Cortes Island Elements In A Boat Theft Story

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There are some Cortes Island elements to the story of a boat stolen from Campbell River on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Someone living in the Potlatch Road area of southern Cortes Island observed ‘big military type planes’ and some helicopters flying around the ocean that morning and thought it might be a Sea-Air Rescue excerise. He did not think about it again until reading about the incident on CHEK News.

At 8 AM the Powell River RCMP received a request from the Quadra detachment to help intercept the stolen boat. GPS tracked it to the vincinty of Mitlenatch Island. An RCMP vessel from Powell River responded and was en route to Mitlenatch when it was notified that the Quadra detachment had already located the stolen vessel.

The stolen boat was escourting it to the Mansons Landing dock, on Cortes Island, where it was secured and two ‘suspects’ were arrested for Possession of Property Obtained by Crime over $5,000. They were transported back to Campbell River and turned over to the Campbell River RCMP.

Mansons Landing dock is maintained by Harbour Authority Cortes Island (HACI), but as it was a straighforward matter police did not think it necessary to inform them. Consequently HACI did not learn of the incident for another five days.

The Quadra Island detachment used to issue weekly reports of their activities on Quadra, Cortes and other Discovery Islands, but have discontinued that service. The RCMP press release for this incident comes from the Powell River detachment.