The Mandalay B antique boat was pulled out of Shuswap Lake in May.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Columbia Shuswap Regional District
June 01, 2023 - 12:35 PM
A century old sunken boat was pulled out of Shuswap Lake by Transport Canada and the Columbia Shuswap Regional District because it’s a safety and environmental hazard.
The Mandalay B is a wooden diesel boat that’s been on the lake off Lee Creek for over a decade, and it isn’t the first time it has sunk.
The boat sunk in January last year but the owner of the boat and his friends were able to bring it back up the following June. Four months later the boat sunk again and this time the owner couldn’t afford to remove it, according to a media release by Columbia Shuswap Regional District today, June 1.
Provincial and federal agencies were alerted of the sinking and the district’s bylaw enforcement worked with Transport Canada’s Navigation Protection Program to coordinate a recovery effort to remove and dispose of the boat under the federal provisions of the Wrecked, Abandoned and Hazardous Vessels Act.
The Mandalay B was successfully removed from the lake by area marine diving and recovery companies on May 10 and the vessel won’t be restored to make a return to the lake.
The antique boat has become a bit of a local treasure for some living in the area.
READ MORE: Treasured 99-year-old sunken boat being brought to the surface in North Shuswap
“The boat is the first thing people see when they drive in from the highway to the lake,” owner Paul White said in a previous interview with iNFOnews. “It is distinctive looking, like something from a Shackleton adventure.”
The 50-foot boat is a pleasure craft built in Vancouver in Hoffar Brothers shipyard and registered in 1923. White bought the boat in 1993 and used it extensively on the coast. When he moved to the North Shuswap, he brought the boat with him.
The regional district’s environmental health department waived the tipping fees for the boat’s proper disposal.
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