Algoma Montrealais

Montrealais entering Port Colborne harbour on its way down the Welland Canal on September 27, 2014

The Montrealais is a lake freighter launched in 1962. She is a bulk carrier currently operated by Algoma Central Corp.[1][2] When launched, she was the largest Canadian freighter on the Great Lakes.[3]

She collided with the Algobay in 1980, severely damaging the bows of both vessels.[4][5][6] Montrealais required over $1.5 million CAD in repairs.

Her captain was issued the ceremonial top hat traditionally issued to the captain of the first vessel to set out to transit the St Lawrence Seaway, in 1963 and 2009.[1][7][8]

The Montrealais was renamed to the Algoma Montrealais in 2012, after the Upper Lakes fleet was sold to Algoma Central.[9]

The Algoma Montrealais wintered in Montreal in 2014, laying up for the winter on December 30, 2014.[10] In a comment posted on shipspotting.com, it was reported that she would be scrapped in 2014, and that she was the Great Lakes' last steam-powered lake freighter under the Canadian flag.[11]

The winter of 2013–2014 was a hard winter on the Great Lakes, and to provide additional tonnage to help ease the back-log, the Algoma Montrealais was activated for the 2014 season. In May 2015, she was officially retired and towed to Turkey for scrapping.

References

  1. 1 2 "News Briefs". Peterborough Examiner. 2010. Retrieved 2012-01-04. Upper Lakes Group owns the laker S. S. Montrealais that was featured in yesterday's traditional top hat canal-opening ceremony. mirror
  2. ↑ George Wharton. "Montrealais". boatnerd. Retrieved 2012-01-04. mirror
  3. ↑ "Largest cargo of wheat loaded". The Leader Post. 1962-07-05. Retrieved 2012-01-04. The new freighter, Montrealais, was loaded with 893,462 bushels of No. 2 Northern wheat.
  4. ↑ George Wharton. "Algobay: Algobay 1978 - 1994, Atlantic Trader 1994 - 1997". boatnerd. Retrieved 2012-01-04. The Algobay was involved in a head-on collision with the Upper Lakes steamer Montrealais on an extremely foggy St. Clair River just below Port Huron, MI on June 25, 1980 with resulting extensive bow damage to both vessels. mirror
  5. ↑ "Lakers collide in River". Windsor Star. 1980-06-25. Retrieved 2012-01-05. Petty Officer Allen a US Coast Guard spokesman in Detroit, said the collision occurred at 5:08 am in dense fog off St Clair.
  6. ↑ "Freighter collide in St. Clair River". Weekend Herald. 1980-06-25. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  7. ↑ "Passage to the Sea". New York Times. 1965-04-21. Retrieved 2012-01-04. The ice is gone, the bulk carrier Montrealais was the first ship to head upstream, and navigation on the St. Lawrence Seaway is under way again. mirror
  8. ↑ Karen Wells (2009-04-29). "Captain Peckford leads the way". Lewisporte Pilot. Retrieved 2012-01-04. The ship he is mastering now, the Montrealais is 46-years-old this year. It is 730 feet long with a 75-foot beam. mirror
  9. ↑ "Algoma Montrealais". boatnerd. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  10. ↑ "20th Annual Winter Lay-up List: 2013 - 2014". boatnerd. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Algoma Montrealais, Algolake & Algosoo - IMO 5241142". Shipspotting. 2014-01-09. Archived from the original on 2014-01-09. The Algoma Montrealais just finished it's [sic] 51st and final year of service on the Great Lakes.

External links

Media related to Montrealais (ship, 1962) at Wikimedia Commons

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