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A century-old boat was raised and removed from Shuswap Lake in May, and it’s not the first time it’s been removed from the lake.
The Mandalay B was successfully pulled from the water by Shuswap-area marine diving and recovery companies on May 10.
After spending months below the surface, the antique boat will not be restored to make any kind of return to the lake.
The Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Environmental Health Department waived the tipping fees for the vessel’s proper disposal.
The 50-year-old wooden, diesel-powered boat was originally built in Vancouver in 1923 and was mostly used on the coast for many decades before being brought to the Shuswap in the mid-1990s.
It became a landmark in Shuswap Lake until it sank in January 2022, but a private recovery effort raised the boat back out of the water five months later.
Unfortunately, the vessel sank again near the end of 2022 and, this time around, the boat’s owner could not afford the recovery costs.
Multiple relevant agencies were made aware of the Mandalay B’s second sinking and CRSD bylaw enforcement began to work with Transport Canada’s Navigation Protection Program to coordinate a collaborative clean-up effort.
That led to the boat’s removal from Shuswap Lake on May 10 under federal provisions of the Wrecked, Abandoned and Hazardous Vessels Act.