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Cruising the Alberni Inlet on the MV Frances Barkley
Summer is a chance to step back in history from the docks of Ucluelet.
The historic ship MV Frances Barkley sails the waters of Alberni Inlet year-round, servicing Bamfield and smaller settlements along the inlet from Port Alberni, but it only stops in to Ucluelet over the summer months.
The ship is operated by Lady Rose Marine Services. The company’s namesake ship, the MV Lady Rose, was built in Scotland in 1937. She operated in Alberni Inlet from 1969 to 2008 and, as such, was the longest-serving passenger ship working the inlet. She was formally taken out of service the following year—but she won’t be leaving the area.
This past April, the Lady Rose motored up the outside coast to Tofino, where she is being refitted to become a new floating restaurant there.
The Frances Barkley was built in Norway in 1958. In 1990 she sailed across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and up the west coast to Port Alberni, to share the inlet route with the Lady Rose.
Although the Frances Barkley can take up to 200 passengers, she is not only a passenger ship. She also can carry up to 100 tons of cargo, delivering mail and other supplies to Bamfield year-round, stopping in at the many seasonal communities along the inlet as needed.
In summer, she makes extra stops in the Broken Group, a prime sea-kayaking destination (the company rents kayaks there in the Broken Group or, for people who already own kayaks, they can transport kayaks from Port Alberni). At present, the Frances Barkley only stops in Ucluelet three times a week, so it is not possible to make a round-trip from there all in the same day.
But, if you have not yet organized your transportation to Ucluelet and want to avoid all of the summer traffic on winding Highway 4, cruising up and down the inlet from dock to dock is a fine way to get yourself from Port Alberni to Ucluelet.
Not only is it more scenic and relaxing, travelling the Alberni Inlet by boat is also a chance to step back into the recent past—for it was only in 1959 that a road connecting Tofino and Ucluelet to Port Alberni was finally constructed. Many of the region’s old-timers still remember that time: when all transport between the two villages and the outside world was by water.
For your chance to experience history on the Alberni Inlet on the MV Frances Barkley, check in with Lady Rose Marine Services.
- Photos & text by Jacqueline Windh©
