by Catherine Adler

October 11, 1947 had all the makings of a great disaster. "About a 15 knot wind was blowing. It was low overcast, a very dark night, with a light rain," according to Henry Pavid, a key player in the saga of the MV Gulf Stream.

The MV Gulf Stream had been filled to capacity as nearly 200 people made their way home for the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Most of the passengers disembarked in Westview, while the remaining 19 people, with a crew of 22 continued on to Lund. The passenger ferry passed between Mystery Reef and the Atrevida Reef markers without a problem. Once the ship was safely through, Captain Jack Craddock turned the wheel over to the second mate, Roy Ketchum. There was talk of a party happening below. The only remaining obstacle between the ship and Lund was Dinner Rock - a rocky outcropping which sits between the mainland and Savary Island, eight miles north of Powell River. Roy Ketchum peered through the windows trying to see through the darkness and rain, having lost track of the coastal signs. Suddenly, the Gulf Stream plowed into Dinner Rock. The force of the 174 ton vessel hitting the rock at 15 knots drove the stern underwater and most of the bow upon the rock.

Henry Pavid and his wife Josephine had been sitting in the aft lounge. Their eighteen month old daughter, Jean was asleep on the seat in front of them. Upon impact, the lights died and the stern rapidly began to fill with freezing water. Henry Pavid made a lunge for his sleeping daughter, but he missed her by about an inch, as the water swept him upwards. Fortunately for him, he came up under a window - and a bubble of air. Henry managed to smash the safety glass and escape with his wife and another passenger. Henry and Josephine searched for their daughter even after they got out, but to no avail. She had been swept away by the water.

Four other passengers - two women and two children also died. However, their bodies were later recovered by divers. Jean was never found.

After the accident, Henry built a cross, with Jean's name carved into it. In the spring of 1948, he placed it onto Dinner Rock. The community spirits of Powell River and Lund wouldn't allow this tragedy to be forgotten, so in 1991, Dragana Matic a visitor to Powell River and a member of a group called "Up With People", painted a time capsule and placed a memorial plaque upon Dinner Rock, next to the cross.

Nearly 51 years later, the Powell River community began a campaign to provide a proper memorial service for the victims of the disaster. On August 3, the service took place. A new, eight foot, 1000 pound cross was lifted into place on Dinner Rock by a helicopter and a memorial plaque was unveiled at the Dinner Rock Forest Service campsite. The original cross will go to the Powell River Historical Museum.

Many people were involved in making the memorial project a success. Among them are: the Westview Coast Guard, the Cortez Coast Guard, Mr. & Mrs. Shelton (owners of the MV Fairweather), Trish Schuler, Don MacGregor, Reverend Cameron Reid, Dragana Matic, Pat Thomson, Travis McDonaugh, and Dave Hughes.

The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia is preparing the former Canadian naval destroyer HMCS Yukon as an artificial reef, and will be exporting her to San Diego for sinking there in the Fall of 1999.

The San Diego Oceans Foundation, a pre-eminent environmental organization in Southern California, has agreed to reimburse the Artificial Reef Society for the purchase of the ship, and to pay for the cost of preparing the ship in Canada as an artificial reef to Environment Canada standards. The Yukon will be part of an ongoing artificial reef program just north of the City. Heading up the project in that city is Dick Long, owner of DUIDivers Unlimited International.

"The preparation of the Yukon began in March and will create approximately six person years of work in Canada, and the scrap removed from the vessel will be sold locally for reuse or reprocessing. It has taken some months to conclude negotiations with the San Diego Oceans Foundation, and clear a variety of legal hurdles," said Jay Straith, President of the Society.

The ARSBC is a non-profit Society formed in 1989 to stimulate dive tourism and create environmental aware ness of our oceans through an Artificial Reef program on the West Coast of Canada. It has sunk five ships since 1991; four of them sister ships to the Yukon, 366-foot long, 2,900 Tonne, former Destroyer Escorts.

"We have now become something of world experts in the environmental and diver safety preparation of ships for sinking," said Straith, "because most people only ever sink one or two ships. With the experience we have, we have been giving advice to people in the Caribbean, in France, Australia, elsewhere in Canada, and in New Zealand. Now we are actually preparing a ship for others to sink in California.

Stu Austin, of Ocean Explorers Diving in Nanaimo, estimates that the dive tourism business in Nanaimo is up by about 50% in the past year since the sinking of the former HMCS Saskatchewan in June, 1997.

"The Saskatchewan will be an ever growing draw for us for the next hundred years and more. It is an attraction for divers who come to dive the wreck and then discover the magnificence of Dodd Narrows and Gabriola Pass", said Austin. "All the publicity of the sinking has brought people from all over the U.S. and Europe. It has been great for the whole Nanaimo community, since divers need accommodation and do other things than dive. We know the Yukon project will have a positive effect on our business from our conversations at a dive show in Long Beach, California that we attended in June."

For further information, see the Web Sites at www.artificialreef.bc.ca and www.hmcs-yukon.org

Manitoba treasure hunt a success

In keeping with their theme of using biodegradable tokens, Divers Den of Winnipeg, Manitoba used carrot slices to entices divers into the water for their 11th annual Underwater Treasure Hunt. Seven hundred "tokens" were put in an area 100 yards by 30 yards to a depth of about 50 feet. Eleven disks were numbered for special prizes, while any un-numbered slices entered divers in a draw for remaining prizes.

The event has raised $450 from entry fees and $992 in pledges for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba Inc.

For more information contact Divers Den, 311 Pembina Highway, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 2E3. (204) 453-6300 fax (204) 453-6380

E-mail: diverden@pangea.ca

Gabriola Passage chart

A new chart is available from Scuba Guide Mapping, the company which created maps for the HMCS Mackenzie and Whytecliff Marine Park.

The new scuba guide, Gabriola Passage, Including Silva Bay and Flat Top Islands includes information important to divers such as marine life and protected areas, tides and currents, hazards, yearly weather and emergency information. It also includes discriptions and amenities of nearby cities. Gabriola Passage lies in British Columbia's Gulf Islands between mainland B.C. and Vancouver Island.

For more information contact Bernie A. Kyle, Scuba Guide Mapping, 103-264 2nd. St. West, North Vancouver, BC V7M 1C8. Phone/fax 1-877-DIVE-MAP (1-877-348-3627.

Website: www.seawaves.com/scuba/scubamaps.htm