Bluenose II

While driving home along the St. Lawrence I stopped in at the marine park in Brockville and to my surprise moored at the wharf was the Bluenose II. Whether she stopped in Brockville to seek cover from a passing storm or knew I was driving through, regardless it was a real neat experience for me.

The last time I saw this lovely schooner was in 1995 (below) while travelling through Lunenburg on a sales/pleasure trip with my wife Janice for our 21st wedding anniversary.

Lori Cathlynn & Nafco

No fishing today for fishing boats Lori Cathlynn and Nafco moored together at Steveston BC in March 2004.

Self Unloader CSL LAURTENTIEN

Here's something you don't see everyday. While laid up for the winter in Port Colborne, the Canada Steamship Lines self unloader CSL LAURENTIEN appeared to be having some steel plates replaced on her starboard side in this photo from March 10, 2005. Looks like she's been rubbing up against the wall a little too much. Actually it is was it is for all big seaway-maxer's

When built is 1977 at Collingwood Shipyards her name was LOUIS R. DESMARAIS and her dimensions were 730'x75', the then "Seaway-max" size. In 2000, she entered Port Weller Dry Dock to have a forebody attached to her superstructure that met the new "Seaway-max" size of 740'x 78'. Obviously every extra foot that can be added a ship's length and beam means that more cargo can be moved and of course more revenue goes to the ship-owner.  Unfortunately though, more repairs (and paint jobs) are also required due to these ships having to rub the walls while entering and leaving the Seaway's narrow locks.
It's the cost of doing business these days and fortunately during the winter of 2005, having CSL LAURENTIEN sitting high in ballast and using the ice surface as a platform allowed contractors the ability to complete the repair in harbour instead of at a costly dry dock. Definitely a true definition of the term "a penny saved is a penny earned" don't you think. c):-o

Self Unloader RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN (Revisited)

Above Lock 8 at Port Colborne - March 10, 2005

Named after the former Senator and father of the once Canadian Prime Minister, Paul E. Martin, the 740' CSL self-unloader RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN is shown above laid up for winter on the approach wall to Lock 8 in Port Colborne on March 10, 2005.

At Loyalist Park near Mariatown - May 19, 2013

When launched in 1973 at Collingwood Shipyards, in Collingwood, Ontario her name was H.M. GRIFFITH and was 10 feet shorter and her width was 3 feet narrower than her current width of 78'. Due to changes to Seaway maximum dimensions, the GRIFFITH was given a new longer and wider forebody at Port Weller Dry Dock in St. Catharines in 1999, and when she re-entered service the following year, her name was also changed to RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN.

Near Cardinal - Sept 14, 2014

While looking a little worse for wear in my 2005 pic or even when I have photographed her since, the RT. HON. PAUL J. MARTIN continues to be a hard worker for the "MARTIN" family-owned company, Canada Steamship Lines.

Unloading Coal at Hamilton - June 17, 2018

Winter Berth - SEGWUN & WENONAH II

It was a cold winter afternoon in January 2002 at about 3:30 when we came across the Muskoka Lake passenger ships SEGWUN and WENONAH II locked in the ice moored for winter. The SEGWUN was built in 1887 and is North America’s oldest operating coal fired passenger steamship. The WENONAH II was launched on 2002 as a replica of the 1860 WENONAH, a wooden hulled sidewheeler that was the first steamship on the Muskoka Lake. I’ve never been good at painting a tarpaulin on a side of a ship, so I left it out.  Anyways, you never want to make a painting perfect. That’s what photographs are for.