Work to remove the now-infamous English Bay Barge from the rocks at Sunset Beach continues this week and, amid those efforts, a folk hero has emerged.
The chip barge is owned by a company called Sentry Marine Towing. It first arrived on our shores Nov. 14 and has since become a fixture, with many people tuning in daily to a livestream showing its current status.
A crane barge showed up to the site on Dec. 8, 2021, and workers have since been repairing the barge and prepping it for its ultimate removal, on a date that has yet to be announced.
Along with those doing work on the barge itself, there is a security guard on-site 24/7, watching over the thing and being paid by the City of Vancouver for their efforts.
It's unclear who did it, but an unknown person (perhaps one of those people working on the barge itself?) has secured the thing to a large rock the size of a small boulder on the shore, just in case a wild wind and/or unexpected tide comes along and threatens to make it go adrift.
On behalf of all of the fans of the barge, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to this unknown barge guardian for their work.
Some of us would like to imagine that the rope will hold the thing there forever. Here are six reasons why it should be made a permanent fixture on our seawall.
