This Week March 28, 1990. Page M3

TOP STORY

f there’s such thing as a steam-
ship rating scale, the 42-year-old
Princess Marguerite sails in at a
& seven and a half out of 10, accord-
ing to Blayney Scott of Victoria. He’s
one of the many supporters anxious to
preserve the famous floating marker of
Victoria’s Inner Harbour for more sea
duty.

Scott, a marine products manufac-
turer in the city and a former marine
engineer, provided the initial thrust
last year to save the Maggie. He want-
ed to find an alternative to the ship-
wrecking yard when it looked like the
Marguerite’s owner, B.C. Stena Line,
was thinking of taking her out of
service.

As a member of the Maritime Mu-
seum of B.C. board of directors, Scott
helped launch a study to determine if
the vessel had any useful life left in her.

The group's conclusion: yes, she does.
And the museum isn’t alone in believ-
ing it.

The Princess Marguerite approaches
her own D-Day — Scott thinks it’s in
June — but the ship that’s moored so
tightly to the hearts of Victorians is
viable for day runs, he believes. Possi-
bly, these could take travellers along
the east coast of Vancouver Island in
conjunction with a steam rail service on
the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway,
Scott said.

One proposal would see passengers
travelling from Victoria to Chemainus
aboard the Maggie, and coming back on
S the E and N line — a transportation
link with a shaky future of its own,
thanks to Via Rail cuts.

MAGGIE'S

HOPE

IN PAST GLORY, the Princess Marguer-
ite under way (above), possibly in the
Gulf Islands. This was the ship’s earliest
guise, before Crown corporation B.C.
Steamship Co. took her over and
painted the funnels a distinctive Uni-
on Jack design. Right, three stages of
the Maggie: 1949, 1969 and 1975.

Stories by JOHN STANTON

Photo: Mantime Museum
of British Columbia Archive

Painting: Anthony Clarke .

“We concluded if it could operate as a
unique steamer, it would make money,”
Scott said. That conclusion reached,
Scott now prefers the background after
having helped prompt the study. Now,
he watches as Vancouver Island’s mu-
nicipal councils go over the report to
seek solutions. The study received ten-
tative approval last fall from the Asso-
ciation of Vancouver Island Municipal-
ities, and it was discussed again at this
month’s annual general meeting of the
AVIM in Parksville.

Victoria city council’s representative
on the municipal body is Ald. Eric
Simmons. “The AVIM is part of a task
force trying to work with Stena,” he
said. The task force has the view to
forming a trust of interested parties —
including the province, Stena, private
investors, and supporters of the ship in
Washington State — to take over oper-
ation of the Princess Marguerite.

In addition to these efforts, B.C.
Stena Line has called for another com-
mittee to be struck, consisting of repre-
sentatives from Victoria, the province
and the company, to address the issue.
The city representative in this latest
initiative is Ald. Martin Segger, with
finance minister Mel Couvelier dealing
with the province's interest.

Segger would prefer that the ship
stay in service — contrary to Stena’s
contention that it will never sail again
for the company. “My priority is to
make sure that every avenue is ex-
hausted vis-a-vis the Maggie staying
afloat as an operating vessel,” he said.
“It does seem to me that if the ship

Continued on Page 14

FRONT PAGE: In the Inner Harbour, the Princess Marguerite awaits her fate. She's
a familiar friend to Victorians, and many are striving to keep her at work.
Although retired from service by B.C. Stena Line, a meeting of a committee of -
Stena, the B.C. government and the city is apparently imminent.

Photo by Sandy G. McLeod, Image Network

eS ra mele fir aoe i tn ae,