Final Voyage(2): Self Unloader PETER R. CRESSWELL (Revisited)

At Ogdensburg, New York - August 11, 2015

You may have seen one on a recent episode of NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, or on the HBO series TREME, or maybe you simply lucked out while taking a New Orleans "City Tour" of one of their many historic cemeteries.  The "Funeral Parade" or "First Line", consists of a Grand Marshal and a multitude of family and friends of the deceased slowly marching behind a horse drawn hearse or a pallbearer carried casket through the narrow streets of the French Quarter and accompanied with a brass band playing a variety of slow and somber dirges and hymns like "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" while making their way to the cemetery. c):-(( However, when leaving the cemetery or when the hearse breaks away from the procession, the streets come alive during the "Second Line" with dancing in the streets and upbeat jazz tunes bellowed loudly like "When the Saints Go Marching In" or "Joe Avery's Blues". Oh YAAA!! c):-))

Above Cardinal, Ontario - April 27, 2016

Our funeral parades are over, for now at least. The last little while has been tough for us boat watchers as we tracked the last voyages of not one but four Great Lakes carriers. Though for some, their tattered appearances may have suggested the time was right for their demise but in reality or like what we often hear when we've lost a loved one, "they all still had a lot of good years left in them".
It just seems like yesterday when I stood along the St. Lawrence River and snapped the proud ALGOMARINE motoring by low in the water with her holds still partially laden with road salt working her way down to Montreal, her last port of call under her own power. Renamed "MARI" for her scrap-tow overseas, the former 730' self unloader was hauled up onto the beaches at the Aliaga, Turkey scrapyards just this week awaiting the wrecker's torch.

At Toronto, Ontario - March 3, 2015

ALGOMA NAVIGATOR's future looked pretty bleak when I snapped her in an iced over  Toronto Harbour in March 2015 (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/03/self-unloader-algoma-navigator.html), and she appeared to be innocently waiting for another season to begin almost a year later when I caught her laid up in the Old Port of Montreal last February. Meanwhile the powers at be at Algoma Central had other plans for the former British-built deep-sea bulk carrier. Yesterday, the renamed "NAVI" arrive at Aliaga and awaits offshore for her fire piercing end to begin. Ouch c):-o

At Montreal, Quebec - February 15, 2016

At Morrisburg. - July 14, 2013 (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/10/oil-chemical-tanker-algosar.html) 

Port Weller Dry Dock, May 13, 2016 - by Brenda Benoit

Meanwhile, at both ends of the Welland Canal, preparation appeared to be just about over for two more Great Lakes beauties that had been placed on Algoma's chopping block list before the previous winter layup. For some time now, Algoma has been using the closed Port Weller Dry Docks to refurbish their bulkers like ALGOMA GUARDIAN (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/07/bulk-carrier-algoma-guardian_9.html) . When all was said and done, each carrier looked especially ready to get back to work sporting a fresh coat of paint. 
That would not be the case for the 434.5' tanker ALGOSAR who spent the winter having contaminates removed and the only new paint that was added to her hull were a couple lines of Algoma blue to remove her name and port of registry as shown in Brenda Benoit's photo above. Built in 1978 in Orange, Texas, the SAR may not have been as pretty and sleek-looking as her sisters, but she always looked clean and well maintained, a quality that would have made my Dad proud. She was designed to do one thing, haul oil and she did that job well for her previous owner, Cleveland Tankers when she plied the lakes as GEMINI and during her 11 years with Algoma Tankers. What more can you ask for. c):-)

At Port Colborne, Ontario, May 15, 2016 - Photo by Nathan Attard

When word came out that the PETER R. CRESSWELL was being sold off to the ship breakers, most everyone believed she'd be cut apart at Port Colborne's International Marine Salvage, where she was laid up at their dock at the end of 2015's shipping season.

At Port Colborne, Ontario - Photo by Nathan Attard

Removing an engine crankshaft and other parts to be reused on fleetmate, CAPT. HENRY JACKMAN which was berthed for winter at the stone dock below Lock 8 seemed honourable and a short scrap tow would hardly be noticeable to onlookers once the cutting was completed on the former Great Lakes classic AMERICAN FORTITUDE (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2015/05/scrap-tow-american-fortitude-final.html).

It was not to be. Smoke appearing from the CRESSWELL's stack meant one thing. No, there wasn't going to be a new Pope, but instead the PETER R. CRESSWELL would sail again. It would not be to pick up a load of salt like she'd done many times over the years but rather a "First Line" final voyage or funeral parade to Montreal where she'd too become a scrap tow bound for Turkey. After turning around beyond the canal entrance and operating on her remaining engine, the slow procession to her end began on May 17th. Though there weren't any brass bands bellowing or dancing along the shoreline, boat watching "Second Liners" we're there, not with musical instruments but instead with their waving hands and cameras clicking to celebrate her passing and a supporting gesture to her crew. Your images like these below and those posted on several Facebook boat watching groups were appreciated by all I'm sure.

PETER R. CRESSWELL and ALGOSAR scrap tow meet above Port Robinson, Ontario - Photo by Ted Wilush

Another view of PETER R. CRESSWELL and ALGOSAR meet - Photo by Jeff Cameron

Passing beneath Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, Johnstown, Ontario - by PeggyAnn Adamson

Near Summerstown, Ontario - Photo by Brenda Benoit

Straightdecker ALGOWEST - Photo by Andy Torrence

When launch in 1982 at Collingwood Shipyards, her name was ALGOWEST and she was the first straightdeck bulk carrier built for Algoma Central since 1968. The 730' new build immediately started breaking records like carrying 26,876.45 tons of barley from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Baie Comeau, Quebec on her maiden voyage. When the wheat and grain trade started to decline, ALGOWEST was converted into a self unloader at Port Weller Dry Docks in 1998 which allowed her to continue to prove her worth by carrying new cargos like stone, aggregates, coal, and salt, and more efficiently discharge iron ore. Not wanting to waste anytime in the new 1999 shipping season, the now self unloading ALGOWEST picked up a load of salt from Windsor for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but not after being awarded the Top Hat as the first upbound to enter the Welland Canal on March 30, 1999.

Self Unloader ALGOWEST - Photo by Andy Torrence

My first meeting with the PETER R. CRESSWELL was at the Rideau Bulk Terminal dock near Mariatown, Ontario - October 8, 2012. Read all about it here: http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2012/10/self-unloader-peter-r-cresswell.html

She was always known as PETER R. CRESSWELL at any of my encounters with the self unloader, a name that was given to her at a special re-christening on October 14, 2001 to commemorate Algoma Central's then retiring President and Chief Executive Officer. Regardless of her name, she continued to set records hauling road salt and she was upgraded to better handle cement clinker during the winter of 2003/04. Unfortunately I was never able to get up-close and personal with the CRESSWELL as most of my photos were taken from a distance and though it was good to see that she was always kept busy, perhaps too many cargoes of salt and cement clinker caused her early retirement and upcoming demise.

Taking on a load of cement clinker at St. Mary's Cement plant in Bowmanville, Ontario - October 21, 2012

At Ogdensburg, New York - August 11, 2015

PETER's scrap tow getting under way June 14, 2016- Photo by Simon LeBrun

PETER near Contrecour, Quebec - photo by Simon LeBrun

With most of name blackened over along her stack and former company emblems, and unable to motor on her own, the former proud self unloader was eased away from Montreal's Wharf 29 on the morning of June 14th by a couple of Svitzer tugs. Soon after, secured behind the deepsea tug FAIRPLAY 32, the scrap tow PETER commenced her over 6,000 km journey to the shipbreakers in Turkey.
While all of the other recent Algomas to go to scrap or "recycling" have been acquisitions like former ULS boats, PROVIDER, TRANSFER, PROGRESS, QUEBECOIS, MONTREALAIS, and of course the JAMES NORRIS, though she's no longer a straightdecker, when the PETER R. CRESSWELL gets hauled ashore in Aliaga, she will be the first of the "built for Algoma" new-builds to be fully dismantled. First to come, First to go.

On a lighter note, for those still not completely certain what a New Orleans "Funeral Parade" is, here's a short YouTube video of a scene taken the 1971 James Bond thriller "Live and Let Die"   https://youtu.be/PQUs8RlsQ14 .  Enjoy and have a Great Summer!!. However for those of my blog readers living in the Southern Hemisphere with winter approaching, "Gee, That's Too Bad!!" c):-()

Final Voyage (1): Self Unloader ALGOMARINE

Having had her masonry restored and trim given a fresh coat of red paint during our mild winter, the built in 1838 historic windmill and former lighthouse stands proudly along the St. Lawrence near Prescott, Ontario while the also proud but not so pretty looking, Algoma self unloader ALGOMARINE, motored downbound on her final voyage in the background of my above snap on April 27.  Unlike so many of her predecessors which made their last journey towed at the end of a line behind a tug, or riding high in ballast, the 730' classic laker was dying with dignity, "working" like she had done for 48 years.

Laden with salt that had been mined deep beneath Lake Huron,  the grand ol'gal, ALGOMARINE left Goderich under her own power on April 25, and before arriving at her final destination of Montreal, discharges of her precious cargo were planned for Johnstown, Ontario, and in Quebec at Valleyfield and Cote Ste. Catherine. It was a passage that no boat watcher wanted to miss and to all of you who shared so many wonderful photos on various Facebook boat groups during her transit from Goderich, along the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers, Welland Canal, upper St. Lawrence River and Seaway, and to her final arrival in Montreal, I just want to say "Thank You". I'm certain any of her crew who may have been following your posts appreciated your photos too.   

Unfortunately my day job prevented me from getting down to Johnstown to see her discharge her partial load of road salt, however I did get to snap her expertly navigate the various buoys between Battle of the Windmill Park and Cardinal, and when I captured her sliding beneath the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, I couldn't help but remember when I snapped another classic laker and fleetmate ALGOMA MONTREALAIS nearly in the same spot while she too was motoring to Montreal for her final voyage on July 24, 2014.

When built in 1968 at the Davie Shipyards in Lauzon, Quebec her name was LAKE MANITOBA and owned by Nipigon Transport of Montreal. Back then she was a typical classic 'straightdecker' just like her future fleetmate ALGOMA MONTREALAIS and like so many Great Lakes bulk carriers, she was active in the Canadian prairie grain trade eastward and then more often returned upbound with a load of iron ore. When Algoma Central purchased Nipigon Transport in 1987, the straightdecker's name was changed to ALGOMARINE and two years later, she was converted into a self unloader at Port Weller Dry Docks.
She had a bold look about her when I first snapped ALGOMARINE as she almost motionlessly approached Lock 1 on October 10, 2013. Just like during her early years, she continued to haul grain, and iron ore, but it was more likely the ongoing delivery of salt to so many communities throughout the Great Lakes during her 29 years as a self unloader that gave her, her tired and aging look during her last trip and back during my Port Weller rendezvous (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/10/self-unloader-algomarine.html) almost two years ago.

Cargo delivered and riding high in the water, ALGOMARINE arrived for the last time under her own power at Montreal  on April 30th. Within days her Algoma colours and "Bear" emblem on her stack and bow were blackened, along with every letter except "MARI" which became her new name. While the deep-sea tug DIAVLOS PRIDE lead her scrap-tow MARI out of Montreal on May 18th destined for the Aliaga, Turkey, last voyages to the scrapyards also got underway for two more Algoma boat watcher's favourites, the self unloader PETER R. CRESSWELL and tanker ALGOSAR. 
But that's another story...(to be continued).

River Meet (3) Bulk Carrier TECUMSEH (Revisited)

So we meet again TECUMSEH. As a ship, she's a proud survivor and like the downbound she is about to meet, the 641' bulk carrier is named after a hero who was instrumental in keeping Canada "Strong and Free". In Shawnee, TECUMSEH means "Shooting Star" or "Panther Across The Sky" but when I snapped her early last month, she looked like a formidable gray lipazzan galloping all out towards an upcoming encounter upstream near "Galop" Island.

I first met this gray lady almost two years ago while she transited Iroquois Lock (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2014/08/bulk-carrier-tecumseh.html) and though she looks like so many new-build lakers that we see today with her accommodation section and wheelhouse aft, the built in 1973 dry bulk carrier was named SUGAR ISLANDER and spent most of her early operating years as a saltie hauling sugar from Hawaii to California. She has primarily been operating on the fresh water seas of the Great Lakes since being purchased by Lower Lakes Towing of Port Dover in 2011 while named TECUMSEH after the First Nation's Chief who played a major role in Canada's successful repulsion of an American invasion in the War of 1812.

This visit along the river was turning out to look a lot like being in "Boat-watching Heaven"; first to snap a sail past by the new FEDERAL CARIBOU, then a meet of the CARIBOU and the Wagenborg multipurpose dry bulk carrier FRASERBORG across from Prescott, and now while parked near the Ingredion starch plant in Cardinal, I was about to capture my second ship meet in one day. COOL!! c):-D However it's not like it hasn't happened before, in fact during one river visit, I captured three meets in a matter of minutes. Now that was REALLY COOL, but at this meet something different was happening....

 ...as the older gray bulker continued to push water upbound at a good clip, the downbound FRASERBORG appeared to be crossing the TECUMSEH's bow. Oh NO!! Was a collision imminent??

Hey, I'm no expert and nor have I helmed any size of motorized  vessel in many years but everything I've read and witnessed while watching boats pass or meet along the narrow shipping channels of the Welland Canal, St. Lawrence River and Seaway, is when two ships are approaching head-on, both should alter their course to the starboard (or right) so that both ships will pass "Port-to-Port" or on each ship's left side.

I have to admit when first I saw the 730' Lower Lakes Towing's bulk carrier KAMINISTIQUA turn hard to port while we were picnicking at Loyalist Park near Mariatown on May 19, 2013,  I thought for certain she was going to ram the CSL self unloader RT. HON. PAUL E. MARTIN amidships. c):-o  But then soon after the 740' MARTIN also started to turn to the port as seen in this series of photos (here and below), so both big bulkers were simply preparing for a proper "Port-to-Port" sail past.

Both skippers and crews certainly had their work cut out for them when meeting at this location because even though the channel here is quite wide, meeting ships must navigate around the many shoals that were created when the river valley was flooded for the St. Lawrence Seaway opening in 1959, so each ship must follow the flow or channel of the original St. Lawrence River where it's deepest. A complicated process for mariners but a very exciting view for boat watchers and picnickers alike.

It was pretty "easy-peasy" a little later for the RT. HON. PAUL E. MARTIN when she met another Lower Lakes bulker, the 608' MANITOBA across from Ron Beaupre's boat dock in Mariatown.

Ditto that for the downboud 610' HELOISE (now named CAPE) when she met the 729' ALGOMA SPIRIT above Prescott on December 9, 2012...

...and the 481' tanker SHAMROCK JUPITER moment later...

...and another tanker, the 481' NORTH CONTENDER above Cardinal.
According to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (and narrow channels), no vessel ever has "Right of Way" over other vessels. Two power-driven vessels meeting each other head-on (meaning seeing the other vessels masthead and running lights in line with each other) both vessels are required to alter course to the starboard   so that they pass on their port side and avoid colliding with each other. As the saying goes:

"If you see three lights ahead, starboard wheel and show your red". 

If one of the two power-driven vessels are crossing, the vessel which has the other on the starboard side must give way and avoid crossing ahead of her. The saying is

"If to starboard red appears, 'tis your duty to keep clear"...

"Act as judgement says is proper: port or starboard, back or stop her". 

That can be easier said than done because if there's no room, time to turn or stop the heavy ship, a catastrophic collision could occur.

Such was the case on July 30th, 1962 when after leaving her berth in Detroit, the 450' British bulk carrier MONTROSE crossed in front of the downbound tug & barge, B.H. BECKER & ABL 502 while attempting to veer across the Detroit River to enter the upbound channel.

Photo from Ten More Tales of the Great Lakes by Skip Gillham.

The barge, hauling 1,600 tons of cement clinker out of Port Huron, tore a 48' hole the port side of the less than two years old MONTROSE. Taking on water immediately and caught in the Detroit River's strong current, the crippled MONTROSE was pushed downstream until she ran aground and rolled over onto her starboard side beneath the Ambassador Bridge. Fortunately no souls were lost, and though the MONTROSE was eventually raised and then repaired over that winter in Lorain, Ohio, when she got underway, her name was changed to CONCORDIA LAGO and she never sailed on the Great Lakes again.

As it turned out no collision occurred between the TECUMSEH and FRASERBORG during my river meet. As one might normally expect, there was no need to hastily drop anchors, blast their horns loudly or make evasive maneuvering to avoid each other, because according to a comment I received from local Marc Beach, it's a common practice at this location for the downbound vessel (or the FRASERBORG in this case) to cross over to the other side of the channel so that she can stay close to the Canadian shoreline and Toussaint Island (in the distance in the top photo) before turning into Iroquois Lock. Makes sense to me, and thanks for the input Marc!!

Meanwhile, the FRASERBORG has since discharged her load of grain in Greenore, Ireland and is currently underway in the Baltic on her way to Oxelosund, Sweden. As for the TECUMSEH, this versatile bulker made at least two transits along this section of the Seaway and continues to prove to her owner and boat-watchers everywhere that "this old grey mare remains exactly what she used to be and then some. What more can you ask for of a proud ship and her crew? c):-D  

UPDATE -May 14, 2020:

Yes, the former Hawaiian sugar carrier has continued being of value on the Great Lakes until an engine room fire crippled her in the middle of the Detroit River last December. Completely lost of power, the TECUMSEH dropped both anchors to avoid grounding and was eventually towed to Windsor where she wintered. Early last month McKeil Marine tugs LEONARD M. and JARRETT M. towed her to Ashtabula, Ohio where repairs to her engine continues. We all hope she returns to work soon.
The TECUMSEH also appeared to be having a challenging day with St. Lawrence River current when I caught her last, on May 7, 2017. No need to drop anchor that time, but an interesting story that will have to be told sometime soon.