Ferry Service on the Coast

The origins of the first car ferries that served the Sunshine Coast from Horseshoe Bay relate to ties with the United Sates.  In 1948, the state of Washington decided to get into the ferry business and bought several ships from Alexander Marshall Peabody's "Black Ball Line."  His family's Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC), dating back to the 19th century, had played a key role in the earliest development shipping in the Pacific Northwest.

The PSNC was acquired by the Washington State Toll and Bridge Authority in 1949 for their interest in the Black Ball Line but Peabody maintained his Canadian operations, retaining a handful of vessels for serving British Columbia routes.  Initially, Black Ball only served a route to Victoria from Washington State.  Later, terminals were built at Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver), Departure Bay (Nanaimo), and - on the Sunshine Coast - Gibsons, Earls Cove, Saltery Bay, and Langdale.  Peabody's fleet was in competition with the old Union Steamship and Canadian Pacific liners which also plied the lower coast, albeit without drive-on/drive-off automobile service. 

Advertisement from the Coast News  August 9th 1951.	Flag design for the BC Ferries dogwood,  used from 1960 to 2003.

By 1951, when ferry service to the Sunshine Coast had begun, Black Ball Ferries Ltd. (Canada) had four ships available to serve BC routes.  A fifth ferry, the Smokwa, was aquired in 1956.  The first Sunshine Coast route was inaugurated on August 11th, 1951 between Horseshoe Bay and Gibsons using the Quillayute, to be replaced in 1951 by the Bainbridge and supplemented by the Smokwa in 1956.  The Quillayute was moved to the Earls Cove-Saltery Bay run when it opened on August 21st, 1954.  

The MV Quillayute in Gibsons harbour, 1951.	The MV Bainbridge at Snug Cove, Bowen Island 1950s No car loading dock was in place at this point.

The other two ferries, Kahloke and Chinook II, were initially used on the Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay run.  In 1961 the B.C. Provincial Government bought out Black Ball Ferries on behalf of B.C. Toll and Bridge Authority for $6,690,000.  Black Ball's five ships were renamed and formed part of the growing "Dogwood fleet" of BC Ferries.   The story of those vessels is recounted here:

• The BAINBRIDGE: An All-wood vessel built in 1925, she was used by Black Ball Ferries to service the Horseshoe Bay-Gibsons run in 1952.  She was renamed the Jervis Queen in 1963.

• The QUILLAYUTE: An all-wood vessel, she was built in 1927 by the Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Co. for Sound Ferry Line of Seattle, one year before the company was absorbed by the Puget Sound Navigation Company.  In 1951 Capt. Peabody had the ferry reconditioned and sent to BC to be part of his new ferry service.  It was the first ferry to serve the Horsehoe Bay-Gibsons run and it later worked the Earls Cove-Saltery Bay route.

• The CHINOOK II: This vessel primarily served the Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay run until 1976.  She was then transferred to the BC Department of Highways for service between Powell River and Comox.  From 1963 onwards, she was known as the Sechelt Queen.

• The KAHLOKE: This vessel was originally launched in Philadelphia in 1903 as the Asbury Park and was later renamed the City of Sacramento when it served as a ferry in San Francisco bay.  For Black Ball, she initially served on the Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo run before being placed on the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route, and in 1962 she was renamed the Langdale Queen.  The Langdale Queen's anchor is on permanent display outside the museum building. 

• The SMOKWA: Built in Pictou, Nova Scotia in 1946, the then-named Scotian was purchased by Black Ball to service Howe Sound and supplment the Bainbridge.  In 1962, one year after her purchase by BC Ferries, she blew a piston on her steam engine and was out of service.  With the Quillayute already out, the car space could not be lost, so the ferry was brought to and from the dock by tug.  It was one of many events that led to BC Ferries selling her for $26,290.00 in 1966.

The MV Smokwa entering Horseshoe Bay.	Black Ball Ferries vessel M.V. Kahloke at Departure Bay near Nanaimo. Later, she was renamed the M.V. Langdale Queen and put on the Horseshoe Bay to Langdale run.

BC Ferries later acquired a sixth ship, the Sunshine Coast Queen.  She was formerly the Pere Nouvel built at River Rouge, Michigan in 1951 and was put on the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale run in 1967 to replace the Langdale Queen and the Sechelt Queen.  The Sunshine Coast Queen was affectionately called the "Suzy Q" until she was retired in 1976.