BC Ferries' ''M/V Queen of the North'' runs aground on Gil Island British Columbia and sinks; 101 on board, 2 presumed deaths.
The captain wasn't on the bridge. Fourth Officer Karl Lilgert and Quartermaster Karen Briker were alone when the 125-meter ferry missed a required turn at Sainty Point—staying on autopilot for 14 minutes while they allegedly socialized. By the time they noticed, Gil Island loomed dead ahead. The *Queen of the North* struck Wright Sound's rocks at 12:25 AM, then slid beneath the frigid waters in just over an hour. Passengers in pajamas scrambled into lifeboats in complete darkness. Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette, sleeping in an inside cabin, never made it out. Lilgert was convicted of criminal negligence four years later, but here's what haunts investigators: the ship's critical navigation data recorder was never found, and to this day, nobody can fully explain why two experienced crew members let a ferry sail straight for sixteen kilometers without correcting course.
March 22, 2006
20 years ago
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