Lady Pacific

One of the most famous and iconic tugs in the marine history of British Columbia.

In 1958-1969 this vessel was owned by Island Tug & Barge Co. Ltd., Victoria BC Canada.

In 1969-1970 this vessel was owned by Genstar Ltd., Montreal QC.

In 1970-1972 this vessel was owned by Island Tug & Barge Ltd., North Vancouver BC Canada.

In 1972-1979 this vessel was owned by Seaspan International Ltd., North Vancouver BC Canada.

In 1959 this vessel towed two 10,000 ton liberty ships 5,500 miles to Japan in a tandem tow.

In 1966 this vessel towed the ROC freighter Tainan (ex-Park Ship) to Esquimalt. On October 14, 1963 while towing the Island Cypress the barge broke in half and sank in the Pacific Ocean. In March 1966 this vesselsaved the Greek tramp steamer Lefkipos from being driven ashore north of Nootka.

In 1974 this vessel was towing log barges to Japan and then barges loaded with steel gas pipe to Point Barrow AK. About 500km east of Japan a towing chain broke severing an artery in the Master's leg. One of the barges, the Ketchikan, capsized and sank. After being employed as a fishpacker, owned by Lady Pacific Inc., Seattle WA USA, while enroute to Seattle this vessel was destroyed by fire in 1982 in Hecate Strait. careyre <careyre1@gmail.com> (Email to Nauticapedia 28/082023) stated "I was working aboard the Sudbury II, having joined the crew in Japan as cook. The Ketchikan was towing 2 barges of different pipe to feed construction of the Alaska Oil pipeline. The pipe on the Crowley barge, Ketchikan, was stacked on deck, fore to aft and were kept in place only by heavy steel stanchions which were welded to the barge's steel deck close to where the deck meets the side of the hull. Ketchikan was stacked with heavy drilling pipe, as opposed to the lighter and wider pipeline steel pipe on the second barge. Four or five days after leaving Japan the Sudbury encountered a heavy storm which caused the weight of the drilling pipe to shift. The starboard stanchions ripped open the deck and shifted outboard, allowing the pipe to roll off the Ketchikan and allowing water to enter the hull through the ripped deck and perhaps hull holes. However, Ketchikan didn't sink. The 400+ foot bage remained afloat with the port hull in the air while the starboard hull disappeared below the waterline . At some point Ketchikan's tow line disconnected from the Sudbury 2 when the towing shackle broke, separating Sudbury's onboard powered cable from the long towline to the disabled barge. The steel towline hung down from Ketchikan and it was in total an enormous weight. Reattaching Sudbury to the towline was a failure that also included a serious injury to the Captain. The crew separated from the 2nd barge after attaching a short cable from that barge deck to the accessible end of the towline (which was attached to the powered towline on the towboat). Sudbury II abandoned the barges after reporting them to international safety agencies and full-sped to Japan to patch the Captain. A new captain and new cook was sent from Canada to the Sudbury. I was fired as cook since I was a terrible cook, and rehired as a seaman, as I had experience over the years. Sudbury's owners hired a Japanese salvage boat to help the Sudbury hook-up with the barges and a plane to find them. Both were successful and the Sudbury headed to Amchitka". Bill H. White (VE1CY) stated "When owned by Island Tug & Barge this vessel was registered in Suva, Fiji rather than in Canada. I cannot recall the reason for this. Her radio call sign was ZEVK due to her Fijian registration. In that era Fiji was a British colony so used the ZE series of call letters."