115 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

And money.

[Todd Test]

I really didn’t wanna bring it up, but the US did just some months back blow up what China called a private research balloon over the Atlantic. China said they would reserve the right to react similarly


That being said, this thing had the safety standard of a PlayStation. I don’t currently have a PlayStation, but if memory serves me correctly, I would go through a controller about once every 14 or 15 months. I could just imagine in a marine environment

Edited by Todd Test, 25 June 2023 - 10:04 AM.

[Todd Test]

And money.

You don’t want to get to the bottom of it? Pun intended.

https://youtu.be/D80VuHSa9Bw

Edited by Todd Test, 25 June 2023 - 10:40 AM.

[Matt R.]

So lots of money to determine how some idiots died on a plastic sub at the bottom of the ocean but a couple murdered Canadians potentially in a landfill, nah? I see.

[Victoria Watcher]

Several million for maybe two Canadian indigenous in a landfill but not a single FN will spend $300 to shovel where the ground penetrating radar indicates graves.

OK.

Nah? I see.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 June 2023 - 11:18 AM.

[Matt R.]

Were there any Canadians on this crackerjack toy?

[Victoria Watcher]

None.

[Todd Test]

crackerjack now just has lame stickers in the bag. Not sure if they’re being cheap or the kids were eating the toys

Edited by Todd Test, 25 June 2023 - 01:32 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

No takers for long-lost gold in sunken ship found off of B.C. coast

 

An estimated $11 million worth of gold bullion and dust is believed to have gone down with the SS Pacific in the Salish Sea in 1875.

 

https://www.timescol...c-coast-8045528

 

 

 

 

“In addition, the Pacific’s hold was laden with 2,000 sacks of oats, 300 bales of hops, 261 animal hides, 11 casks of furs, 31 barrels of cranberries, 10 cords of wood bolts, 280 tons of coal, 18 tons of general merchandise, 10 tons of sundries, six horses, two buggies, two cases of opium and a strongbox containing $79,200 in cash. The gold in private hands was estimated to be at least $100,000.”

 

In 1875, that represented around 4,000 ounces of gold that today would be worth close to $11 million.

 

There were around 100 people on the ship who were permanent residents of Victoria, including Sewell Moody who founded Moodyville as the first settlement in North Vancouver.

 

In 1873, the first year of the Cassiar Gold Rush, miners were pulling in $200 a day worth of gold when the average monthly wage was $25, so the wealth of many of those on board the ill-fated ship was staggering.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 January 2024 - 05:06 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Barge runs aground after breaking loose from anchor in Saanichton Bay

 

Second attempt set for high-tide Friday to remove beached wood chip carrier

 

https://www.timescol...ton-bay-8059647

 

 

 

A tugboat crew will make a second attempt to remove a wood chip barge from a beach in Saanichton Friday morning.

 

At 10:15 a.m. Thursday, the Canadian Coast Guard received a report that the barge had broken loose from its anchor in Saanichton Bay and was drifting north.

Cheryl Taschuk saw the barge coming around the point from her home in Ferguson Cove.

 

_________________

 

The owner will attempt to recover the barge from the beach just north of Mount Newton Cross Road at high tide Friday morning, she said.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 January 2024 - 08:13 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Owner tries to refloat grounded sailboat on Willows Beach

 

Vessel washed up onto the beach on Thursday.

 

https://www.timescol...s-beach-8065721

 

 

 

 

 

 

The owner will try to refloat his vessel again over the weekend when higher tides are forecast. The coast guard will continue to monitor the situation over the weekend, said Westnedge.

 

“If the owner is unable to remove their vessel, we may proceed with further action under the Wrecked Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act,” she said.

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 06 January 2024 - 10:16 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Community efforts are being hatched to rescue a sailboat that has been stranded at Willows Beach since Thursday morning.

 

Beverly Dobell, who walks daily on Willows Beach with her dog, is worried about the boat owner who she described as a very polite and nice man in need of some warmth and a helping hand.

 

Dobell said that the boat owner told her that his sailboat came aground while he was trying to find a loose dinghy. “He got too close to shore, the tide was going out, and he got stranded on the beach.”

 

On Sunday, the owner was shovelling out some of the sand that had partially buried the sailboat’s keel, she said.

 

“He’s living on it and he’s very, very cold,” Dobell said. “He doesn’t have $400 to give the Coast Guard or any other company to [help] pull it off.”

 

Dobell is hoping that a good Samaritan with a power boat can show up and help pull the boat off the shore on Monday during the high tide.

 

If the boat isn’t refloated during the week, Victoria resident Eddy Prentice said he will be organizing a rescue attempt with a few other people who are willing to shovel.

 

 

https://www.timescol...s-beach-8068672

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 January 2024 - 11:17 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Remembering SS Valencia: In 1906, it hit a reef off Vancouver Island, 136 died

 

https://www.timescol...36-died-8169076

 

It was chaos. As water flooded in, it cut the electricity, so the stranded ship was in total darkness. The Valencia had also run onto Walla Walla reef in the middle of a savage gale.

 

“For the following day and a half, the grounded Valencia was relentlessly attacked by vicious winds and unrelenting waves,” says an article on a Parks Canada website. “Attempts to launch lifeboats from the ship proved futile. The few who made it to shore were almost all killed, their bodies dashed against the rocky shore. In the end, only 37 passengers survived the disaster.”

 

Two lifeboats did reach the shore, which was apparently only 100 yards away. But the shoreline was largely sheer rock cliffs, so it was difficult to land on. When they did land, the men on them marched off in different directions, hoping to reach a lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1933, Valencia’s lifeboat No. 5 was found drifting in Barkley Sound, still in good condition despite 27 years of exposure to the elements. Part of the lifeboat, bearing the name Valencia, is on display at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in Victoria, B.C.

 

 

 

https://www.historylink.org/File/7382

 

 

 

The treacherous, stormy southwest coast of Vancouver Island has a history of shipwrecks dating back to 1786. Known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” almost 70 ships have wrecked there. Lighthouses were established at Cape Beale in 1874 and at Carmanah Point in 1891, linked by a telegraph line. The Valencia disaster finally shocked the Canadian Government into building another lighthouse at Pachena Point in 1907.

 

As protection against further catastrophes, the overgrown and poorly maintained telegraph route was transformed into a lifesaving trail for shipwrecked mariners, complete with wooden shelters built at suitable intervals. The 47-mile West Coast Trail, as it is known today, has been improved and preserved for recreation and historical purposes by Parks Canada as part of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The 100-foot cliffs above the scene of the disaster have been named the Valencia Bluffs. From there, the tangled wreckage of the Valencia, now a protected artifact, can be seen, sitting on rocks in four fathoms of water, rusting away.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 January 2024 - 05:09 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Letter from B.C. ministers calls for ‘direct and immediate action’ at Union Bay ship breaking facility

 

https://www.cheknews...cility-1194427/

[Victoria Watcher]

 

https://bcisawesome....um=headerbutton

[Mike K.]

Pfff. The Dallas Road barge beaching was way more spectacular.