Along West Street's Port Promenade - November 19, 2015 |
Along West Street's Port Promenade - July 2, 2016 |
Hey, we just got back from Cuba where it was hot☀️, Hot🌞, HOT 😎 unlike here in the Great White North where it's not🌬, Not🌨, NOT anywhere near hot especially this morning waking up to -17 Celsius with a chill 💨 factor of -24. Brrrr😬. When not playing with my grandsons, I was busy getting the laundry done, and shovelling SNOW ❄️😳❄️. It is what it is. So since I haven't published a boat story in a while, here's short post about a cute little boat that has caught my eye more than once when visiting Port Colborne, and a quick background about her interesting names or lack there of.
When she was built in 1943, she was given the name KOLBE, after her owner, W.F Kolbe of Port Dover, Ontario. Along with shipbuilding, W. F. Kolbe and Company which had expanded to Port Dover from Erie, Pennsylvania near the turn of the 20th century had a large fish and poultry processing plant located on the banks of the Lynn River and was the community's largest employer from 1908 to 1992. The 63' KOLBE was one of 11 fish tugs in the W.F. Kolbe fleet, which was one of largest on the Great Lakes during its day. According to the SOS-'Save Ontario Shipwrecks' Spring 1995 newsletter, one of Fred Kolbe's sons, Robert, was very inventive and was issued a patent for freezing equipment which was wildely used in the Great Lakes commercial fishing industry. Cool 😁 eh!! The KOLBE continued to fish for the family business until 1951 when she was sold to Bill Siddall of Port Maitland. Apparently she was a pretty noisy boat according to an article written by Bill Warnick in The Dunnville Chronicle on October 10, 2001, where Bill says that when her engine was started at 5:30 a.m., "it seemed to rattle every weld in her and signalled that it was time for the residents of Port (Maitland) to awaken". Bill went on to say that in 1984 "the KOLBE was traded-in to John Van Halteren (owner of Dovercraft Marine in Port Dover) in partial payment to have John build the G.W. SIDDALL. Like the former fish tug EDITH GAULTIER (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/11/mystery-boat-edith-gauthier.html) the KOLBE became a tender for a Toronto dive school and renamed LOIS T.
Soon after she was sold to Nadro Marine, also of Port Dover and converted into a tugboat. Oh WOW, LOIS "T" sure looked pretty sharp in her Nadro black/red & white colours in this pic Jeff Cameron of St. Catharines caught of her on Lake Ontario in his boat approaching Port Weller on July 7, 2000.
When she was built in 1943, she was given the name KOLBE, after her owner, W.F Kolbe of Port Dover, Ontario. Along with shipbuilding, W. F. Kolbe and Company which had expanded to Port Dover from Erie, Pennsylvania near the turn of the 20th century had a large fish and poultry processing plant located on the banks of the Lynn River and was the community's largest employer from 1908 to 1992. The 63' KOLBE was one of 11 fish tugs in the W.F. Kolbe fleet, which was one of largest on the Great Lakes during its day. According to the SOS-'Save Ontario Shipwrecks' Spring 1995 newsletter, one of Fred Kolbe's sons, Robert, was very inventive and was issued a patent for freezing equipment which was wildely used in the Great Lakes commercial fishing industry. Cool 😁 eh!! The KOLBE continued to fish for the family business until 1951 when she was sold to Bill Siddall of Port Maitland. Apparently she was a pretty noisy boat according to an article written by Bill Warnick in The Dunnville Chronicle on October 10, 2001, where Bill says that when her engine was started at 5:30 a.m., "it seemed to rattle every weld in her and signalled that it was time for the residents of Port (Maitland) to awaken". Bill went on to say that in 1984 "the KOLBE was traded-in to John Van Halteren (owner of Dovercraft Marine in Port Dover) in partial payment to have John build the G.W. SIDDALL. Like the former fish tug EDITH GAULTIER (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/11/mystery-boat-edith-gauthier.html) the KOLBE became a tender for a Toronto dive school and renamed LOIS T.
Nice one 📷 Jeff!! Wish I had a boat 🚤 |
Taken from his boat, again, Jeff Cameron caught her tied off to former RCN tug RIVERTON waiting to be dismantled at Marine Recycling Corp.'s ship scrapyard in Port Colborne on August 17, 2015 |
With her hull still in Nadro colours, the name CHARLIE E
can clearly be seen in this Jeff Cameron pic (not from his boat)
on January 19,2003. What's with all the snow & ice in Port Colborne, eh!
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Naming a ship is required for identifying and communicating with other ships while in transit, but I've seen nothing written in stone or in marine paint for that matter that indicates where the ship's name should be displayed on a boat.
Why the low profile identity for this environmental-friendly "green" hulled workhorse with a such a prestigious past is beyond me. Like I'm sure most boat watcher's would agree, it truly is odd looking but I guess it simply is what it is.
Tied of to former CCGS VERENDRYE and harbour tug TECHNO ST. LAURENT in this series of photos
- October 9, 2013
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Capt. Gerry Ouderkirk's article about Robert Kolbe's fish tug, the ROBERT K. http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.ca/sites/default/files/NLMar95.pdf
And, Bill Warnick's piece and other articles in the Winter 2014 issue of The Grand Dispatch: http://www.port-maitland.ca/dispatch/Vol%202-A%20Number%201%20Winter%202014%20.pdf
Enjoy!! 😊
BTW, to view thousands of Great Lakes ship photos both modern and vintage, be sure to checkout http://www.greatlakesships.ca or http://www.oceanships.ca for photos of ships from elsewhere around the world. You'll be Glad You Did!!
AWESOME STORY with a cute little tug!
ReplyDeleteI first went on the Kolbe with Wayne Siddall in 1974 as a 10.year old boy wondering what it it was like to "work" as a fisherman. 45 years later i still visit Wayne and Nancy. And tell the story of my fieldtrip.
ReplyDeleteI am Geoffrey Cowles the lad who went on Waynes Kolbe on previous entry.
DeleteThanks for your note Geoffrey. Sorry I didn’t see it sooner. Was by Siddall’s fishery in Port Maitland in August. Lots of fish tugs in the feeder that day. They are a unique boat. Stay Safe, Carl
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