Terry Hailfax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Jun 23/00) - The crew of the Louis Cardinal has set sail on another season of moving folks and freight across the Mackenzie and Arctic Red River Crossings.

He's been at the helm of the ferry for the past six years and Capt. Ed Grouette said the big boat splashed into the river for her first crossing on June 4 and has been going steady since.

During the winter, Grouette lives in Grand Forks, B.C., but when the ferry is in operation, he stays in camp near Tsiigehtchic.

Before working the Mackenzie, Grouette sailed the salt chuck off the B.C. coast.

"I was on tow boats and tug boats and in the fishing industry," Grouette said.

The water's a little smoother here than the ocean, he said, but there are some times when the Mackenzie can kick up quite a fuss.

"It's nice and calm here, today," he said, "But sometimes the water runs in swirls, with big back eddys and whirls and everything else -- it gets quite difficult on the Fort McPherson side at times."

"The Inuvik side and the Arctic Red side are pretty calm," he added.

The ferry leaves the Inuvik side every hour on the hour until midnight, making about 50 trips each day, he said.

Many hands at work

The captain just shows up and sails, he said, but the engineers and deckhands put the big boat to bed in the winter and wake her up in the spring.

"The engineers service the whole boat before the winter. They put new oil in and make sure all the fresh water tanks and toilets are drained," he said. "In April, they work for a couple of months with the deckhands scraping and painting and getting the boat ready for the summer."

Charles Fowler is one of the engineers who fires up the ferry each spring. Fowler lives in camp all summer, too, but calls Campbelton, N.B home.

"I'm the first one here and the last to leave," Fowler said. "I come here in April -- between the first and the middle of April."

The ship is powered by four 350-horsepower diesel engines -- one on each corner. She consumes anywhere from 1,000 to 1,300 litres of diesel per day.

Fowler says the Louis Cardinal tops out at "about 11 knots" with all four engines wound out. The ship can carry 350 tonnes of freight, passengers and vehicles.

The Louis Cardinal was built in 1972 in Hay River, and remodelled in 1986, Fowler said. In the five years he's been working on the ferry, Fowler said they've never had any down time.

Grouette said they can run the ferry in all kinds of weather, but when the ice comes, he goes.

"When the ice comes through we shut her down," he said. "The landings build up with ice, so we can't get in to let anybody off or pick anybody up."