Self Unloader ALGOSOO (Last Voyage)

February 20, 2016

Winter is here!! Both on paper and very much visible as many of my FaceBook friends will testify who may from time to time check out another one of my time well wasted features, this one known as Carlz Back Deck SnowCam*. Yes, whether it was just a dusting like our first snowfall this year on October 27th (to the right), or a whomping 34 cm of the white stuff that had fallen to date in the December 22 pic (below), you can spend as much time as you wish checking out how much snow has accumulated around my empty Molson Canadian beer bottle with a Canada 🇨🇦flag in it or my sometimes working solar-powered lighthouse. Do remember though, as per the (*) next to SnowCam*, it's just a picture. No, you don't want to be like one friend who said, "Carl, I've been looking at your snow-cam all day and nothing has moved!". Well, as I said to her, that's because like it says in the album's description, it's just a SNAPSHOT - NOT A LIVE CAMERA, okay?. Yes, she was pretty embarrassed and no, I'm not going mention her hair colour. But you probably guessed it. c):-()
Yes, winter in the Great White North can be such a blast especially when that "Polar Vortex" thing comes over the top from Russia 🇷🇺 dropping already frigid conditions to temperature readings that whether you call it -40 Celsius or -40 Fahrenheit, it's the same thing, TOO DARN COLD!! 😬
Combine all of the above with my doctor telling me the that my ongoing lower back pain is most likely caused by "DDD or Degenerative Disc Disorder", which apparently is just a normal change that will happen to us all as we AGE. c):-(( Hopefully whenever I get my MRI it will offer a better explanation but regardless it sure "SUCKS" when you start getting old, or entering the "winter" of your life.

February 20, 2016

Meanwhile, back at the boat blog, a little more than a year ago on December 30th, the 730'  ALGOSOO had made her way off Lake Ontario and positioned herself lakeward at Pier 35 in Toronto. Unlike she had done just over 40 years earlier when the spanking new Algoma Central self unloader delivered a record cargo of 26,351 metric tonnes of salt from Goderich, Ontario to Toronto, the big lady was about to start her 41st winter layup. While other Algoma fleetmates have been known to continue to haul road salt to U.S. harbours on lakes Michigan and Huron deep into January, a December 30th layup might have offered some crew mates the opportunity to bring in the new year at home with family or perhaps get an early start to a much appreciated vacation to a sun destination in the Dominican or Cuba. It had been a long season and while repairs to their "home away from home" would be completed by contractors during winter layup, their focus then would be directed at enjoying time with their family and friends, and thoughts of returning to ship life on the ALGOSOO would be in the back of minds for a good couple of months.

February 20, 2016

February 20, 2016

When the built at Collingwood Shipyard ALGOSOO went into service in December 1974, she would be the last traditional style straight-deck laker to be built on the Great Lakes with a pilothouse up forward at her bow. She had served her company well over the years but obviously she too had entered the winter of he life   because due to poor earnings resulting from stiff competition and declines in salt, grain and ore shipments, Algoma Central had other plans for the stern mounted self unloader as the ALGOSOO and five other dry bulk carriers including a  product tanker would be retired and dismantled in the  upcoming months.

February 20, 2016

Also doomed for disposal and wintering in Toronto at the Port Lands Channel was the 730' ALGOSTEEL (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/09/self-unloader-algosteel.html) - February 20, 2016 

April 24, 2016

The day after I snapped the ALGOSOO sitting high in a now iceless Toronto harbour on April  24th, the New Orleans-like "Funeral Parade for other marked for disposal fleetmates began first with the ALGOMARINE departing Goderich under her own power and laden with road salt destined for the St. Lawrence river or Seaway ports of Johnstown, Ontario, and Valleyfield and Cote Ste-Catherine in Quebec during  her working final voyage to Montreal   (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2016/05/final-voyage-1-self-unloader-algomarine.html).  After a long Atlantic and Mediterranean crossing, the then scrap-tow MARI arrived for dismantling at Aliaga, Turkey, just a few days after the NAVI, previously known as ALGOMA NAVIGATOR (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/03/self-unloader-algoma-navigator.html). Then as if being played out like a planned mass execution scene from the movie, "The Godfather", the doomed oil and chemical tanker ALGOSAR  (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/10/oil-chemical-tanker-algosar.html) proudly motored upbound on the Welland Canal to her final destination at the International Marine Salvage (IMS) scrapyard in Port Colborne, while the self unloader PETER R. CRESSWELL (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2016/06/final-voyage-self-unloader-peter-r_27.html) limped her way downbound on one engine along the Welland Canal and Seaway to her rendezvous with the Turkey-bound scrap-tow tugs, all on the same day as the MARI was being towed out of Montreal. Coincidence, or WHAT? 😁
Hey, Budda Bing, Budda Bang!! Four down and the remain two continued their long term layup in the big smoke only now the 730' SPRUCEGLEN sat lashed off to the ALGOSOO for any undetermined stay due a lack of dry goods to carry.
That all changed for her and the other CSL gearless bulk carriers laid up in Montreal, and Thunder Bay as a bumper crop of prairie grain was announced and they all quickly got underway in late August in a big rush to move the surplus wheat and granola to St. Lawrence River elevators for pick up by salties to overseas markets. Also, the word got out that the upcoming winter was going to be a snowy one, and that additional supplies of road salt would need to be distributed to lake and river ports as soon as possible. To get the job done, not only was the idle in Sarnia ALGORAIL put back into service in mid September, but on August 26th, the waiting for dismantling, ALGOSTEEL got underway and remains active recently delivering salt to the Lake Michigan ports of Milwaukee and South Chicago.

June 4, 2016 

Arriving at Port Colborne. Photo by Nathan Attard

 Photo by Nathan Attard

Eventually ALGOSOO got underway too on October 2nd, though not to haul salt or iron ore like she was designed to do but instead to make the short passage across Lake Ontario to Port Weller and then the slow step by step climb up to the top of the Niagara Escarpment during her last voyage through every Welland Canal lock for last time, before arriving at her  final resting place  at the IMS scrapping dock in Port Colborne. Within days of her arrival, yard crews were seen by Nathan to be painting over her port of registry and namesake, Sault Ste. Marie, on her stern, and the Algoma brand "bear" logo on her stack. Over the years ALGOSOO was no stranger to Port Colborne. On April 5, 1982 she passed through Port Colborne's Lock 8 to be the first downbound laker of the new shipping season. During Port Colborne's 1999 Canal Days, the ALGOSOO sat proudly and open public tours as part of Algoma Central 100th Anniversary at a dock almost opposite to where she is being dismantled today.

Photo by Nathan Attard - October 14, 2016

Though blamed for a conveyor belt fire that also gutted the stern accommodation section of the ALGOSOO while laid up for winter in Port Colborne in March of 1986, you can see that there's currently been no stopping to the welder's torch as this last great classic laker to be built on the Great Lakes quickly becomes nothing more than a memory as seen in this series of photos taken by James Cameron and Nikki Thornton.  

Photo by Jeff Cameron - October 19, 2016

Photo by Jeff Cameron - November 6, 2016

Photo by Jeff Cameron - November 6, 2016

Photo by Jeff Cameron - November 13, 2016

Photo by Jeff Cameron - November 13, 2016

Photo by Jeff Cameron - November 13, 2016

Photo by Nikki Thornton - December 25, 2016

Photo by Shaun Vary - October 2016

Though Shaun Vary said his taken directly into the sun photo was not a great shot as his Lower Lakes Towing self unloader SAGINAW passed her by in October, I know it was a difficult one for him because the ALGOSOO was his first boat. At some point in his life Shaun left the SOO and went on to bigger and better things. It was his choice. For the past few years we're seeing Canadian shipowners replacing their aging fleet with state of the art and more fuel efficient vessels to remain competitive. It's a matter of survival. Though we all feel bad that another beauty is being dismantled abroad or on the lakes, at least the steel is being recycled. A greater concern maybe of what happens to the 20 or so crew members who are force out of work because their boat which as been there "home away from home" for extended periods of time is being scrapped. Al least 100 men and women sailors found themselves displaced from former Algoma ships alone last year. Until the new-builds arrive next season or later, perhaps some will find work by being recycled or rather, "rotated" on other Algoma ships or with other fleets. To make ends meets some may become short order cooks at a local dinner or McD's while others maybe entering "the winter of their life" and perhaps retiring to a beach in Florida or skipping a fish tug on Lake Erie may makes better sense when the axe falls. What will be, will be.

On a lighter note,
Happy 😊 New Year!!
Hey,  I don't know what it's like where you live but up here in the "Great White North" winter has returned big time. With the lack of snow that we received last year thanks señor El Niño, his distant cousin,  señora La Niña has returned the white stuff ❄️  ❄️ ❄️ threefold which has made for some great picturesque photo ops but very treacherous driving conditions for my current line of work as a transit bus 🚍 operator in Ottawa 🇨🇦 . I know, "What will be, will be". However, due to many ongoing yard work projects last spring, summer and fall, I wasn't able to blog as often or make it down to the River or Seaway to take my snaps so I really appreciate being able to use photos from other boat watchers like Nathan Attard, Jeff Cameron, Ted Wilush, Nikki Thornton, Brenda Benoit, and Joanne Crack. Along with their great photos I really appreciate the ongoing technical knowledge and life experiences from Ron Beaupre and Shaun Vary. Once again, Thanks and All The Best Wishes to You and My Readers in 2017. 😊 Carl Burkett