“An honest mistake”

While we were tempted to dig up the theme to Gilligan's Island (just sit right back and you'll hear a tale....) we suspect that most of the passengers and crew of the Northern Adventure probably wouldn't appreciate it, besides the latest troubles for BC Ferries were not weather related but described by the Ferry Corporation as "an honest mistake", so the facts, we'll just stick to the facts.

BC Ferries continues to deal with the impact of engine troubles that developed this week on the vessel, when engine oil became contaminated with waste oil that contained water.

It's a situation that arose while the Northern Adventure was at sea earlier this week, resulting in the only vessel on the North coast at the moment to stop dead in the water and continues to play havoc with the Northern Service schedule.

While the Northern Adventure’s 52 passengers for the most part are no longer sight seeing on the Central Coast (11 chose to remain with their vehicles rather than take a flight out of Bella Bella). Service has still been listed as suspended on the BC Ferries website, with no update on when the resumption of service will begin.

With the Northern Adventure sidelined indefinitely, the North coast is once again finds itself left without ferry service, a situation that should once again provide for many questions directed to the Ferry Service.

(Click here, for BC Ferries Service Notices for further updates)

The story has of course been the main focus of the provinces news organizations, with numerous reports on the latest bit of bad publicity for the Ferry Corporation, some of which can be found below.

Vancouver Sun--Bella Bella residents grounded again

Globe and Mail--Ferry passengers back where they began

Vancouver Province--56 stranded on ferry

The Daily News provided some background details on the situation in the Thursday paper.

Ferry, passengers stranded far from home
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, January 03, 2008

Page one

The Northern Adventure was left dead in the water yesterday after engine trouble disabled the new vessel on the Central Coast.

As a result, B.C. Ferries is trying to fly the 52 passengers out of the remote community.
According to Deborah Marshall, B.C. Ferries spokesperson, the vessel was travelling the Inside Passage when its engine oil became contaminated with waste oil that contained water.

The ship left Prince Rupert at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and sailed through the night, arriving in Bella Bella at 6 a.m. Wednesday when the trouble was discovered.

"They are at anchor. What the engineers have done is drained the contaminated lubricant and they are in the process of filling it up with fresh oil right now," she said yesterday.

They had hoped to get the vessel back on course by 6 p.m. Wednesday evening but as of Thursday morning at press time, the new vessel was still at anchor.

As of this morning, the ferry passengers had been on board the vessel more than 40 hours.
Marshall added that the crew was trying to make the journey as easy as possible on the 52 passengers who are now on a two-day trip.

"We certainly understand we have inconvenienced them, so we are trying to make it as comfortable as possible," she said. "We do apologize for this."

The vessel was expected to turn around in Port Hardy and head back to Prince Rupert Wednesday evening.

The Northern Adventure was bought for $51 million to replace the Queen of the North after that vessel rammed into Gil Island and sank in March 2006, killing two people.

After a $9-million refit at Victoria Shipyards last year, the Greek-built replacement ship was rechristened the M/V Northern Adventure.

Marshall describes the incident as an honest mistake and says an oil change is expected to be complete by later today, at which time the Northern Adventure will begin its return journey to Prince Rupert.