Former Heavy Lift Crane Vessel JOHN HENRY

Photo by Randy Terpstra

It was truly a new day when Randy Terpstra captured these wonderful photos near Mariatown and Iroquois Lock on August 24th, 2015. It was also a new journey and new sense of hope for the 282.75' heavy lift crane barge. She also had a new name though no one seemed to have time to paint it anywhere on her blue hull. Over the years she has had several new names but when she built at Peterson Shipbuilders of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1978, for her owners, American Heavy Lift of Wilmington, Delaware, she was given a "Grand" name, one of distinction and of the true grit and strength that would surely make her a legend just like her namesake, JOHN HENRY.

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Photo by Randy Terpstra

There was no contest that morning. It was the right thing to do, to give way to the speedy and confident JANA DESGAGNÉS and allow her to make her way to Iroquois Lock up ahead. There was absolutely nothing wrong with skirting along the shoreline for the unusual looking barge because there enough channel for the both of them. On that day she went where or at whatever speed her pull and push tugs took her. She had no choice. It wasn't always that way. There was a time when she looked and behaved very much like the Groupe Desgagnés tanker. No she didn't have all those red pipes on her deck, but she had a tall superstructure with a wide commanding wheelhouse, and it was also white. But most all, she had her own powerful engines and just like in René Beauchamp's photo below of her entering New York harbour in 1979, she looked powerful, she was in control of her destiny, she was the JOHN HENRY. 

Photo by René Beauchamp

Unfortunately there wasn't as much work for the muscle bound JOHN HENRY as thought, so in 1980 after being acquired by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), the mighty JOHN HENRY was added to the U.S. Government's Ready Reserve Fleet (just like in my previous post of the New Orleans based carriers CAPE KNOX & CAPE KENNEDY  http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/08/roro-carriers-cape-kennedy-cape-knox.html). 

For the HENRY, her opportunity to show off her capabilities and enduring strength while cleaning up or hauling away the carnage due to a nature disaster or conflict never came, and after nearly 20 years of laying in wait, the unique heavy lift ship was sold to the Worldwide Water Foundation in December of 1999 and renamed, REVIVAL. 

It wasn't a bad name because after all she had been technically mothballed all that time in a fresh water basin on the Neches River near Beaumont, Texas, so it was like being brought back from the dead or reincarnated to do what she was meant to do. Based in Orange, Texas, the REVIVAL was perfect as a base of operations for any humanitarian effort. Her shallow draft offered access up rivers that would otherwise be unnavigable and with her big steel ramps that could be lowered through her broad bow doors onto a riverbank or from the stern onto a dock, all kinds of supplies, drilling equipment and container could easily be driven on and off, or positioned with her the two heavy lift Stuelcken booms. Her superstructure and lower decks included a functioning wheelhouse, chart room, officers staterooms, galleys, and bunks for 24 persons. The REVIVAL would be deemed a leader in humanitarian efforts worldwide. However the project fell through and the ship was laid up once again.

Photo by Ron Beaupre

Meanwhile, Upper Lakes Shipping had set up a grain shuttling service from the Lakehead using inland covered barges like one might see on the Mississippi River to move prairie grain through the Great Lakes and Seaway system to their grain elevator in Trois-Rivieres on the St. Lawrence River. In 2008, Upper Lakes created Marinelink Inc. and with the intent to haul wind turbines to Kingston, Ontario through Nadro Marine, ULS sent their tug, the 350' COMMODORE STRAIT to Texas to bring the laid up heavy lift ship REVIVAL to Canada. Renamed, MARINELINK  EXPLORER she was moved again, this time with the assistance of the then Norlake tug, RADIUM YELLOWKNIFE to brake or keep the tow in control while the COMMODORE STRAIT lead the way past Ron Beaupre's place in Mariatown (nice snaps Ron) before making their way to Port Weller Dry Dock where MARINELINK EXPLORER would receive under the waterline repair work and a new coat of paint **. Unfortunately since both the wind turbine project and another opportunity to haul steel coil for U.S. Steel fell through, the EXPLORER was towed to the Century stone dock in Port Colborne where she remained for the complete 2009 shipping season **. While parked there it was discovered that since the wheelhouse needed far too much work to meet Transport Canada specifications, it was decided that the superstructure would be removed completely. Also, since seawater had somehow gotten into the engines' sumps causing a lot of damages, the once powerful motor vessel would simple become a barge. 

Photo by Ron Beaupre

Though not exactly being used as original intended and desperately wanting some kind of return on investment from their acquisition, COMMODORE STRAIT pushed her new "barge-mate" MARINELINK EXPLORER to the former government elevators located at Port Colborne's outer harbour as the 2010 shipping season was about to begin and took on over 2,000 tons of grain destined for Trois-Rivière **. While making their way downbound, the unintended duo were award Top Hat honours for being the new season opening vessel on the Welland Canal on March 25, 2010 **. Soon after unloading her cargo of grain at Trois-Rivières, the heavy lift barge got to show her real might while taking on a load of railway locomotives from Bécancour, a community located about 150 km from the beginning of the lower St. Lawrence, to Sept-Iles at the big river's mouth. Work went dry after that and when Upper Lakes was sold to Algoma Central in 2011, the tug & barge combo were put up for sale***.  

Photo by Randy Terpstra

Their long term layup ended in late 2013 when they were both acquired by CAI Logistic, a subsidiary of Chaulk Air Inc. of Moncton, New Brunswick, a companying that specializes in forwarding freight to Labrador and the Far North. Not surprising, their names were changed again; the COMMODORE STRAIT became CHAULK DETERMINATION and MARINELINK EXPLORER became known as CHAULK LIFTER ***. Though not driving steel like her original namesake, the CHAULK LIFTER's big cranes with their 300 ton lifting capacity were put to good use once again when used to haul in and then unload multi-purpose building modules at Nain, the northern most permanent settlement in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.    

Photo by Randy Terpstra

She was laid up at Les Méchins, a community and dry dock town located on the south shore near where the St. Lawrence River widened significantly and soon becomes a gulf when the Groupe Océan tugs K. RUSBY and YVES DESGAGNÉS hooked onto the CHAULK LIFTER to commence her latest journey back into the Great Lakes. 

                                                 Photo by Randy Terpstra

At Montreal, the former  World War II TANAC tug, M.R. KANE took over the lead position and because of her compact size, her primary task was to keep the tow on course.

To read more about M.R. KANE (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2016/02/former-tanac-tug-mr-kane.html)
                                                                                                   Photo by Randy Terpstra

                                                 Photo by Randy Terpstra

Meanwhile at the CHAULK LIFTER's stern, the heavier tug and kind of an old acquaintance from when she was towed back into the Lakes as MARINELINK EXPLORER in 2008, the 235'  RADIUM YELLOWKNIFE provided the power as the passage made their way to Iroquois Lock and then eventually Toronto harbour.

Photo by Randy Terpstra

At some point during her transit, new owner, the Toronto Drydock Ltd, renamed the former JOHN HENRY, COASTAL TITAN.

September 24, 2015 - COASTAL TITAN nestled in the background behind TDD tugs, from left, SALVAGE MONARCH, RADIUM YELLOWKNIFE, W.N. TWOLAN, and floating dry dock, MENIER CONSOL.

Still nameless on February 20, 2016

Though anytime I have snapped the crane barge COASTAL TITAN in Toronto, she has appeared to be as she was for all those years as a motor vessel, idle and waiting to prove the value of her machinery and her name. Toronto Dry Dock never did reply to my email asking about the type of work COASTAL TITAN would be doing for their company, though I have heard she has been used to haul up yachts and pleasure crafts onto their dock for winter storage. Hmmm!! I suppose though whether named after JOHN HENRY, a symbol of physical strength and endurance; or TITAN, a Greek word meaning enormous size, strength and power, whenever a heavy lift job come along, she obviously still has what it takes to get the job done. That's all that's been expected of her.  

June 4, 2016 - Name finally appears.

While John Henry is said to be an African American folk hero or tall tale, several tunnel locations that were blasted out of various mountains and opened during the late 1800's, has suggested their site is where John Henry died. There's been many songs written about him and while the author of the original "Ballad of John Henry" is unknown, there have been many versions of it. The one I superimposed on Randy Terpstra's beautiful series of photos above, came from the Pete Seeger sessions sung by Bruce Springsteen in has album "We Shall Overcome". It's a beautiful collection of inspirational songs. I highly recommend it. Meanwhile, the here's a youtube link of Bruce and his band performing "The Ballad of John Henry" (https://youtu.be/U3eutnpTr3E) Take a listen to it when you have a moment. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do whenever I hear it.

WHEW!! Much more time that I expected was spent putting this post to bed and I could not have completed it without the help of my boat watching friend, Ron Beaupre of Mariatown, who provided a couple of nice pics and directed me to passages previously written about the JOHN HENRY (and it's many other names) by the Toronto Marine Historical Society's newsletter, SCANNER. Whenever I used a portion of their information in this post, I identified it at the end of the sentence with a "**". The blog Tugfax was also a great resource and they were identified with "***". Thanks again Ron, and also to René Beauchamp for your archive pic of the JOHN HENRY (It's a beauty) and Randy, thanks for being there snapping the COASTAL TITAN's transit on a day I was stuck confined to barracks due a few broken, sprained and bruised joints.
Summer is half way over here in this neck of "The Great White North" and boy do I have a lot of yard work that needs to be completed before winter returns.  I don't know when my next post will be, but don't be surprised if it's less wordy and more pictorial. Take care and enjoy your summer c):-D (or winter for those of you living in the South Hemisphere c):-( ), Carl c);-b

Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel HMCS KINGSTON (MM700)

I felt like a kid again on Canada Day weekend as my son Drew and grandson Jose and I waited in line to tour the Royal Canadian Navy's Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV) HMCS KINGSTON (MM 700) and HMCS GOOSE BAY (MM 707) which were tied off beside each other near the Toronto Island ferry docks for the Redpath Waterfest. While Jose was getting to tour his first navy ship at age 5, I was 7 years old when I got to tour my first warship which was actually a boat, the American submarine USS QUILLBACK (SS 424). As mentioned in my earlier post about Tench-class QUILLBACK  (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2012/07/uss-quillback-ss-424.html), the big black boat was one of many U.S. warships (and possibly Canadian, though I don't recall seeing any) that toured the Great Lakes for the first time due the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. I still recall the day like it was yesterday, passing through the many hatches, climbing steep ladders and seeing torpedoes for the first time other than on a John Wayne WWII movie at the show. It was a lot of fun just like when my boys and I checked out the KINGSTON on July 1st. Since both ships were to  shove off soon to participate in a harbour sailpast which also included various tall ships that were in port for the harbour front festival, like the American topsail schooner PRIDE OF BALTIMORE, and two other replica boats that were sailing on the Great Lakes for the first time, the Spanish galleon EL GALEON ANDALUCIA and the Norwegian built Viking ship DRAKEN HARALD HARFAGRE, we were actually the last group to board the 181.5' Canadian warships. and due to time constraints, we were only able to tour the KINGSTON. That was Cool c):-))

In case you didn't know, the designation Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) is applied as a prefix to each of the Royal Canadian Navy's 29 surface ships and their reserve bases located in 24 cities across Canada. For each of our submarines, HMCS stands for Her Majesty's Canadian Submarine. Incidentally, at about the same location where the KINGSTON and GOOSE BAY were parked, we also got to tour the Canadian submarine, HMCS OKANAGAN during her Great Lakes tour in 1990. She was an Oberon-class boat and if you want to read about her "not so pretty" next visit into the Great Lakes, check out this link: (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2012/08/hmcs-onondaga-s73_30.html) c):-o

I was able to get down to the St. Lawrence in time on June 27th to see the two upbound MCDV's as they approached the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge and then later motor by the Battle of the Windmill National Historic site while on their way to Toronto. Built at Halifax Shipyards between 1995-98, the RCN has 12 of these multi-role vessels which are equally divided between both coasts and are manned by both Regular-Forces and Naval Reserve personnel.

HMCS KINGSTON (MM 700) was the first MCDV to be commissioned on September 21, 1996 and because they were initially designed with a minesweeping role, they became classified as mechanical minesweepers, hence the "MM" being included with each ship's numbers, as shown above. These flexible little ships can easily adapt for rapid role changes for any of their many missions  which include conducting coastal surveillance and patrols, general naval operations and exercises, search and rescue, law enforcement, resource protection, and fisheries patrol.

With a compliment of 47 including officers and crew, the MCDV's have a range of 9,260 km without refuelling. They are equipped with towed high-frequency sidescan sonar and remote-control mine hunting systems. They also have rigid-hulled and zodiac inflatable boats which are useful for boarding operations and extra big binoculars to identify the foe far far away on the horizon. c)8-b
Their armaments includes two M2 machines guns and a Bofors 40mm forward deck cannon which was removed during this tour as it is in the process of being replaced with a gun similar to what is used on Canadian Army light armoured vehicles (or LAV's).
Unlike the traditional propulsion systems that we see on lakers or salties and use of a rudder for steerage, the MCDV's are equipped with two Z-Drive azimuth thrusters that can rotate to any horizontal angle making a rudder unnecessary. Also, instead of using a ship's wheel to turn the vessel, each pod is controlled by "joystick-like" levers (below) which are used to control the direction of the vessel as well as its movement forward or astern. Oh YAAA!! c):-)

While first in her class, the KINGSTON has been busy especially in recent years where in 2011 & 12 she participated in Operation Caribe, a multinational effort to eliminate trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. In 2012 alone, 125 tons of cocaine and several million dollars were seized. This is not the first venture in the the Great Lakes for the KINGSTON. In 2013, she accompanied sister MCDV, HMCS GLACE BAY during a seven week tour up the St. Lawrence Seaway and North America's inland seas. During the winter of 2014, KINGSTON rejoined Operation Caribe and later in the summer, she ventured to Victoria Strait in Canada's Arctic region to joined the Canadian Coast Guard Ship SIR WILFRED LAURIER and two private ships to search and and discover the HMS EREBUS which was lost during Sir John Franklin's 1845 quest for the Northwest Passage. Earlier this spring, KINGSTON got to sail up the Hudson River along with the destroyer HMCS ATHABASKAN at New York City's "FLEET WEEK", while this past weekend, she hosted many visitors at the her namesake, Kingston, Ontario.
Meanwhile, after a port visit at Cobourg, HMCS GOOSE BAY conducted an "Open House" for the residents of Prescott and the United Counties of Leeds-Grenville during her weekend visit at the Port of Johnstown and from what I've seen from the photos posted on Facebook boat groups like The Prescott Anchor, the event was a "BOOMING" success!! c);-b
It is expected that later today when the KINGSTON arrives from her namesake, both of the MCDV's will commence their journey downbound to the Atlantic Ocean and then  Halifax, their homeport. Perhaps I'll get to tour the frigate, HMCS MONTREAL (FFH 336) when she ventures up the St. Lawrence for her Great Lakes deployment later this fall. I can hardly wait!!! c):-D

Tours over, HMCS GOOSE BSAY sits idle as Algoma tanker ALGOCANADA approaches the International Bridge at Johnstown.

Ceremonial cannon

...on a sadder note, while thousands had a lot of fun or enjoyment snapping or touring the various replica sailing ships and Canada's two warships during Toronto's Redpath WaterFest, the presence the three Great Lakes veterans tied off on the other side of the harbour, didn't get unnoticed by at least myself and my son Drew. Though their destinies remain bleak, having them there offered perhaps a subliminal reminder that Toronto wasn't always primarily a port of pleasure, but an active cargo moving gateway to the world. Regardless, I suppose it is what it is.

ALGOSOO, SPRUCEGLEN and ALGOSTEEL's stern in the background.