austin.
For some, however, this place is more of a reality horror show.
"You want it?" asks Mike Younie, manager of environmental services for the District of Mission. "It's quite a scene, no kidding. We'd like to get rid of them, that's the bottom line."
The 102-metre Queen of Sidney -- one of the first BC Ferries in 1960, retired in 2000 -- is among the half-dozen commercial vessels at the site, along with a barge, a derelict fishboat and two tugs.
Also notable is the 70-metre steam ferry San Mateo , which had a venerable career in Washington
The principal keepers of this graveyard are packrats Gerald Tapp, 73, and his brother, Bob, 71, ex-loggers from Aldergrove who say they are the victims of government harassment.
"Mission
The graveyard is located just off the Lougheed Highway behind no-trespassing signs at the foot of Cooper Avenue in the rural Silverdale neighbourhood -- the same area where Billy Miner committed Canada
The Tapp brothers have gradually accumulated the vessels since buying the four-hectare property in 1996, taking possession of some after the owners walked away.
Looking at the crumpled remains of the San Mateo
"A guy was going to restore it. He parked it here and gave up and left it here."
The last owner, Garry Bereska, had hoped to restore the San Mateo Surrey told The Sun: "We've thrown our whole heart and soul and everything we've got into it."
Of the classic ship, he said: "It's like going into a movie set in the 1920s. All this stuff is so authentic. It hasn't been tampered with or buggered up or modernized."
Today, a sadly different reality. "It's awfully rotten," confirms Bob Tapp. "It's not safe to walk around in there."
As for the Queen of Sidney , BC Ferries sold the ship for $100,000 in 2002 to Rainy River Cedar Ltd. of Roberts Creek
Rainy River's Brad Boser said he bought the ferry with the intention of "stripping it down and selling the components," but instead sold it soon after for the same price to Art Klassen, who works at a cedar shake mill in Abbotsford.
Boser subsequently acquired the Queen of Saanich, now stationed at Kelsey Bay on northern Vancouver Island . He is negotiating with Chinese business interests to have it towed overseas and converted to scrap, and feels the Queen of Sidney could be similarly sold.
"I'm just waiting for the Chinese to come over and give us a cheque," he said.
Klassen describes ownership of the Queen of Sidney as a "great adventure, one hell of a project.
"I was going through a divorce at the time and it was a very good thing to sidetrack me from everything that was going on. I never regretted a moment doing it, but, I tell you, it was not a simple deal.
"Anything I got out of it, I worked hard for. That old girl, she doesn't give anything up easily, believe me."
He removed the copper wiring, benefiting from a sharp spike in market prices for copper. The generators were sold through Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers.
He even flogged some parts such as the scuppers, the drains on the car decks, back to BC Ferries. "I sold them trinkets here and there. Sometimes they would need an electrical part or something, but never a large amount of stuff."
Did he earn back his $100,000 investment?
"Yes and no. If I had to hire someone to do it, no. I was there on weekends, all my spare hours. I paid myself a good wage doing it, but that's all I did.
"I always thought I would hit a motherlode with it. I thought someone in Texas
Klassen said there were some wild rumours flying during his ownership of the Queen of Sidney.
One suggested there was enough fuel left on board to more than cover the cost of purchasing the ferry. "If they'd had a fuel gauge, it would read empty," he said.
In response to another rumour that he planned to convert the ferry into a marijuana-growing operation, he drove to the RCMP station in Mission
"Anytime you guys want a tour, give me a call," he recalls telling police. "There's nothing going on."
At various times, Klassen thought about putting a small mill on the ferry or using it as a floating work camp. "It's too big, too expensive to move it or do anything with it. That's why it stayed right there."
Today he figures the ferry should be scrapped for steel, although he warns: "If I had a dollar for every time the Chinese were gonna buy that ferry off me and take it to China
The Queen of Sidney arrived at Silverdale in 2002 and the brothers took possession in 2006. They'd prefer not to say what they paid, but it's in the range of a decent used car.
Bob Tapp leads a Sun reporter up darkened stairways and around electrical cords to the seating area and cafeteria on deck four. Some of the windows are smashed, the ceiling is torn out.
"Everything here is stainless steel," he says in the kitchen.
The ferry last sailed on the Comoxto-Powell River
The original lifeboats, with a limit of 53 people, are still hoisted and ready for service, although there is no rescuing the ferry itself. At low water, it sits on the river bottom at an angle.
The car decks are jammed with old cars, trucks, campers, lawn mowers, chainsaws -- you name it -- much of it other people's stuff that the brothers have allowed to be stored here.
There are small plastic pellets on the ground, evidence of a sport called "air-soft," which is similar to paintball and took place on the ferry until a year ago. "It makes a mess," Bob Tapp says.
He complains that "river rats" are forever pilfering stuff from the ferry, "Leave a pump out and it goes. It's sad really."
Of the vessel, he says: "We'll probably end up scrapping it."
The district raised concerns such as damage to the riverbank, the potential for the vessels to float away in a high freshet, the "probable release of untreated sewage to the river," the use of electrical and gas pumps, and occupational health and safety issues related to movie filming.
The District of Mission's Younie said only WorkSafeBC responded in "any material way" and visited the site and said it would try to show up when films are being shot.
He said bylaw officers visit the site regularly and have achieved some success with cleaning up scrap metal on the land portion, but lack authority over the water.
"There's not a lot we can do," he said.
Younie added there are "no obvious environmental issues going on. It's not like there is oil leaking all over the place." The Sun spotted a small oily sheen on the water during a recent visit.
Transport Canada Canada
Colin Grewar, spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, said there is no provincial foreshore tenure on the site and the "owner currently continues to have a certificate of title, even over the portions covered by water."
He argued that waste discharges from vessels and damage to river habitat are federally regulated under the Canada Shipping Act and Federal Fisheries Act. The province is working with Ottawa
Rob Chadwick of Fraser River Safari in Mission
"There are so many rules on the river, how do they get away with that?" he asked, speculating no one wants to assume liability for the site. "The problem is everyone is passing the buck."
Chadwick describes the site to guests as an "old ship graveyard" and observes that the image of the derelict ferries against a mountainous backdrop makes for interesting photographs.
"It's quite picturesque," he concluded. "And bizarre."
Source: The Vancouver
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