It was dark but it wasn’t stormy when the Salish Sea saw its first recorded sinking of a coal vessel. At 6:45 a.m. on November 21, 1886 the Barnard Castle, a freighter laden with 2,300 tons of Vancouver Island coal bound for San Francisco, struck the Race Rocks about 10 miles southwest of Victoria. The captain managed to beach the foundering ship in a shallow bay at nearby Bentinck Island. Workers were later able to remove much of the coal before abandoning the ship where it remained lodged in the mud until it was eventually destroyed by storms.
The region’s second recorded sinking happened just five years later, on November 28, 1891 when the iron steamship San Pedro came to grief while carrying 4,000 tons of coal from Vancouver Island to San Francisco. In dead calm waters at about 8:30 p.m. the ship struck a submerged ledge near Trial Island just off Victoria. Rescue tugs arrived a few hours later and removed some of the coal before the vessel sank suddenly into shallow water.
Fast forward a little more than 120 years. British Columbia maintains a robust coal export industry that sends hundreds of coal-laden vessels through the Salish Sea, mostly in safety. Yet 2012 very nearly saw the region add another coal carrier to history’s list of casualties when the apparently out-of-control Cape Apricot smashed through a loading trestle at BC’s Westshore coal terminal.
The recent explosion of proposals for Northwest coal port expansions and new terminals has many in the region wondering just how safe are the giant bulk carriers that move coal across the Pacific. The proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point, Washington would add 974 bulk vessel trips through the San Juan Islands every year, a prospect that has plenty of observers worried. What would happen if one of these vessels were to go down?
