While some Squamish residents were biting their nails Wednesday (May 28) morning, the owner of an old freighter moored off Squamish’s shore said there was nothing to worry about.
Early Wednesday, the former U.S. Navy transport vessel dragged the buoy it was tied to and started drifting toward the shore. Cal Hartnell watched the action from downtown Squamish’s log sort. As a member of the Squamish Streamkeepers, he said he was concerned the 59.7-metre long vessel would run aground. This week’s tides were extreme, he noted, adding low tide was scheduled at 1 p.m.
“I am worried it will go up on the beach under where the [Sea to Sky] Gondola is. Then it could roll,” Hartnell said. “Who knows what is inside it?”
The community was lucky the ship headed away from the town’s waterfront rather than toward the Mamquam Blind Channel, Hartnell added, noting the vessel could have caused a lot of damage.
The situation was under control from the get-go, Steen Larsen said. When the old buoy broke, Larsen said he planned to move the ship temporarily to another one close by. He contacted Transport Canada as soon as he found out the boat was drifting.
“It will be going out of here next week,” he said, noting the boat’s stay in Squamish was always intended to be temporary. “That will make a lot of people happy.”
Since its arrival, the vessel has become a bone of contention. Ocean laws are a quagmire of jurisdictions, water lot ownerships and individual rights. While the province owns much of B.C.'s land covered by water, the ability to make laws and regulate what goes on in navigable waters is a federal responsibility.
That has left residents and municipal officials frustrated. In 2010, B.C. municipalities petitioned senior levels of government to develop a coordinated, timely approach to dealing with aging, poorly maintained and derelict vessels. This year, the feds released a report on the subject, but no action has yet been taken in response.
