No Spirit of Hartley Bay, says BC Ferries

BC Ferries won't be naming one of its North Coast ferries the Spirit of Hartley Bay to honour the residents of the tiny community who helped rescue passengers and crew of the Queen of the North after it sank in March.

They've become known as the "heroes of Hartley Bay"who set out with their boats in the middle of the night when they first heard the Queen of the North was going down.

Since then, many people, including B.C.'s transportation minister, haveendorsed the idea of naming one of the new northern vessels after them.

But BC Ferries president David Hahn said the name wouldn't fit well with the company's marketing strategy.

Instead, the corporation will go with a northern theme to name the new vessels in its northern service. They'll be known as the Northern Adventure, the Northern Expedition and the Northern Discovery.

Hahn said BC Ferries has taken other steps he believes will be more meaningful to the people of Hartley Bay.

"We've again given them a small rescue boat.We're doing boardwalk repair work in Hartley Bay, which has a very intricate boardwalk system up there.We're buying playground equipment for the school. We're putting in a new gangway from the dock to the boat floats."

Hahn said there will eventually be a marker in Hartley Bay to honour the people of the community, as wellas the couple who died when the Queen of the North went down.

The Northern Adventure, nowknown as the Sonia, will begin sailing between Prince Rupert and Port Hardy next spring.

The Northern Expedition, meanwhile, will take over that service in the spring of 2009. It's now under construction in Germany. The Northern Discovery will replace the Queen of Chilliwack later on the mid-coast route.