The Queen of the North Disaster: The Captain's Story

by Colin Henthorne

Few recent events in British Columbia have seized the public mind like the 2006 sinking of the BC Ferries passenger vessel Queen of the North. Across Canada, it was one of the top news stories of the year. In BC it has attained the status of nautical legend. Ten years later, questions are still being asked. How did a ship that sailed the same course thousands of times fall victim to such an inexplicable error? Was the bridge crew fooling around? Why doesn't anybody in the know come forward and tell the truth?

Nobody knew the ship, the crew and the circumstances that fateful March night better than the Queen of the North's long-serving captain, Colin Henthorne, and in this book he finally tells his story.

The basic facts are beyond dispute. Just after midnight on March 22, 2006, the Queen of the North--carrying 101 passengers--struck an underwater ledge off Gil Island, 135 kilometres south of Prince Rupert. The impact tore open the ship's bottom and ripped out the propellers. In less than an hour, it sank to the bottom of Wright Sound, 427 metres below the surface. Despite the crew's skilled evacuation, two passengers went missing and have never been found.

Helmswoman Karen Briker was fired. Fourth Mate Karl Lilgert was charged with criminal negligence causing death and sentenced to four years in prison. Captain Henthorne, who was not on watch at the time of the grounding, fought to keep his job and lost. It took him over six years to recover his career.

On the tenth anniversary of the tragedy, Captain Henthorne recalls with accuracy and detail that ill-fated voyage and all its terrible repercussions. The Queen of the North Disaster: The Captain's Story dispels rumours about what really happened that night, revealing a fascinating inside look at a modern marine disaster.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look behind the scenes of this disaster. Aside of a few long technical sections, which were actually quite important for context, this was a compelling story. I appreciated the way facts were clearly laid out, and what was not known was not guessed at.

Only after some time, after Henthorne has laid out the the whole story as known to the public, explained the lay of the land (sea) as to where the ship was, detailed how the ship is navigated (including recent changes to the navigational equipment), and described his personal experience as Captain that fateful night, does he conjecture on what might have happened. He never says what happened to cause the accident, because he does not know. The situation was way more complicated than what non-mariners might imagine.

What he does do well is dispel myths and rumours that have captured the public's attention. He also defends the competence of the officer of the watch, Lilgert. He does not believe Lilgert was negligent. He does believe Lilgert made an error that caused him to lose situational awareness, and has some guesses as to what that might be, but believes in Lilgert as an experienced and capable professional doing his job.

There is lots about this story that is disturbing, and one is left with as many questions, but its an important story nonetheless.

[Allan Pendlebury · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed a lot and was hoping to come across a convincing reason as to why it all happened. Being a tug master for over thirty years and transitting the same route the Queen Of The North took has me quite familiar with the area. Coming through Grenville Channel towing a sometimes unpredictable barge loaded down with 20,000 tons of logs was quite often a nail bighter, but once through I could relax a bit in the more open water. Fine tuning our radar's gain and clutter had it always able to display land mass; even in heavy snow or sleet. I will not speculate, but I really think there are some hidden truths untold.
My heart goes out to the QOTN's crew and passengers; what an ordeal to go through. I was on a tug in my early career that almost sank and acrually several tugs in a fairly short span did sink with loss of life. So the idea of a sinking was never too far from our thoughts.

[Gary M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read. It's not an easy read because of the disaster aspect and it does get fairly technical with quotes of regulations and policy from time to time. It is good to get the Captain's take on the disaster and hopefully the book will dispel some of the urban myth that has sprung up around the incident. BC Ferry Corp does not come off well and there was a lot of CYA at senior levels. We can only hope that a number of the safety issues the Captain identified have been rectified, including bureaucracy and training issues. There are always at least two sides to a story and I am sure there were challenges in managing an outspoken captain. But fundamentally it appears that operator error and too much reliance on technology were key factors.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the title suggests, it is the story of the sinking of "The Queen of the North" from the Captain's perspective. While not a bad report, I found the endless footnotes at the end of each chapter distracting. Also the book can be dry in sections, almost reading like a safety manual. However, I did learn a lot. It was a bit of an eye opener about the failability of ships crew and the politics of BC Ferries.

[Margaret Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very compelling author, clearly baring his soul and putting it all out there. Narrative is choppy. Interesting for transportation buffs regardless.

[Deg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent harrowing account.