Some Toronto Harbour Things

Since I was recalled to work just after Christmas, that has  thrown a number of timelines for projects into chaos. Which is what happens (though I don’t think I’m going to be laid off next winter at this rate).

Anyways, since I’m back at work and taking photos of Toronto Harbour again I thought I’d share some of them.

Here we have the Kajama. Currently a 3 masted schooner (though it can’t actually *sail* per se, built in German in 1930 it continued working as a merchant vessel (sailing, then motor) until 1998 when the Swedish owner-captain suffered a fatal heart attack. it was then purchased and brought over to Toronto.

This is the Empire Sandy, which was built during WW2 as a rescue tug for the Royal Navy. Sometime after that it was converted into a 3 masted schooner. ¹. The current sail plan was designed by Toronto local sailor (Tall ships and tugs) Gord Sloane, and it is actually capable to sailing properly.

Above are Toronto’s two fireboats, the William Lyon Mackenzie, which was built in Owen Sound and is named after a former mayor of Toronto (and is my dream job), and the William Thornton, named after the first Toronto Fire Department firefighter to die on the job (in the 1840s).

The two red and white tugs here are the (L) Salvage Monarch and the (R) Omni Coastal. Salvage Monarch is often used to push around the cement barge Metis, while the Omni Coastal is often used for ship assist. The Coastal used to be owned by Groupe Ocean, and was sold to Toronto Drydock after they did a number of subcontracting jobs for Groupe Ocean in 2019. It ran aground just outside Toronto Harbour in in 2023 and was repaired and returned to service. It’s Toronto Drydock’s only good ship-assist tug, and has a reversible pitch propeller and throttles on the bridge wings outside the wheelhouse.

Just another photo of Toronto sunrise, looking over the Easter Gap/Towards Cherry Street as we head to Ward’s Island.

These photos are of the Ned Hanlan, which was run by the City of Toronto and named after the famous rower from Toronto. It used to sit outside the Maritime Museum which was on the Exhibition Grounds, however after that Museum shut down the tugboat was moved to Hanlan’s Point, on Toronto Island.² it is welded to the formers that it sits upon, and is remarkably intact considering the complete and utter neglect. I enjoy looking at it when I come into Hanlan’s Point, although I rarely get a chance to walk around it.

I’m sure there’ll be more photos from Toronto Harbour to come this year especially in the spring and the summer as it gets more active.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Sandy
2. https://gltugs.wordpress.com/ned-hanlan/