Former Bulk Carrier CEDARGLEN: Her Last Downbound Passage

  

The letters CSL painted amidships, short for Canada Steamship Lines, was the retiring CEDARGLEN's owner for her last 17 years of service, and the remaining piece of my latest Jigsaw Planet puzzle to be put in place from one of several photos I took of her on May 17, 2019 during her last downbound passage.

As CEDARGLEN passes the western entrances to old Galop canal Locks 27 & 28, her tattered look was as common as any ship having to rub up against the rough concrete seaway lock walls, especially one doing for over 43 years.

She was upbound and riding high approaching the Beauharnois Locks on June 27, 2018

 

It was not unusual to see the CEDARGLEN high in the water, however previously she'd be motoring upbound heading to Thunder Bay or an upper lakes grain elevator to take on a load of grain. On any other downbound passage, the 730' bulk carrier with her unique wheelhouse would make the passage low and laden in cargo to a downriver port.  But this transit was different, motoring empty and high on the CEDARGLEN last voyage under her own power to Montreal, where she'd wait to be towed overseas for dismantling.

She was high in ballast while passing the old Galop Canal Iroquois Lock 25, while slowly approaching the newer Seaway lock on my first rendezvous with the CEDARGLEN on November 3, 2013.

 

EMS ORE - Stan Ditcham Collection, Boatnerds

 

When launched in 1959 in Hamburg, Germany, her name was EMS ORE, and along with her eight sisters, the 546' bulk carrier with her sleek deep-sea bow and pilothouse amidships, was especially built to haul Venezuelan ore to Europe which she did for about 27 years. In 1976, EMS ORE along sisters RHRINE ORE and RUHR ORE, were purchased by Montreal's Hall Corporation to carry Labrador ore to Hamilton's steel mills and then prairie grain downbound to St. Lawrence River elevators. When entering service in 1979, the newly named MONTCLIFFE HALL sported a new fore body which lengthened her to 730', the midship pilothouse and cabins were modified and moved to the stern. While her original diesel engine remained, MONTCLIFFE HALL's funnel was made taller,  a bow thruster was also installed along with a controllable pitch propeller.

MONTCLIFFE HALL at Toledo in early 1980's courtesy of the late Jim Hoffman. Sadly gone but not forgotten. 😔

Downbound CARTIERDOC  at MacArthur Lock, Sault Ste. Marie, MI - Photo by Rod Burdick - Date Unknown.

 

CARTIERDOC passing beneath Bluewater Bridge, Port Huron -1989

 

 

When Hallco went out of business in 1988, the MONTCLIFFE HALL and twin sister STEELCLIFFE HALL were acquired by N.M. Paterson & Sons Ltd. of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Soon after her name was changed to CARTIERDOC while the STEELCLIFFE became the WINDOC. The other sister was purchased by Algoma Central and was named ALGONTARIO. Named .for the French explorer Jacques Cartier who discovered the St. Lawrence River Valley in 1534, with the added suffix "DOC" for Dominion Of Canada, CARTIERDOC continued the trade routes she was designed for with Paterson & Sons, hauling products from the Great Lakes to lower St. Lawrence River port with returning with cargoes of iron ore for steel mills in Hamilton, ON, Chicago, IL, and Burns Harbor, IN.

Rod Burdick captures a black hull CEDARGLEN loading iron ore at Marquette, MI - May 2005, her first visit there.

When Paterson's marine division ended in March 2002, the remaining active fleet of three ships was sold to Canada Steamship Lines.  CARTIERDOC became known as CEDARGLEN,  the PATERSON became PINEGLEN (https://carlzboats.blogspot.com/2015/11/gearless-bulk-carrier-pineglen_10.html) and the MANTADOC, TEAKGLEN (https://carlzboats.blogspot.com/2018/10/classic-straight-decker-manitoba-final.html). Their new names had two significant meanings, the "TREE" prefix acknowledged the ship names of the company, Tree Line Navigation which CSL had purchased in 1937 and the suffix "GLEN" for the ships of the Great Lakes Shipping Company like the GLENEAGLES which CSL acquired in 1926.

With her latest new name, CEDARGLEN continued to operate steadily for CSL and was awarded with "Top Hat" honours two years in a row for being the first downbound of the new shipping season at Lock 8 in Port Colborne in 2004 and 2005. On May 16, 2005, CEDARGLEN loaded iron ore at Marquette, MI, for the first time and to fit under the chutes, the end section of her starboard wing bridge had to be removed at a support beam. You can really see the CEDARGLEN's alter bridge in Rod Burdick's photo below.

 

CEDARGLEN returns to Marquette with current CSL "big red boat" hull in 2013 also taken by Rod Burdick. Another great photo Rod 👍📷👍

 

While celebrating our 44th Wedding Anniversary at Dewar's Inn on the River near Prescott, I caught the  CEDARGLEN again laden with cargo for a lower St. Lawrence port as she effortlessly glided by our cabin on September 23, 2018.

Despite her impressive 29,515 ton maximum carrying capacity, the recently made in China "newbuilds"which are ten feet longer and almost three feet wider, can carry almost nine thousand tons of cargo more than the hardworking  CEDARGLEN. I really hoped when I saw that she laid up for winter at Toledo's Ironhead Shipyard, that whenever her repairs were completed, the proud CEDARGLEN would be starting her 60th year of moving iron ore and grain on the deep and inland seas again.

It was not to be. There would be no hauling a load of grain to a St. Lawrence River port when she left Toledo on May 15, 2019, and except for being lowered in a Seaway lock,  the CEDARGLEN's next and last stop would be at her homeport, Montreal.

Gliding by channels markers with the eagerness of a newly built maiden, the veteran lady approaches Cardinal...

...and then within minutes no longer a subject for my camera lens to capture ever again.

 

CEDARGLEN in Molson ad: https://videopress.com/v/FVrDxfbf

Tied off next to the Montreal waterfront landmark,  Molson Brewery plant, was where Stéphane Marceau caught her shortly after arriving from her final passage on May 8, 2019. Oddly enough CEDARGLEN was underway when she was used as an artist rendition in a Molson Canadian beer ad that appear that year too which you can see by clicking on the link below the photo to the right.

With deep-sea tug V.B. HISPANIA leading the way with the OCEAN ECHO II at her stern till Quebec City, the shortened name EDA, left Montreal early on July 21, bound for Aliaga, Turkey as seen in René Beauchamp's photo below. Dismantling of the veteran bulk carrier began soon after being pushed ashore on August 26, 2019. Another great ship, gone but not forgotten.

Thank you Rod Burdick, Stéphane Marceau and René Beauchamp for allowing me to use your photos, and I sadly miss seeing the many beautiful Great Lakes ship photos offered to us by Jim Hoffman, who passed away last fall. We will remember your masterpieces always, Jim. 😔

Former Self Unloader ATLANTIC ERIE

And then there was one final piece to be placed to complete my latest Jigsaw Planet puzzle on Saturday morning, a major portion of the CSL Group's corporate flag emblem that's painted on the bow of all of their Canada Steamship Lines Great Lakes bulk carriers like their former self unloader ATLANTIC ERIE  which was being raised at Lock 7 in Thorold, the last of seven Welland Canal flight locks on May 24, 2013. The actual flag can be seen flapping in the wind from the ERIE's forward mast as she was be raised and then getting underway in these photos taken at a small observation area that use to be the vehicle approach for a jack-knife or bascule bridge that has since been removed. It's not a bad vantage point at all to see the activities in the lock with actual fence sections wide enough to let a camera lens poke through.  👍📷👍

Along the east approach wall, fleetmate 739' 10" CSL NIAGARA waits for ATLANTIC ERIE to pass before continuing her downbound passage and entrance into Lock 7.

Photo by Jeff Cameron - Sept 23, 1988. See more at https://www.shiphotos.com

Originally launched as the HON. PAUL MARTIN in 1984, this versatile 736' 7" Great Lakes and ocean-class self-unloading bulk carrier was known to carry grain from Thunder Bay to terminals on the Lower St. Lawrence, and then gypsum from Nova Scotia,  to ports in the southern US, the Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. In 1988 her name was changed to ATLANTIC ERIE to reflect the vessel's ocean and Great Lakes services. Soon after she was flagged Bahamas and transported various cargoes to Spain, Germany, Holland and more. In 1989 she was re-flagged Canadian with Halifax as her home port and primarily operated on the Great Lakes and Canada's east coast carrying grain, coal, iron ore, aggregates and road salt. She even unloaded magnetite ore to ballast an Hibernia Oil Platform off the Grand Banks.

I first photographed the ATLANTIC ERIE on July 7th, 2012 as she manoeuvred her way past a variety of markers and buoys near Mariatown while heading upbound towards the Seaway's, Iroquois Lock.

Since the HON. PAUL MARTIN was built to the new Seaway-max length, she was the longest vessel ever built at the then Georgian Bay located shipyard. 

On September 26, 2014 we were returning home from our 40th Wedding Anniversary road trip and "Old Stomping Ground Tour to Windsor" when we caught the downbound ATLANTIC ERIE again being walked through Iroquois Lock. Also got some nice pics of her as the sun was beginning to set at the lock and further down river on Dr. Steven's Drive. 

While I was trying to get a few in-your-face pics along the high-banked shoreline there,  my better half Janice, caught the ATLANTIC ERIE and CSL NIAGARA meeting again in what looked like a very close encounter of any kind. That's me barely visible above the sumac bushes to the right.

Like the old Double-mint Gum jingle, "they were like two, two, two boats in one" 😀....

...and then they were on their way heading in different directions.

The ATLANTIC ERIE's self unloading boom was decked out with Christmas lights when I caught her for the last time on Boxing Day 2014. The rendezvous was especially meaningful as it turned out to be her last downbound passage out of the Great Lakes because less than a month later  on January 15, 2015, she sustained significant damage after grounding on a sand bar off Iles-de-la-Madelaine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. She made it back up to Montreal on January 19th but never left the port again under her own power. Renamed SPIRIT OF SHPONGLE,  the former hardworking lady of the high and inland seas, left Montreal under tow on November 4, 2016 for Aliaga, Turkey where she has since been dismantled. Gone but not forgotten 😔

 

Former Self Unloader ALGOMA ENTERPRISE

 ENTERPRISE fueling up in Port Colborne - March 8, 2006

 

And then there was one last piece to put in place to complete my Jigsaw Planet puzzle of the 730' ALGOMA ENTERPRISE last Tuesday night. As you can see in the pic above it was the Algoma Central Corporation "Bear" logo or emblem that can be seen at the bow and also on the stack on any of their vessels. The ENTERPRISE didn't always bear the bear. While being built in 1979 at Port Weller Dry Dock, her hull was painted black and the familiar Upper Lakes Shipping's white trimmed diamond logo was displayed on her red and black twin side by side stacks until she and the Upper Lakes fleet were sold to Algoma Central Corp in February 2011. 

Originally her name was CANADIAN ENTERPRISE, and she was the last of five self unloading newbuilds that were uniquely designed with relatively blunt non-angled bows, flattened sterns and a long single hold all done to maximize cargo capacity. Along with introducing this new design of ships to the fleet, it was also the start of Upper Lakes including the prefix "CANADIAN" to a ship's name which generally commemorated a special event, a type of commerce or tradesman in Canada. 

The CENTURY was renamed JOHN D. LEITCH after her mid-body was rebuilt wider in 2002.

The first, the CANADIAN CENTURY with her tall "high-rise-like" wheelhouse situated a short distance from the point of her bow, resembled a traditional Great Lakes straight-decker, and commemorated Canada's Centennial year in 1967, the year it was built. The CANADIAN PROGRESS was next and the first of the remaining newbuilds that were wheelhouse aft, built in 1968 and her name acknowledged Canada's Centennial theme:"A Century of Progress". 

The TRANSPORT & OLYMPIC at Port Colborne, March 10, 2005.

The CANADIAN OLYMPIC was named after Canada's first Olympic games in Montreal in 1976, the year she was built.  The CANADIAN TRANSPORT named for the primary purpose of each vessel, to "transport" coal to Ontario's coal-burning power plants, was built in 1979 along with the CANADIAN ENTERPRISE which was named for the long-term business arrangement that was created to haul the coal from Thunder Bay to various Ontario Hydro power plants on the lower lakes. As Ontario Hydro's coal-burning plants began phasing out in the early 2000's, the vessels were used to haul other cargoes like grain, iron ore and road salt.  There were many other ULS ships that bore the prefix "CANADIAN" like the LEADER, HUNTER, and MARINER to name a few that joined the fleet through acquisitions or as rebuilds like the RANGER and EXPLORER, but most of them had already been sold for scraps before  Algoma Central took over the Upper Lakes Shipping and their fleet on February 25, 2011.

CANADIAN PROGRESS at Port Colborne, January 16, 2003.

Soon after the prefix "CANADIAN" was replaced with "ALGOMA", named for the region the corporation which started in 1899 first as a railroad and then a steamship company the following year was based, in Sault Ste, Marie, Ontario. 

 Others like the NAVIGATOR and TRANSFER continued to sail with ALGOMA prefix but they're now gone too including the special-built Ontario Hydro coal haulers, PROGRESS, OLYMPIC and now the ENTERPRISE arriving for dismantling at Marine Recycling Corp. ship-breaking yard in Port Colborne just last weeks ago.

The TRANSPORT with the OLYMPIC at her stern wintering below Lock 8 in Port Colborne in January 2, 2011, a little more than a month before being sold to Algoma Central Corporation.

While her days of hauling cargo is over, she looked very much alive and useful when I snapped ALGOMA ENTERPRISE for the first time while bearing the bear as she cautiously approached then passed the old Iroquois Lock entrance to the former Galop Canal as she made her way to the newer Seaway lock on September 14, 2015

For a 76' wide ship passing through several 80' wide Seaway and Welland Canal locks all season long, a few visible scrapes above the waterline is more than acceptable.

The side engine room hatches are great for ventilation and a wonderful vantage point to see the world go by.  

It was like I was looking at my dad as the seaway worker with a white hard hat on for safety and suspenders, (for doing what they're supposed to do), walks the big self unloader into the lock and then stops to look at her draft in front of the lockmaster's shack. It was a task or routine I saw my dad do many times when he was a lockmaster at Lock 8 in Port Colborne until he retired in 1991. Fond memories. He's gone and so soon will be the ENTERPRISE.

Beyond the bascule bridge but the tall superstructure of the ENTERPRISE with her 250' long discharge boom extended from it must still get by the east end arrester before the gates are closed and the ship is raised to Lake Ontario levels is needed.

Just about as far she'll go at the bow...

...the west end gates crack open....

...the arrester goes up...

...and then the ALGOMA ENTERPRISE gets underway. Got to love the observation area at Iroquois Lock.

My next rendezvous with the ALGOMA ENTERPRISE was almost a year to the day later on September 19, 2016 from my balcony at the Inn at Lock Seven as the big downbound self unloader entered then passed through Lock 7 in Thorold. It's a wonderful vantage point and an interesting tale to tell and see on another day.

In my last photo of the ENTERPRISE on December 29, 2018, she sat high in ballast and looking a little worse for wear while wintering in Port Colborne. Despite her looks, the hardworking girl would ply the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway for another two seasons while the ships to her stern, the former package freighter and then cement carrier ENGLISH RIVER, tug ROBIN LYNN and Algoma fleetmates ALGOWAY and ALGORAIL wait for dismantling to begin at the Marine Recycling Corp's ship-breaking yard there. Today, they are all gone but not forgotten while the ALGOMA ENTERPRISE sits in their place after more than a half of her tattered hull was hauled out of the water last week.  She served her owners well,  and was a great home away from home for her officers and crew for just over 40 years. Soon she'll be taken apart like a completed jigsaw puzzle and for many more years to come, her pieces will be used to make something new, over and over again  Not a bad a way to go. 

ALGOMA ENTERPRISE being hauled ashore on huge inflatable rolls in this photo by Bill Salton with his DJI Mavic Mini drone. Great shot and thanks Bill. Be Safe my friend. 

Former U.S. Army T-Boat PATHFINDER T-509

Photo by Janey Anderson -November 8, 2020

Photo by Janey Anderson -November 8, 2020

You'd be surprised what you can find when walking along a beach after a storm like what my sisters and I would do when visiting our grandparents farm which was located across the road from the Lake Erie shoreline in Wainfleet, west of Port Colborne. It was that kind of curiosity that returned when while standing on a dock below the main street of Clayton, New York in June 2015, when I saw this grand old tug, the BOWDITCH which the owner and skipper, Captain DeWitt Withington, would go on to say that when built in 1954, she was the U.S. Army "Small Tug", ST-1991. What an interesting story she's had and you can read about her whenever at (https://carlzboats.blogspot.com/2015/08/bowditch.html). 

Meanwhile it seems, my boat watching friend, Janey Anderson who lives in Toronto was equally intrigued when she came across a small black hulled boat at a Toronto harbour-front marina with the a crest and the words  "U.S. Army T-509" embossed on her bow.  Janey's photos and some of the descriptions she found online and posted on a Facebook group she moderates, The Prescott Anchor, appears in this post along with more information and pics that I found, but I'm hoping some of my friends who were in the marine services branch of  the U.S. Army, might be able to help me fill in the blanks and complete her story. Here's what we know:

The boat, now named PATHFINDER was privately bought in 2010 and is a modified 2001 series T-Boat built and placed in reserve in 1954 by Higgins Industries of New Orleans, Louisiana which built over 20,000 boats of all kinds during World War II and the post-war hull numbers appear to be another 7,000 until company closed in 1963.

The class of vessels known as T-Boats were originally built according to Higgins Industries as "Coastal Freighters" for the US Army during WWII. During the war, the Army built 170 wooden T-boats, known as design 259. Apparently there are very few of these boats still surviving today, however if you know of one, please send a pic or details my way and I'll add it to this story.

 

Photo by Janey Anderson -November 8, 2020

The post war steel boats were called design 2001 and were built in three shipyards from 1952-1954. At the time it was believed that there was going to be a second Korean War so they started building the boats and then were laid up most of their Army careers. The boat was specifically designed to cruise up the rivers of Korea with a load of troops, munitions or medical supplies. They were procured during a period when the Navy was handling the contracts for all the armed forces, and apparently it is possible that each of these boats also had a Navy number. They covered the numbering series T-424 through T-517, excepting the group T-466 through T-477. These numbers were assigned to existing vessels whose mission changed during this period.

Photo by Janey Anderson -November 8, 2020

Some of the 82 T-Boats built to this design did go to Korea for the Army, and at least one made an appearance in the Vietnam War. Almost as soon as they were built, some were made available to other government agencies, and starting in 1980, they began being sold to commercial ventures. T-509 never saw any action in Korea or Vietnam and seemed to start her career in the Army on reserve status in New Orleans as mentioned earlier however at sometime and I'd appreciate any input that you may have, the vessel was assigned to duty on the Great Lakes while stationed with the Army's Buffalo District.

 

 

In this photo that I found on the Bowling Green State University's - Historical Collections of the Great Lakes website, T-509 is tied off in Cleveland, Ohio at or about April 4, 1965.
 

From 1970 to 1984,  T-509 was assigned as a research vessel to Great Lakes Laboratory and named C.A. DAMBACH. I found this photo at usarmytboathistorypictures.shutterfly.com. Location, date and photographer is unknown.

Another usarmytboathistorypictures.shutterfly.com photo of the PATHFINDER being converted into a pleasure craft in Easport, Maine. Photographer and date unknown.

 

Photo by Janey Anderson -November 8, 2020

In August 20, 1984, the C.A. DAMBACH T-509 was transferred to the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, ME, and sometime there after her name was changed to PATHFINDER. That name stuck with Josh Brierton of Toronto, who purchased her and after modifications were completed, motored the PATHFINDER in May of 2010 from Eastport, Maine down the eastern seaboard, up the Hudson River, crossed upstate New York via the Old Erie Canal and finally across Lake Ontario to Toronto which is where she has remained as a "live afloat" pleasure craft. After living on board for over 7 years, the PATHFINDER was sold in 2017 but remains in Toronto which is where Janey Anderson found her sitting pretty but proud last month. 

It's amazing what you might find while walking along a shoreline, through a marina or the many internet pages of Wikipedia. But there's still information that I'd like add to her story like when was T-509 assigned to the U.S. Army's Buffalo district, and what were her crew's responsibilities when she worked as a research vessel on the Great Lakes and along the New England shoreline? I'm also wondering what was she up to when the T-Boat was known as NOCOMIS and CLEAR WATER?  If there's anything more you call tell,  please leave a comment and I'll add it the T-509's story.  

Stay Safe everyone and especially thinking of those who lost their lives when Pearl Harbor was attacked 79 years ago today. All Gone But Not Forgotten.

PHOTO UPDATE:

December 8, 2020:

To prepare for new coat of paint, PATHFINDER is being sandblasted in St. Catharines. Taken by Brayden Gavanac in 2014.

January 3, 2021:

Hey I came across another photo of T-Boat taken by Will Van Dorp who writes an interesting blog called tugster: a waterblog, https://tugster.wordpress.com/tag/knock-na-shee/  which as Will says, "helps landfolk see his home waters - the Port of New York. The photo of the KNOCK NA SHEE here was taken about five ago during one of his road trips along the eastern seaboard. There's also another neat article I found about retired T-Boats in the Chesapeake Bay area an online magazine called SOUNDINGS. Here's the links to it: https://www.soundingsonline.com/voices/chesapeake-t-boats-happy-in-retirement  Happy New Year and Stay Safe!!