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A capsized barge floats in Robson Bight. B.C., Aug. 20, 2007, a breeding ground for killers whales.Joe Alfred

When tugboat captain Carl Strom pulled out of Beaver Cove, on Vancouver Island's northeast shoulder, he didn't know the heavy equipment barge under tow was an accident waiting to happen.

But the barge, owned by Ted LeRoy Trucking Ltd., was so riven with leaks that it would soon lose its stability, pitch to one side and dump its entire cargo into the sea.

While Mr. Strom watched in alarm, a tractor, excavator, ambulance, crew bus, log harvester, log loader and five other logging vehicles, including a fuel truck loaded with 10,000 litres of diesel oil, went plummeting into the depths. Within a few hours, an oil slick had spread some 14 kilometres.



The details of that Aug. 20, 2007, accident, which occurred in the middle of the West Coast's only killer whale sanctuary, were set out in a Provincial Court of British Columbia judgment released Tuesday.

In the decision, Judge Brian Saunderson convicted the owner of the barge, Ted LeRoy, on six pollution charges, while Mr. Strom and Gowlland Towing Ltd., owners of the tugboat Kathy L, were exonerated on all counts.

The accident sent a shudder down the West Coast because of where it had occurred, in the heart of Robson Bight, an ecological reserve for more than 30 years because of its importance to killer whales, which at times can be seen rubbing their sides in the shallows along pebble beaches.

Robson Bight is about 20 kilometres south of the adjacent communities of Beaver Cove and Telegraph Cove, the latter of which has become a world famous tourism destination because of its whale watching tours.

Mr. Strom did a walk about on the barge before pulling out of Beaver Cove in the morning and didn't see anything of concern. But at 11:15, when he was passing through Robson Bight, the barge listed to starboard.

A seaman from the tugboat went on to the barge, but couldn't keep the water pump going, then scrambled for his life when the equipment began to shift. He escaped with a crushed ankle.

Judge Saunderson did not fault Mr. Strom, saying he had exercised due diligence in his pre-departure walk around and had reacted appropriately when the barge took on water.

"Without question, the sole cause of the accident was the unseaworthiness of the barge. There was nothing to suggest that Capt. Strom's seamanship, or some other intervening factor, contributed to its cause," the judge wrote.

He dismissed pollution charges against Mr. Strom, the Kathy L, and Gowlland Towing.

But he found Ted LeRoy Trucking Ltd. guilty, saying Mr. LeRoy failed to keep the barge in seaworthy condition.











Judge Saunderson said a marine inspection after the accident found the barge was in such bad shape it had been leaking in all 10 compartments, and he was critical of Mr. LeRoy for testifying that he didn't know about the problems.

He said at best, Mr. LeRoy was negligent.

"More likely, he was willfully blind. At worst, he was lying about the state of his knowledge," wrote Judge Saunderson, who is expected to sentence Mr. LeRoy in May.

Most of the logging equipment is still at the bottom of Robson Bight, but Mammoet Salvage BV, a Netherlands-based company that in 2001 recovered the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, retrieved the fuel truck.

Oonagh O'Connor, energy campaign manager for Living Oceans Society, praised the provincial government for funding the $2.5-million salvage effort, but said taxpayers will probably get stuck with the cleanup bill.

LeRoy Trucking Ltd., once one of the biggest logging subcontractors on Vancouver Island, was assigned into bankruptcy in September, 2008.

"It's an important judgment because the message it sends to barge owners is that they are responsible for the conditions of their vessels," she said. "But governments need to improve regulations and make seaworthiness inspections of barges mandatory."

She said the whole incident also raises troubling questions about what costs taxpayers may face if an oil tanker ever goes down on the West Coast.

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