Working on Great Lakes tankers

[ray2]

was on the Kingston Windsor and London between 55 and 59. were good boats to work on pay comparable and good food. conditions good also

[Old sailer]

I worked on Imperial tankers from 1962 till 1971. First aboard the Imperial Simcoe and many others after that. Starting as a deckend and leaving as a second mate. As deckends we spent most of our time painting and washing things down when not needed for mooring. Most of the ships where small and when rough where under water like a duck. We had only 400hp on the Canalers and used the eddy at the Bluewater bridge to help getting up under the bridge. I was on board the night the Daniel Morell went down of Harbour beach , fortunetly our Captain made the right choice and anchored in Sarnia bay. Many ships where having a tuff time out on the lake. We also got to explore the east coast on these tankers and many a time you would have sleep near the wall with your matress pulled out to stay in your bunk. Sailing looking back these where very memorable times and all good. Imperial was a very good company to work for.

[kamco]

I sailed mostly on Tankers in the 1970s and 80s. Shell Canada,Imperial Oil.They were comfortable to live on.Pay was higher than the Canadian Union ships and we had benifits,pension health care summer holidays.My time with these companies was memorable.The Canadian oil companies were miles ahead of the other Canadian great lakes carriers as far as crew were concerned,They were also good feeders

[Guest]

In looking through some older photographs (1970s through the 1990s) I came across several different tankers back when there were far more Great Lakes based operators than there is today. It brought a few questions to my mind. What were these vessels like to sail on? Were the wages higher or the same as those aboard standard freighters?