Fire in Nanaimo Harbour

[hummingway]

I watched a boat burn to the hull today. When I first spotted her she was throwing a lot of smoke and clearly adrift. There were a couple of tugs standing off and I guessed the occupants had got off. A Canadian flag was flying so I'm guessing they were cruising. After a while the Coast Guard Aux. showed up and when it became obvious the boat was drifting into the harbour they hooked up and began to tow. It really blazed up and there were a couple of explosions, propane I'm guessing. They got it out to where it could burn out without causing trouble and got some water on it but there wasn't much boat left. An awful thing to witness but I'm sure whomever was on got off.

[wolfenzee]

Had one burn here in Port Townsend not long ago, A horribly neglected Catalina 30 the history of which makes you think the gods that be finally decided "You don't deserve a boat" and reach down and smote it.

[Viking 1]

The boat in question was the Shawn Tannis and had been operating as a Dive Charter Vessel. The way I understand it he was getting hassled by Transport Canada for compiance. The boats engines were always a "smoke show" which tells me those diesels were in trouble and the old vessel was starting to look unkept. The operator was an Alberta Truck driver that got into chartering in Nanaimo. It was the first time I had ever seen the vessel leave the wharf without a load of paying divers. The owner was alone on this trip and I have been told he had removed his dive compressor from the vessel before the "accident".

[capngeo]

"Damn lightning bolt came out of nowhere I tell ya, NOWHERE! Then all of a sudden we were on fire. Funny how it reached the fuel tank so fast... It must have been that 20 gallons of gas I had to clean paint brushes."