Almost exactly two years after the English Bay Barge arrived on a Vancouver beach (and also almost exactly one year after it was removed) another barge drifted in towards shore.
However, this time authorities were able to step in and haul the giant craft away before it got stuck on Sunset Beach again (or another beach nearby).
The incident happened Sunday, Nov. 19 (the original barge arrived Nov. 15, 2021). High tide was around 11:30 a.m. for English Bay.
Live stream video from English Bay shows the barge begins to drift in almost exactly at noon. Luckily, this time there was no high wind to blow it ashore and get it lodged on rocks. Instead, it slowly drifted in.
At around 12:15 p.m. what appears to be a Coast Guard craft appears in the frame headed for the barge, which drifts out of sight.
In another angle from Bluemist (the live streamer), the ship can be seen pulling the barge, while what appears to be a zodiac pushes. Soon a couple of other craft, which appear to be tugboats, arrive to help with the job.
Initially, it appears the barge was pulled back to where it was moored, but then taken towards North Vancouver.
Another angle of the incident, from the shore nearby, has been shared on Youtube. In the clip, it's clear how close the barge got to shore, and how the efforts of the people on the small boats were able to keep it from running aground.
In an email to Vancouver is Awesome, the Canadian Coast Guard noted they were alerted to the barge at 12:10 p.m.
"A crew from the Canadian Coast Guard Kitsilano base onboard the CCGS Laredo Sound tied onto the barge to try to hold it off of grounding onto Sunset Beach. The Kitsilano 1 vessel, a second Coast Guard vessel from Kitsilano base, pushed from the stern of the barge as well," states the coast guard. "The two Coast Guard vessels successfully kept the barge off of the beach for about 30 minutes until a commercial tug could arrive and hook onto the barge."
The barge, which was an empty gravel barge, was then towed to another mooring buoy in Vancouver Harbour.
This story has been updated with information from the Canadian Coast Guard
