Victoria Express II

George Schneider (Email to Nauticapedia 07/12/2021) stated "I also got a photo of the crewboat D M TAPPER (605959) under this new name. This vessel has had quite a checkered history, beginning in 1980 as a Gulf crew boat, the TRACY ARLENE, for Briley Marine, which failed financially in the mid-1980’s oilfield shutdown. This vessel was sold and became one of New York’s first fast ferries, the HARBOR COMMUTER X. When better boats and services stepped in, this vessel was sold to a San Diego owner who tried to operate her in tourist service as MARIA G. After 5 years of lackluster success, this vessel was sold to Clipper Navigation of Seattle and became SAN JUAN EXPLORER. A decade later, this vessel was picked up by Victoria Rapid Transit for runs between the U. S. and Canada as VICTORIA EXPRESS II.

In 2011 this vesse again tried the tourist business up there with the name EXPEDITIONS.

By 2014 she’d been purchased by affiliates of Pacific Tugboat Service and came back to San Diego, where her passenger house was stripped back off her and this vessel was returned to a crewboat configuration. Initially this vesselkept her name, but the company’s web site showed her renamed PACIFIC SPRINTER. This vessel never took on that name, and in a 2016 renaming spree, received the name D M TAPPER." On 4 March 2011 it was announced that the service has been discontinued and was purchased by Black Ball Transport which operates MV Coho on the same route. The service has been renamed Expeditions Northwest and the vessels now operate on eco-tours through the San Juan Islands, Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca and Victoria, but continue to remain based in Port Angeles.