Oh Boy! What might have been on EBay?

An on line poster by the name of Blissmeister got more than a few minutes of fame this week, as his on line entry to the eBay auction site garnered more than a few lookie loos.

The on line seller posted objects associated with the sunken ferry Queen of the North, including mysteriously wrapped items described as log books. With a bit of a controversy surrounding those books already out there, the idea that they somehow might end up on an on line auction attracted more than a few concerned individuals.

By the end of the week Blissmeister had pulled the items from the auction and said that they had nothing to do with the final journey of the Queen of the North. But for a couple of hours there, it was like something out of a mystery novel and managed to get more than a few people on the North Coast excited about the issue.

Here’s how the Daily News covered the story in its Thursday edition.

ONLINE AUCTION OF ‘QUEEN OF NORTH LOG BOOKS’ PROBED
Investigation is underway after items appeared for sale on EBay.
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Pages one and five

Whether it’s a bad joke or a case of misappropriated property, B. C. Ferries intends to get to the bottom of an online auction offering the logbooks from the Queen of the North for sale.

“We’re not aware if it was a practical joke, or what really was the motivation behind it,” said Mark Stefanson, ferries spokesperson.

“We’re trying to determine if they are actually logbooks or not, but we didn’t believe for a minute that they’re actually the log books from the Queen of the North when she was sailing and sunk on March 22 of this year.

“In any event if they’re log books belonging to B. C. Ferries, we certainly want to see them because they wo8uld be our property. We’re going to follow-up and talk to the gentleman in question.”

The eBay auction first came to the company’s attention Tuesday afternoon. Allegedly, a Prince Rupert resident under the online name “Blissmeister” was offering “exclusive” Queen of the North pictures and ‘log books’ noting in his ad that: “I feel as though I have hung on to these items long enough and would rather have a more serious collector have them, I do not own the copyright to any of this stuff and am auctioning it off for collectable purposes only.

“There are approximately 75 photographs, ranging in size … also included in this one-of-a-kind hard-to-find auction lot, are log books which are secured inside the manila envelopes shown below.”

B. C. Ferries alerted the company’s security department and RCMP. The auction was pulled by EBay yesterday.

“We’ve been in contact with the RCMP regarding this issue, but we haven’t advocated any position except that we gave them a heads-up about this and that our security department will be following up with the EBay seller,’ said Stefanson, adding that the company is going to want to see what “Blissmeister” is offering for sale.

We’ll try and establish if they’re B. C. Ferries property or not, and if they’re not and it’s all just a mistake everybody will just get on with life.”

Stefanson explained that all ferries are required to carry logbooks under the Canada Shipping Act.

The logbooks function as a ‘diary’ of the vessel and are kept on a monthly basis before being submitted and kept as an official record at the company’s head office.

More than anything, the company is concerned about a potential security breach if log books have gone missing, he said.

“It’s created a lot of confusion and we just feel we have an onus to follow through and speak with the person involved,” said Stefanson.

“I went to the website myself and he was claiming originally that it was the log book from the Queen of the North, although interestingly enough there’s no photograph except for two manila envelopes.

“We’re just interested to find out the facts and get to the bottom of this, we’re not interested in chasing this down if it’s just a tempest in the teapot, which it might well be.” According to local RCMP, if no one lodges an official complaint – which B. C. Ferries has not yet done – they will not likely do anything in response. If the auction is just a gag, and a complaint is forwarded to police, RCMP said charges of public mischief could be considered, depending on what was actually said in the EBay auction