The Killer That Was Ripple Rock

Probably few of the 1000s of commercial and pleasure craft annually plying British Columbia waters have much fear of navigating Seymour Narrows.

True, this 2500-foot-channel between Vancouver, Maud and Quadra islands is still hazardous.

But, within living memory, this was the dreaded lair of the worst marine hazard of the entire West Coast—Ripple Rock.

100s—that’s 100s—of vessels, large and small, came to grief here. Removal of the threat of Ripple Rock, one of the great engineering feats in Canadian history, involved many years, millions of dollars and several lives.

The story of Ripple Rock and its de-fanging, next week in the Chronicles.

*******

PHOTO: The hydrographic survey ship William J. Stewart was one of the many of Ripple Rock’s victims. —BC Archives