The Jamie Whaling Station vessel either struck a rock or came into contact with a submerged log near Tourette Island in the Broken Group Islands, the company said.
Twenty-one passengers and three crew members had to be taken off a whale-watching vessel after it began taking on water off the west coast of Vancouver Island on Saturday.
The 15-meter MV Chinook Princess, owned by Jamie’s Whaling Station, either struck a rock or came into contact with a submerged log near Turret Island in the Broken Group of Islands, southeast of Ucluelet, at 11 a.m., said Gen. manager Adam Doolittle.
“This contact resulted in a small leak in the rudder seal, which was successfully managed by the on-board pumps,” Doolittle said.
He said the crew assessed the damage and contacted the Canadian Coast Guard with a distress call.
Steve Payne, a member of Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station 38, based in Ucluelet, said several vessels were involved in getting the passengers off the boat and safely ashore, including the RCMP, the Canadian Coast Guard’s Cape McKay from Bamfield and a Parks Canada lifeboat.
The Canadian Coast Guard said there were several other “vessels of capability” that responded to the disaster.
Payne said the whale-watching vessel is taking on water and is off, but “the pumps are keeping pace.”
There were no injuries and “the whole rescue went like clockwork,” he said.
The Chinook Princess was pulled into Ucluelet Harbor Saturday afternoon after passengers were unloaded.
Doolittle thanked everyone who helped rescue the passengers and crew and credited the crew’s safety training with preventing the situation from escalating.
“These are exactly the situations that our crew often train for with our routine safety drills,” he said.
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