The decrepit ships that brought hundreds of
illegal Chinese migrants to B.C. last summer now have something
their passengers don't: a permanent home, in Canada.
The vessels have become an unlikely tourist attraction on
Vancouver Island.
The Alberni Reef Society bought three of the four ships for $1000
and towed them to the Port Alberni harbour.
The ships once carried a human cargo of almost 600 illegal
migrants. They're now open to the public and attracting a steady
stream of visitors.
"To actually feel it, to see it, to smell it, it's a totally
different experience," says one visitor.
 Sven Juthans of the Alberni Reef
Society |
Sven Juthans of the Alberni Reef Society said the notoriety of
the ships draws the visitors.
"Just the publicity that was created last year created a huge
amount of interest. Once we'd purchased it, they asked if they could
come aboard," Juthans said.
This weekend, the society began charging $5 to anyone who wanted
to go aboard to see the cramped condition. It gave some people a
sense of how horrible it was for the migrants as they crossed the
Pacific.
"They must have been desperate to come," one woman said. "You
know, they're not crazy, they're desperate."
Others did not want to even venture aboard the ship.
"You couldn't pay me enough to get on that ship," another woman
said.
Although 40 tons of garbage were removed from the ships and
they've been steam-cleaned and chemically washed, the stench of
vomit and human excrement lingers.
"The condition of the ships is pretty grim, and to picture having
lived on board for 30 days, it just blows your mind," Juthans said.
The ships may find a permanent home off the coast of British
Columbia. Near the end of the summer, there are plans to sink them
to form an artificial reef for a different kind of tourist —
recreational divers.
"Within five years, this thing will be teaming with life. There
will be octopus in the hold and fish swimming all around it. It'll
be a beautiful dive site," Juthans said.
But the Alberni Reef Society must still raise $150,000 before
they can sink the ships and create the dive site .
