A couple of weeks ago, I was in Saint Catharines for the CNRS/NASOH conference. Unfortunately I was there just for the last session, and everybody was exhausted and wanted to go home.
I figured, since I was in that part of the province anyways, I would go to Port Colborne, at the southern end of the Welland Canal. I mean, since I was close, I might as well pick up some beer from a brewery there I like (and where I picked up beer the last time I was there – Breakwall, for those who are curious).
I’ve not been in Port Colborne since 23-25 June 2020, when I was there aboard the Ocean Gauthier to escort the USS St Louis through the Welland Canal on it’s transit out to wherever US Warships about to be decommissioned immediately after being built go. (This wasn’t the ship that hit that Desgagnes tanker in Montreal, that was the Billings in 2019).
Anyways, Port Colborne is a fantastic place for ship-watching, since it’s at the bottom of the Welland Canal, and it’s a convenient place for tying up your boat if you need to be on Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, or along the Welland. Some of the vessels I expected to be there were not (like the dive support vessel ASI Clipper, apparently working in Lake Ontario these days). But there were a few others and of course I took photos.
So the first is the JW Cooper, Port Colborne’s pilot boat (white over red, Pilot in Bed, iykyk). This vessel is designed to take pilots out to freighters. Actually to exchange pilots, because the canal and Lake Erie are two different pilotage zones. So is Lake Ontario, but that transfer station is at Port Weller, actually where an Great Lakes Pilot’s Association “base” is. The pilots stand out on the front bit, where they hold onto the rail, and the pilot boat gets extremely close to the freighters, and the pilots transfer to the ladders from there. This is very different than what we did on the tugs that I used to work on- we only did pilot transfers in Hamilton harbour, but we did it with our tugboats and we only ever did it when the freighters were anchored.
Ah, the Seahound. One of McKeil’s smallest tugs. Sometimes found in Hamilton Harbour. I believe Seahound is a former Nadro Marine tug (a Port Dover company, famed for turning single screw tugs into 2 or 3 screw tugs). Anyways, it’s one of the smaller ones and I’ve seen it in Port Colborne before.
The Lincoln R., registered in Port Colborne, is one of the *classic* Great Lakes fishing tugs, known to some as Turtlebackers from the way that they are covered above the deck. This provides some cover against the weather but I’ve heard in hot conditions it’s like being in an oven. They are an absolute classic and I always grin when I see one. IIRC, this vessel offloads its catch directly in Port Colborne, just a few feet from where it ties up. Most of the working is done off that aft port quarter, which is why it has an opening there.
So the Charlie E. I thought it was a fishing tug, then I looked it up. This is really interesting. It was indeed built as a fishing tug- in 1954. Somewhat recently converted, and owned by the shipbreaking operation (or ship recycling, if you want to be polite) in Port Colborne- which is extremely busy and apparently has contracts and business set up for the next 20 years, last I heard. But it makes sense that they’d need a tug to help deal with the ships there. More on this later.
Here is the Limnos, one of the Coast Guard’s ships assigned to the Great Lake region (along with Griffon, Samuel Risley and Judy LaMarsh – there’s also a bunch of SAR boats but they’re too many to count easily). It’s foremost a science vessel- named after Limnology, which is the study of inland waters. It also helps out with buoy tending, which is nice. I used to say I’d love to get a job on this boat because then I’d make the scientists called me Doctor. I’ve since moved on from that ambition but I’d love to get a tour someday.
The final photo here is of the Shipbreaker’s yard, from the usual vantage point of in Port Colborne, rather than across the river. There’s far fewer ships than I’m used to seeing here- the last time there were a few, include an old package freighter (from before the 400 series highways were built) that had been converted into a cement carrier. Gone now. The only ship remaining that I can see now is the former Algoma Transport, which had its final season in 2023.
I hope to share more ship spotting this year from Toronto as interesting things happen.
