Karl Lilgert is going to prison for four years for killing two people when he ran the ferry Queen of the North into Gil Island, but as the seven-year saga finally ends, there are no winners.
Two people are dead, careers are ruined, lives are devastated and the ship sits at the bottom of Wright Sound.
Early in the morning of March 22, 2006, Lilgert, the ship鈥檚 fourth officer, was in charge on the bridge of the sa国际传媒 ferry during a passage from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. For reasons that were never adequately explained, he failed to make a necessary course change, and the ship hit the rocks of Gil Island at 17.5 knots. Within minutes, it was clear the vessel was going down.
The passengers and crew took to the lifeboats, but two passengers, Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette, were never found and are presumed to have drowned. Eventually, Lilgert was charged with criminal negligence causing their deaths.
At trial, Lilgert contended that he was struggling to navigate the ship through rough weather and to avoid two other boats. The defence maintained that the navigation equipment was unreliable and crew members were not properly trained.
The Crown said the electronic chart system showed the vessel following its normal route, without any course changes for weather or other ships. Prosecutors suggested that Lilgert was not paying attention to navigating the ship because he was having an argument or having sex with his former lover Karen Briker, the only other person on the bridge.
The Transportation Safety Board concluded that human error was largely to blame, and Lilgert鈥檚 relationship with Briker was a factor in distracting him because the two were having a 鈥減ersonal conversation.鈥� It also said the sea was calm that night. The board鈥檚 report was not shown to the jury because statements made in TSB investigations are considered privileged.
The jury found Lilgert guilty, a verdict he is appealing. On Monday, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
It鈥檚 the end of perhaps the saddest chapter in the history of sa国际传媒 Ferries. Accidents happen at sea, but rarely do they send a mariner to prison.
There can be no joy for anyone in putting Lilgert behind bars. He didn鈥檛 take over the bridge that night with the intention of sinking the ship and drowning two of its passengers. He intended to do his job.
However, like thousands of people who drive buses, steer ships or fly planes, he held the lives of others in his hands. That demands an extra measure of care because a mistake, a moment of inattention or true negligence can be catastrophic. Most of us know how easy it is to make mistakes at work and would be hard-pressed to draw the line between carelessness and the kind of negligence that is criminal.
In Lilgert鈥檚 case, the jury found that he crossed that line. In passing sentence, Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein said: 鈥淚 do not need to speculate on what Mr. Lilgert was doing on the bridge that night. I know what he was not doing. He was not doing his job.鈥�
The verdict and the sentence will not end the speculation, because only two people know what happened on the bridge that night.
Nor will they assuage the loss suffered by the families of Foisy and Rosette.
But after years of accusations, investigations and court hearings, a jury has determined that the loss of the Queen of the North was not an inexplicable accident. It was a preventable tragedy for which one man was responsible.
