5thingsyou(probably)didn'tknowaboutBCFerries

Originating after a strike led the provincial government to make their own ferry company, BC Ferries has become iconic to life on Canada's west coast

Fromprovidinganessential connectiontotherestofthe provinceforislanderstolong cruisesthroughthenorthern watersoftheprovince's Pacificcoast,itplaysarolein thousandsofpeople'slives. Howwellitprovidesthose servicesissometimesup fordebate Over the 60+ years it's operated, there's a variety of notable moments, from the tragic to the zany Here are five facts that you (hopefully) haven't heard before

1 Bysomemetricsit'sthe largestfleetintheworld

Thereareafewdifferentways to measure the biggest ferry fleet in the world, including by passengers and number of vessels In both those categories BC Ferries is among the largest (usually topthree)withpre-pandemic passenger totals cracking 22 million per year. While 36 vessels at any given time isn't a huge number, it's the size of those vessels that is impressive They hold the record in vehicle (or roll-on, roll-off) ferries BC Ferries has 36 rightnow,morethan anyoneelse Ourneighbours to the south are close, but Washington State Ferries only has 21 vessels They do (usually) just beat us for passengers though Youmayexpectsomewhere likeGreeceorthePhilippines tohavebiggersystems,but theirsystemsaredominated byafewdifferentcompanies, insteadofonelargeone

2.Indigenouspeoplewere keptonthecardecks

In the first decade of operation,localFirstNations people were not allowed above the main car deck on the ships

3.TheQueenofVictoriawas involvedinafatalcollision

Crashes between large ships are rare in B C , but one of themostsignificantinvolved theQueenofVictoria In1970 theSovietfreighterSergey Yeseninranintotheferryin ActivePass,anareainwhich thefreighterwasnotallowed

The collision appears to have been quite dramatic, with aerial photos showing the freighter embedded in the side of the ferry Three peoplewerekilled,including aseven-month-oldchildand hismother.

4.Youusedtobeableto travelfromTsawwassento PrinceRupert

For those wishing to explore B C a ferry directly to the province's northernmost major port would be a welcome trip And it used to be a thing. In the late 70s the Queen of Prince Rupert spent a season travelling between the two destinations It left

Tsawwassen at 8 a.m. on a Monday and floated into Prince Rupert at 6 p m on a Tuesday. Then it headed back south that night and docked in Tsawwassen at 6:30 a m on Thursday

5.ThePacifiCatsaredocked inEgypt(itappears)

They were called a few differentthings.FestFerries.

PacifiCat-class ferries

An anchor around the government's neck Backinthe1990s,itwas decidedBCFerriesneeded somenewships.Thetrioof shipsthatwereorderedwere catamarans;whiletheydidn't havethecarryingcapacityof the Spirit-class ferries, the idea was they'd make the VancouverIsland-Vancouver crossingquicker(catamarans are not uncommon in other parts of the world)

If they could do it faster, there would be more crossings Long, long story short, therewereafew issues.Onewasthecostof theferriesballooned (to an estimated $463 million in 2000, or about $730 million in today's dollars).

Anotherwasthewashcaused by the ferries, which meant they had to go slower and avoid certain routes, which meant they weren't much quicker

The province ended up bailing on the ferries, just as the last of the three was finished They ended up being sold to an American company in 2003 A paper from2005showsacommittee consideredretrofittingthem "tosupportmilitaryvehicle payload."

However,thatwasn'tdone andtheshipsweresoldtoa companynowcalledADM ShipyardsfromtheUnited ArabEmirates.Inphotos onlinefromacoupleofyears agoyoucanseethebowof onepokingoutatadockat thePortofAlexandria.

ByBrendanKergin