July 15, 2007, Last day at the Welland Canal

(Please note: These blogs are mostly narratives of my ship photography trips and are posted chronologically. The most recent post is at the top and the previous posts can be found scrolling down. This post is the 3rd of 3 days at the Welland Canal. You may also want to read the introduction as well).

The day, my last of 3 days at the Welland Canal, dawns sunny with large patches of clouds here and there. Nothing happening at Port Colborne so head towards St. Catherines.

CSL Niagara, imo 7128423, built 1972. Catch up with it at Lock 5 going to Lock 4. At the same time a tug is locking up and the lock is so tall can barely see the top of the tug's mast. Ahead of the tug in Lock 6 is the Peter R. Creswell, imo 8016641, built 1982, a self unloading Great Lakes bulker, one of Algoma Central's few boats not named with the prefix Algo.

CSL Niagara leaves Lock 4 & John D. Leitch in Lock 6

Downbound is the John D. Leitch, imo 6714586, built in 1967, downbound in Lock 7 to 6 to 5 to 4; i.e. I follow it down all of the stairstep locks. The Leitch is a one of a kind Great Lakes bulker. Built specifically to haul coal rather than iron ore it was built completely different that the usual lakers as coal is not nearly as dense as iron ore. The most notable thing about the Leitch from a spotting perspective is that the bridge and accommodation section is fairly narrow and is moved as close to the bow as possible. Later in its life the Leitch was rebuilt and both lengthened an widened further enhancing its unique look. Thus it was a lot of fun to photo it in the various locks as it descended the Niagara Escarpment.

CSL Niagara leaves Lock 4 downbound

Photographed for a while from the bridge below the locks which provides both a good stair step perspective of the locks as well as closeups of the ships leaving and arriving at Lock 4. Get the CSL Niagara downbound as well as the tug Reliance and its barge the PML 9000 which wait for the Niagara to clear.

CSL Niagara passes the upbound tug Reliance and its barge

The Purvis Marine tug Reliance

Photo the John D. Leitch going through Lock 3 from the visitor's gallery which looks down on the ships and also as it goes past a drawbridge further down. Then catch the CSL Niagara at Lock 2 with both wide open and closeup photos.

Reliance approaches Lock 4; John D. Leitch in Lock 5

That pretty much exhausted the action in the lower part of the canal so I drive back to Port Colborne. There I find the Peter R. Cresswell docked below Lock 8 across from the large grain elevator. It supposedly is being inspected by the Canadian Coast Guard. I can drive right up to it and touch it.

Back in Port Colborne all hell is breaking loose. A large Great Lakes passenger ship in art deco archetecture, which has been laid up unused for over 20 years, has arrived in Port Colborne under tow. It is on its way to Turkey to be scrapped but the owner says it is going to Greece to be converted into a casino --- that is one way to deflect criticism for scrapping the unique vessel.
The ship is the Aquarama which has a very unique art deco look to it and it was rebuilt from a World War II cargo vessel. It had been docked in Buffalo for many years.

The vessel was towed by the Radium Yellowknife with the Commodore Straits manning the rear cable. Helping dock the ship was the small tug M.R. Kane. The M.R. Kane is noteworthy in itself as it is a very nice traditional looking tug that is considerably smaller than the two tugs which towed the Aquarama to Port Colborne. It had come up the Canal two days earlier to help the Aquarama in the tight confines of the canal and locks. What immediately caught many shipwatcher's attention was that one of the M.R. Kane's deckhands was a rather attractive and shapely young woman. Most of us immediately fell in love with her and named her "Tugboat Annie."

Nothing can move in or out of the Welland Canal until the Aquarama is docked. Once docked it will be inspected by the Canal authorities as to its suitability for towing through the canal.

Waiting to leave the Welland Canal is the tug Petite Forte, imo 6826119 with the barge St. Marys Cement.

We spend several hours at Port Colborne waiting for the sun angle to move around to where it is almost broadside on the ship. There are a lot of work boats docked in the area as well as several recreational boats coming and going. Two guys in an Ohio registered boat stop and are promptly thoroughly inspected by the police. They do not seem to find anything.

The Hon. Paul J. Martin, imo 7324405, built in 1973, a self unloading bulker owned by the Canadian Steamship Company, arrives from Lake Erie and meets the tug Reliance and its barge.

Next is the Pineglen, 8409331, another bulker owned by Canadian Steamship Lines and one that can do salt water as well. It stops for provisions and groceries. I move to a park where I have to walk in that provides an excellent angle to photograph the Peter R. Creswell which is still being inspected. I wait for the Pineglen to go by and get both ships in the photos with some beautiful building white clouds in the background. This was the last large ship I photographed on this trip.

At Port Colborne on both Sat and Sunday were a variety of work vessels docked. Most of these are along the street that faces the water that features a variety of shops and trendy places to eat. There is a nice sidewalk area and a little green space right along the docks were these ships are - great place to look at the closeup detail, talk with people, etc. Photos of most of these are posted on www.shipspotters.com under the name "Magogman".

Cape Hurd, CG 2821, a Canadian Coast Guard vessel 70 feet, 10 inches long built in 1982. It seems to be operated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It has a small boat, # C123450N (how about that for a number) on its stern powered by two Evenrudes.

Salvage Monarch, 5308275, homeported in Montreal, a tug built in 1959, 95 feet, 9 inches long, owned by Norlake Transportation Co. of Port Colborne, Ontario. A nice, larger tug.

Mrs. C, a new, 2006 built pilot boat operated by the Norlake Transportation Co., Port Colborne. 50 feet long. All ships have to have pilots - the captains and mates of the Great Lakes bulkers normally all qualified; the salties have to have pilots. Not sure if every vessel transiting the Welland Canal needs a pilot just for the canal.

Charlie E, tug, 63 feet long, built in 1943 and thus two years older than Magogman. Owned by International Marine Salvage Co., of Port Colborne, Ontario.

Derrick No. 3, a construction barge with a crane on it.

At a marine sales store, or rather in front of it were two lifeboats from the Great Lakes bulker Kinsman Independent which now sails under the name of Voyageur Independent and has a bright blue hull.

Lac Como, tug, built 1944, 65 feet long, owned by McKeil Work Boats, Ltd. of Hamilton, Ontario.

Sandra Mary, tug, built 1962, 80 feet long, owned by McNally Construction Co., Inc of Hamilton, Ontario.

Lac Manitoba, tug, built 1944, 65 feet long. Owned by Nadro Marine Services Ltd, of Port Dover, Ontario.

Jaguar II, an excursion boat based in Toronto, hidden back in the woods east of Lock 7 in a slackwater. Built in 1968, 95 feet, 3 inches long, owned by Club Canamac Cruises, Toronto.

At the International Marine Salvage yard in Port Colborne were the following:

L.E. Block, beautiful Great Lakes bulker being broken up
Windoc, Great Lakes bulker being broken up
D.C. Everest, a "canaler" (Great Lakes bulker, much smaller, built before the Welland Canal was enlarged and the St. Lawrence Seaway was built. The canalers were the largest ships that could navigate the earlier and more narrow and shorter locks).
I do not know if the Block and Windoc are being made into barges or being completely scrapped. Nothing seemed to happening with the D.C. Everest.

At about 8 pm with still beautiful sunshine it was time to leave and head for home in Ohio. The Aquarama did not seem any closer to departing down the canal and I had a long drive home. Thus I hit the drive thru at McDonalds for a few sandwiches and drove to Fort Erie where there was a massive traffic jam of cars and trucks inching across the international bridge to U.S. customs. I figured I would be stuck there for at least a few hours but traffic moved a lot faster than I thought due to about 15-17 gates being open at the U.S. Customs. Had no trouble getting back into the good ol' U.S. of A but it took a bit to negotiate the roads of downtown Buffalo before I got on the interstate and out to Interstate 90 headed west. Also had to get gas as well since it is much more expensive in Canada. It is a good 5 hour drive from Buffalo to my home in Ohio so it was after 2 am when I pulled in the driveway after about 2 weeks on the road, most of it at my summer cottage in Vermont, but including 3 marvelous days of shipspotting at the Welland Canal.