A passenger aboard a BC Ferry during this weekend’s windstorm is describing a nerve-wracking close call as the vessel arrived in Tsawwassen on Saturday.
The Coastal Inspiration was forced to drop anchor as it arrived from Duke Point during the 3:15 p.m. sailing, coming within 100 metres of a rocky breakwater, according to passenger Doug Hallett.
“It was really close,” he said.
Hallett was on the vehicle deck at the time and said he noticed the lights of the nearby port terminal appeared to be sliding past the ferry unusually quickly as the vessel pulled into Tsawwassen.
“Shortly after that I heard this very long scraping noise, like metal on metal or something like that, and then we stopped,” he said.
“I could see we were really close to the breakwater and I could see the searchlight from the BC Ferry as on the actual breakwater as well trying to figure out where they were.”
Audio of the ferry’s radio transmissions captured crew reporting an engine failure and the need to drop anchor.
Fortunately, the vessel stopped before striking the breakwater, and the hull was confirmed to be intact.
“There’s no indication the vessel made contact with the breakwater, and there was no damage to the ferry,” BC Ferries said in a statement.
The Transportation Safety Board was notified, but will not be investigating the incident.
BC Ferries has not responded to a request for clarification on whether there was actually an engine failure as reported, or if the vessel lost control due to strong winds at the time.