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An Isolated Danger Buoy – G.B. Church

by John MacFarlane 2012

Located over the wreck of the G.B. Church is an Isolated Danger Buoy. Originally named as the Cerium and then as the G.R. Velie, the G.B. Church was built in 1943 in Goole, Yorkshire UK. In 1967 she was owned by Continental Explosives Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1977-79 she was owned by Centennial Towing Ltd., Surrey BC. In 1984-91 she was owned by #267866 British Columbia Ltd., Vancouver BC. She was struck from the Registry of Shipping on June 26, 1992, but already in 1991 she had been sunk as an artificial diving reef. This was one of the earliest purposeful ship sinkings of a vessel to promote sport wreck diving. She is still a popular destination for recreational divers, although overshadowed by the more glamorous RCN destroyers that have been sunk by the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia. It is located on the boundary of the Princess Margaret Provincial Marine Park. The mast is at 5 meters (15 feet) and the keel at 27 meters (90 feet) where the average visibility is around 12 meters (35 feet). The dive should only be made by certified and experienced divers.

An isolated danger buoy is moored on, or above, an isolated danger that has navigable water all around it. Consult the chart for information concerning the danger, (dimensions, depth, etc). It may be used to mark natural dangers such as small shoals or obstructions such as wrecks.

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