Daniel R. Pearce
519-426-3528 ext. 132
daniel.pearce@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/danreformer
PORT DOVER - Shaun Vary is immersed in the Great Lakes.
Seven generations of his family dating back to the mid-1800s have worked on the water, mainly as commercial fishermen.
As a child growing up in Port Stanley, Vary wanted to play with fish tugs like the ones his family worked on while other kids in other towns were picking up toy cars or trucks.
But because there weren’t any, he built his own using discarded cigarette packages.
In adulthood, he continued to build boat models on a grander, detailed scale (five of his are in the Port Dover Harbour Museum, including one of the doomed passenger steamship The Steamer Atlantic) and collected photos of the boats that ply the waters of Lake Erie’s north shore.
That collection has now formed the basis of a book that was launched at the Harbour Museum on Saturday.
The Vessels of Erieau, Shipbuilding & Drydock, details the history of the shipyard in that lakeside village at the far west end of the lake from the 1930s to the 1970s.
The site is now a marina, but the boats that were born there still sail across the lakes and into ports. Unlike ocean-going vessels that are eaten away by saltwater, freshwater boats can be rebuilt and will last forever.
It may sound kind of odd to publish a dry inventory of boats (fish tugs, working tugs and small ferries) but for people who live along the lakeshore, this is important, Vary, 44, explained.
It’s part of the culture of living on the lake to make note of the vessels you see all the time and to know their names the same way you know the names of most of the people in your community. What the St. Catharines resident is doing is providing the background history to those familiar boats: when they were built and where and how they were used.
“My hobby is keeping track of fish tugs. I have boxes of files. I decided to do this as my way of sharing some of my information,” explained Vary, who works as a chief engineer on a freighter hauling cargo around the Great Lakes.
Port Dover residents will be familiar with some of the Erieau-built ships. Some of them have passed through Port Dover or called Port Dover home.
“The book is very accurate, well-written document about vessels that relate back here to Port Dover,” said museum curator Angela Wallace. “Anything to do with shipbuilding along Lake Erie, we want to promote.”
• The Vessels of Erieau, Shipbuilding & Drydock, by Shaun R. Vary, is available at the Port Dover Harbour Museum.
Daniel R. Pearce
519-426-3528 ext. 132
daniel.pearce@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/danreformer
Daniel R. Pearce
519-426-3528 ext. 132
daniel.pearce@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/danreformer
PORT DOVER - Shaun Vary is immersed in the Great Lakes.
Seven generations of his family dating back to the mid-1800s have worked on the water, mainly as commercial fishermen.
As a child growing up in Port Stanley, Vary wanted to play with fish tugs like the ones his family worked on while other kids in other towns were picking up toy cars or trucks.
But because there weren’t any, he built his own using discarded cigarette packages.
In adulthood, he continued to build boat models on a grander, detailed scale (five of his are in the Port Dover Harbour Museum, including one of the doomed passenger steamship The Steamer Atlantic) and collected photos of the boats that ply the waters of Lake Erie’s north shore.
That collection has now formed the basis of a book that was launched at the Harbour Museum on Saturday.
The Vessels of Erieau, Shipbuilding & Drydock, details the history of the shipyard in that lakeside village at the far west end of the lake from the 1930s to the 1970s.
The site is now a marina, but the boats that were born there still sail across the lakes and into ports. Unlike ocean-going vessels that are eaten away by saltwater, freshwater boats can be rebuilt and will last forever.
It may sound kind of odd to publish a dry inventory of boats (fish tugs, working tugs and small ferries) but for people who live along the lakeshore, this is important, Vary, 44, explained.
It’s part of the culture of living on the lake to make note of the vessels you see all the time and to know their names the same way you know the names of most of the people in your community. What the St. Catharines resident is doing is providing the background history to those familiar boats: when they were built and where and how they were used.
“My hobby is keeping track of fish tugs. I have boxes of files. I decided to do this as my way of sharing some of my information,” explained Vary, who works as a chief engineer on a freighter hauling cargo around the Great Lakes.
Port Dover residents will be familiar with some of the Erieau-built ships. Some of them have passed through Port Dover or called Port Dover home.
“The book is very accurate, well-written document about vessels that relate back here to Port Dover,” said museum curator Angela Wallace. “Anything to do with shipbuilding along Lake Erie, we want to promote.”
• The Vessels of Erieau, Shipbuilding & Drydock, by Shaun R. Vary, is available at the Port Dover Harbour Museum.
Daniel R. Pearce
519-426-3528 ext. 132
daniel.pearce@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/danreformer