Queen of the North update
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Saturday May 5 2007
05/05/07, Gary Mason, Workers at centre of B.C. ferry sinking fired, Source.
05/05/07, B.C. ferry union vows to defend fired crew members, Source.
Tuesday March 27 2007
Bottom line? Karen Bricker, Karl Lilgert, & Keven Hilton were either: listening to music, fucking, or squabbling (or all of the above); instead of doing their jobs. The Captain knew (at least about the music) but may not have known exactly how loud they were playing it on this specific night.
26/03/07, Patrick Brethour, B.C. ferry sailed straight to its doom, report says, (Source).
27/03/07, Sid Tafler, Union official discusses music policy on ferries, (Source).
27/03/07, Gary Mason, The elusive truth about the Queen of the North, (Source).
The Report ($#%@! pdf's!) on the BC Ferries site:
Divisional Report, & Attachments.
Wednesday March 21 2007
21/03/07, Rod Mickleburgh, A year later, answers still lost at sea, (Source).
Monday October 16 2006
14/10/06, Robert Matas, Captain drops lawsuit against ferry company, (Archive).
David Hahn is certainly a weasel, and very likely a liar. Two people are dead because of bureaucratic incompetence, and Darin Bowland, the man who knows, has been silenced.
Sunday July 9 2006
02/09/06, Mark Hume, Hartley Bay's ghost in the water, (Archive).
Also a bit on Darin Bowland's part in a 2003 death on-board: Death in custody from "excited delirium"?.
Sunday July 9 2006
Darin Bowland was not the first to have ructions with B.C. Ferries over safety and the lack of it. Bob Beadell, a marine engineer, quit in 2000 over issues with the Queen of the North: Province, March 24: Officials let B.C. Ferries operate under relaxed regs, (Archive). He specifically recommended sponsons to prevent rapid sinking.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
The Queen of the North sank into the dark ocean deeps very early in the morning on Wednesday March 22; not quite three months ago. She piled into Gil Rock at full speed. Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette died. Only God's grace prevented all hands from being lost; no joke - she hung up on the rock for a short while giving most of them time to get off; but for that she would have gone straight to the bottom.
Dribs and drabs of information are coming out. This is the way we do things in Canada; just like our cousins to the south, nothing really gets going until somebody sues somebody else and serious money gets involved. Everyone trying to cover their asses. And somewhere not far away the captain, Colin Henthorne, and each of his crew carry a personal knowledge of what went wrong and why.
Darin Bowland knows too. Only a week before the sinking he was speechifying on the inevitability of such an accident. You can't call ramming a ship into the shore at full bore an 'accident' can you? It will be interesting to see how much of the 70 million insurance settlement they throw his way to try and shut him up. More interesting to see if he falls for it.
Even the RCMP are involved. They can't rule out the possibility that someone may be 'criminally' at fault. Gotta get out there and earn those fat salaries!
In the early days it did seem suspicious that Captain Darin Bowland, the Safety Director of BC Ferries, resigned for 'personal reasons'; it looked sorta like a coverup, a scapegoat maybe, or a sacrificial lamb; now it looks like the corruption was simply everywhere.
I have compiled nine stories which appeared in the Globe and Mail over the past few weeks:
Archive: ... B.C. Ferries, Queen of the North Sinking ... since June 6.
June 6: Ferry's crew unsure of steering.
June 6: Preliminary report on ferry sinking points to human error.
June 7: Ferry management gets blame.
June 7: Union calls for safety audit of B.C. Ferries.
June 8: Dispute muddies ferry probe.
June 13: B.C. Ferries receives $67.9-million for lost ship.
June 13: Former B.C. Ferries safety chief launches lawsuit.
June 14: Insider says he raised alarm on B.C. Ferries.
June 15: B.C. Ferries rejects claims of safety expert.
So, who is David Hahn?
President and CEO of BC Ferries since May 5, 2003. An American; previously Director of Marketing for Hertz Corporation, then Chief Operating Officer at Ogden Aviation; specialties (according to the BC Ferries website): business restructuring, strategic planning, revitalized marketing, revenue growth, acquisitions and customer service.
Did not come up through the line then eh? Is not a seaman nor any kind of a mariner nevermind a Captain; no, not a Captain in any sense of the word - a professional weasel.
From him we get a flat-out denial that Darin Boland ever said anything to him on the subject.
And who is Darin Bowland?
The Globe describes him as having sailed the Carribean for 11 years. Turns out that Captain Darin Bowland of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' luxury liner Radiance of the Seas also sailed from Vancouver to Alaska through the Inside Passage (yet!). A Canadian, living in Vancouver, and a former Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy.
Maybe he knew something about his job eh? And furthermore, if he said these things in a more-or-less public speech at the Nautical Institute then it seems to me that, on a positive note for culture of bureaucracy, he had to have spoken to his colleagues at BC Ferries about it too. In fact, BC Ferries has its logo on their website, it is almost a cert that there was at least one other Captain from BC Ferries there when he spoke. Let's see ... yeah, here are the Nautical Institute: Minutes of Directors' Meeting, Tuesday 14th March 2006, no indication who is from BC Ferries except for Bowland.
Not very often I get the jump on the Globe. I wonder why they have not reported these details about Darin? Are they being told what to say by the powers that be? Are they 'mitigating' too? I asked them but they haven't answered yet.
What about Deborah Marshall, the BC Ferries spokeswoman who insisted that they had "nothing to say about a matter before the courts", and the next day her CEO is in there shovelling mud pies? That can't feel very good. She was the same one who announced that Darin Bowland resigned for 'personal reasons' so I guess she is used to it.
And Jackie Miller, President of the BCFMWU - BC Ferry & Marine Workers' Union.
She is wrangling with Hahn over his moves to try and pin it on the crew.
Anyone knows why this all 'went down'. Another disfunctional bureaucracy, or suite of bureaucracies, meddling and 'maximizing profitability' from further and further away from the actual action. Removing bit-by-bit any discretion from those with the true responsibility. Indulging in and insisting upon the correctitude of their official lies and distortions; with their irrelevant and nonsensical and incompetent 'policies' and 'guidelines'; layer upon layer upon layer of bullshit until somebody dies for it. Slugs and maggots!
Saturday May 5 2007
05/05/07, Gary Mason, Workers at centre of B.C. ferry sinking fired, Source.
05/05/07, B.C. ferry union vows to defend fired crew members, Source.
Tuesday March 27 2007
Bottom line? Karen Bricker, Karl Lilgert, & Keven Hilton were either: listening to music, fucking, or squabbling (or all of the above); instead of doing their jobs. The Captain knew (at least about the music) but may not have known exactly how loud they were playing it on this specific night.
26/03/07, Patrick Brethour, B.C. ferry sailed straight to its doom, report says, (Source).
27/03/07, Sid Tafler, Union official discusses music policy on ferries, (Source).
27/03/07, Gary Mason, The elusive truth about the Queen of the North, (Source).
The Report ($#%@! pdf's!) on the BC Ferries site:
Divisional Report, & Attachments.
Wednesday March 21 2007
21/03/07, Rod Mickleburgh, A year later, answers still lost at sea, (Source).
Monday October 16 2006
14/10/06, Robert Matas, Captain drops lawsuit against ferry company, (Archive).
David Hahn is certainly a weasel, and very likely a liar. Two people are dead because of bureaucratic incompetence, and Darin Bowland, the man who knows, has been silenced.
Sunday July 9 2006
02/09/06, Mark Hume, Hartley Bay's ghost in the water, (Archive).
Also a bit on Darin Bowland's part in a 2003 death on-board: Death in custody from "excited delirium"?.
Sunday July 9 2006
Darin Bowland was not the first to have ructions with B.C. Ferries over safety and the lack of it. Bob Beadell, a marine engineer, quit in 2000 over issues with the Queen of the North: Province, March 24: Officials let B.C. Ferries operate under relaxed regs, (Archive). He specifically recommended sponsons to prevent rapid sinking.Saturday, June 17, 2006
The Queen of the North sank into the dark ocean deeps very early in the morning on Wednesday March 22; not quite three months ago. She piled into Gil Rock at full speed. Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette died. Only God's grace prevented all hands from being lost; no joke - she hung up on the rock for a short while giving most of them time to get off; but for that she would have gone straight to the bottom.Dribs and drabs of information are coming out. This is the way we do things in Canada; just like our cousins to the south, nothing really gets going until somebody sues somebody else and serious money gets involved. Everyone trying to cover their asses. And somewhere not far away the captain, Colin Henthorne, and each of his crew carry a personal knowledge of what went wrong and why.
Darin Bowland knows too. Only a week before the sinking he was speechifying on the inevitability of such an accident. You can't call ramming a ship into the shore at full bore an 'accident' can you? It will be interesting to see how much of the 70 million insurance settlement they throw his way to try and shut him up. More interesting to see if he falls for it.
Even the RCMP are involved. They can't rule out the possibility that someone may be 'criminally' at fault. Gotta get out there and earn those fat salaries!
In the early days it did seem suspicious that Captain Darin Bowland, the Safety Director of BC Ferries, resigned for 'personal reasons'; it looked sorta like a coverup, a scapegoat maybe, or a sacrificial lamb; now it looks like the corruption was simply everywhere.
I have compiled nine stories which appeared in the Globe and Mail over the past few weeks:
Archive: ... B.C. Ferries, Queen of the North Sinking ... since June 6.
June 6: Ferry's crew unsure of steering.
June 6: Preliminary report on ferry sinking points to human error.
June 7: Ferry management gets blame.
June 7: Union calls for safety audit of B.C. Ferries.
June 8: Dispute muddies ferry probe.
June 13: B.C. Ferries receives $67.9-million for lost ship.
June 13: Former B.C. Ferries safety chief launches lawsuit.
June 14: Insider says he raised alarm on B.C. Ferries.
June 15: B.C. Ferries rejects claims of safety expert.
So, who is David Hahn?
President and CEO of BC Ferries since May 5, 2003. An American; previously Director of Marketing for Hertz Corporation, then Chief Operating Officer at Ogden Aviation; specialties (according to the BC Ferries website): business restructuring, strategic planning, revitalized marketing, revenue growth, acquisitions and customer service.Did not come up through the line then eh? Is not a seaman nor any kind of a mariner nevermind a Captain; no, not a Captain in any sense of the word - a professional weasel.
From him we get a flat-out denial that Darin Boland ever said anything to him on the subject.
And who is Darin Bowland?
The Globe describes him as having sailed the Carribean for 11 years. Turns out that Captain Darin Bowland of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' luxury liner Radiance of the Seas also sailed from Vancouver to Alaska through the Inside Passage (yet!). A Canadian, living in Vancouver, and a former Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy.Maybe he knew something about his job eh? And furthermore, if he said these things in a more-or-less public speech at the Nautical Institute then it seems to me that, on a positive note for culture of bureaucracy, he had to have spoken to his colleagues at BC Ferries about it too. In fact, BC Ferries has its logo on their website, it is almost a cert that there was at least one other Captain from BC Ferries there when he spoke. Let's see ... yeah, here are the Nautical Institute: Minutes of Directors' Meeting, Tuesday 14th March 2006, no indication who is from BC Ferries except for Bowland.Not very often I get the jump on the Globe. I wonder why they have not reported these details about Darin? Are they being told what to say by the powers that be? Are they 'mitigating' too? I asked them but they haven't answered yet.
What about Deborah Marshall, the BC Ferries spokeswoman who insisted that they had "nothing to say about a matter before the courts", and the next day her CEO is in there shovelling mud pies? That can't feel very good. She was the same one who announced that Darin Bowland resigned for 'personal reasons' so I guess she is used to it.
And Jackie Miller, President of the BCFMWU - BC Ferry & Marine Workers' Union.She is wrangling with Hahn over his moves to try and pin it on the crew.
Anyone knows why this all 'went down'. Another disfunctional bureaucracy, or suite of bureaucracies, meddling and 'maximizing profitability' from further and further away from the actual action. Removing bit-by-bit any discretion from those with the true responsibility. Indulging in and insisting upon the correctitude of their official lies and distortions; with their irrelevant and nonsensical and incompetent 'policies' and 'guidelines'; layer upon layer upon layer of bullshit until somebody dies for it. Slugs and maggots!
October 3, 2006
Funny how events can turn things around for all of those involved. The sinking of the Queen of the North was tragic in itself and to lose to lives in the process only adds to this unforgettable night. This couple was on a wonderful trip and looked forward to this ride on the Queen of the north, they didn't ask to be a part of this political mess it has now become and their loved ones are still paying the price. Shirley's two sons who no longer have a mom or dad and are still in limbo, no financial assistance from anyone, two young boys now struggling to maintian their lifestyle, continue with schooling costs, living costs etc. No word from BC Ferries who are just holding them at bay, maybe hoping that they will just forget about this whole thing and move on. How are these two people suppose to forget that night, when they lost Gerald and Shirley who were thier loved ones and providers. Gerald's daughter have to live with each day knowing that their dad will never call, or spend holidays with them, money can't buy that back. Funny, that Hahn or someone high up in BC Ferries hasn't ever gone public with an apology to either families of the deceased. Oh yes they were presumed to have gone down but where else would they go in the middle of nowhere. BC Ferries was good enough to accept their passage fees but when things went wrong, they can't be bothered to do a real search of the ship for the bodies, oh but we forgot they can't seem to confirm with abosolute certainty which room they had given them for the night. Gerald's family has looked into and done their own homework on eguipment out there that could enter into the area of the ship that the investigators have narrowed the room down to, but on the two dives done with the ship, the equipment was to big and we were told the equipement that could do the work was not available, but we talked directly to businesses who do this type of ship searching and they have equipment that is able to go into the Queen of the North to do a thorough search. But I guess that cost is to high for BC Ferries to accomodate, since when do we put a price on life. Anyways, the families are told nothing from BC Ferries, no one will talk to them, so we live each day as a mushroom. Corporations have a way of being able to survive these type of events as I guess it doesn't directly affect them with a close family member, wonder what would have happened with the search part and priority to families if it was one of their family members who went down with the Queen of the North.
Anyways, I could never forgive them, all any of the families wanted from the beginning was acknowledgment from BC Ferries that they were sorry for what happened and some priority on searching their ship for the bodies. This in our eyes was never done and never will be.
The families are left to deal with the incident each and every day.
It would be nice to see the kids of Gerald and Shirley taken care of with some of that insurance money BC Ferries recieved to give them a chance at something in life, to help fulfill some of their dreams and goals.
i wonder if it comes out that the crew were having sex in the wheelhouse and not paying attention was the cause of the sinking will the Union admit they got it wrong?
its pretty funny. the new one for the ferry now is they were smoking pot. duh thats not new.. never mind checking if they smoke it they should check to see how much is sold on the ferry's . I now for sure my nabour works on the one here in Rupert and is a great seller . no i am not a user.. its all old news up here in the north.. this has been going on for years. like hahn did not know this..