So, my wife is in residency for a week in Calgary. I am basically left to my own devices so have been driving around aimlessly. (offroad yesterday and on road today). I drove past this truck that’s been left to rot on some property in the boonies today and made an attempt to get to a derelict ship.
The Queen of Sidney (ex BC Ferry) and the SS San Mateo (ex Puget Sound ferry) lie in the Fraser river about a 45 minute drive from my house along a country road. Sounds like a good photo op right?
The Queen of Sidney was the first ever ship owned by BC Ferries and was retired in 2000. The SS San Mateo was a steam ship that was launched in 1922 and originally owned by South Pacific Golden Gate Ferries in San Francisco, CA. In 1941 she was sold to the Puget Sound Navigation Company and served until 1969.
Interestingly, the SS San Mateo is actually listed on the US Federal Government’s Registry of Historic Places, despite being in Canada. (link to US National Park Service). She was moved up here after being listed and then, sadly, hulked.
I did some Google maps recon and it seemed I could just drive to the side of it. Unfortunately, when I arrived, it was clear that the road ended about 300m away and then it was private drive. I don’t trespass and the signs got pretty strongly worded as I went, so I turned around.
I also passed through a surprise Integrated Road Safety Unit checkpoint. No mention about the uncovered Baja’s (just didn’t put the covers on this morning). That was good.
Next trip? The McBarge... lol
