Bulk Carrier SAGUENAY

'It's 40 below and I don't give a #@*%'... Hey!! This a family blog but if you don't know the rest of the lyrics for the 'Rodeo Song', google it!! I square-dance to it all the time. Hee-Haa!! Yes it was a cold day when we tracked down the CSL 730' bulk carrier SAGUENAY making her way down-bound on December 26, but not as cold as right now here in Ottawa, the 'Coldest Capital in the WORLD', where it's -24C with a chill factor of -31. JEESH!! Anyhow, according to a groundhog or two, winter is almost over.  Meanwhile, when launched in 1981 in Hoboken, Belgium, the SAGUENAY was owned by Federal Navigation of Montreal and was named FEDERAL THAMES. If you zoom in on this photo of the SAGUENAY being walked through Iroquois Lock, you can see the ship's original name which appears to have been wielded or 'embossed' onto the hull, partially visible under her current name and the rust stained white paint.

Like when my dad was the lockmaster of Lock 8 in Port Colborne, unless there were high winds or supplies were being put on board, large ships like the SAGUENAY  would simply be 'walked' through with a seaway linesman pacing the ship's forward movement and once the water levels were adjusted, the approaching gate opened, the guard arrester (and sometimes bridge) raised, the ship is then 'flushed' out of the lock and into the next channel. Hey, when you got to go, and it's #@*% cold out, sometimes you do what you have to do to get the job done.

From another neat vantage point down river at Duncan Park in the hamlet of Mariatown, I snapped the SAGUENEY again this time motoring in the sea-fog just beyond a high pile of road salt at the Rideau Bulk terminal dock and passing the oncoming upbound, the 730' Algoma self unloader CAPT. HENRY JACKMAN. Now that's ship with an amazing past and you can read about her soon in an upcoming soon in Carlz Boats. I Know Can Hardly Wait!! c);-b

Post Update: February 9, 2020;

I may have had a whole different perspective of the day and my rendezvous with the gearless bulk carrier SAGUENAY had I known it would be the last time that I would be photographing her. Her next day arrival at Montreal on December 27, 2012 sadly marked the end of her trading days on the Great Lakes and overseas as a "saltie-laker". The former hardworking SAGUENEY arrived at Aliaga, Turkey for dismantling on November 30, 2013, just three months after her fleetmate and almost identical twin, RICHELIEU.
On a much warmer day, I caught the high in ballast, SAGUENAY making good speed upbound from Windmill Point, just east of Prescott, Ontario on September 2, 2012. As you can see, unlike this past shipping season, the water level was quite low on the St, Lawrence River back then. c):-D