Boatnerd Discussion Forum

guest wrote:Truly, I think very very few people would care. The Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston has been a little precarious in the last year or so with its property.

I suspect the donations from individuals, corporations and government bodies would be somewhere near zero for a project like this.

The time for this was pre-1970.. the opportunity was missed.

And yes it was missed. Compared to the Americans, here in Canada we pretty well keep `missing the boat` when it comes to preserving and displaying our maritime artifacts.

So many canallers and not one saved. And now almost all our `60s built 730s are pretty well gone as well. So when it comes to preserving these vintage vessels, we pretty well never did get it.

Oh I suppose people can cry about costs etc, but when it comes down to preserving our maritime heritage, other `things` seemed to take priority. Shame, shame, shame. Indeed.

Truly, I think very very few people would care. The Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston has been a little precarious in the last year or so with its property.

I suspect the donations from individuals, corporations and government bodies would be somewhere near zero for a project like this.

The time for this was pre-1970.... the opportunity was missed.

Back to the original subject. Are all the true Canallers gone? What about the West Indies Transport (WIT) people. they bought many Canallers for stationary use - that isn't hard on hulls, maybe there are some left. As for Canaller hulls - there is no shortage of them. The Adrian Iselin, Tampico, Bob-Lodoc, the very-well preserved example at ADM-Windsor. That's just off the top of my head, there may be more. The big problem is finding an engine & upperworks. Low H.P. Triples, Unaflows, and Diesels aren't common, but they're out there. At worst - find the hull & rebuild the houses according to original plan. Expenssive: yes, initially. But in the long run, maybe not. Unlike 730-footer, you have a small hold that lends itself to everything from a bar or restaurant to secured storage, Put it in Toronto - they just lost a successful floating rrestaurant. It wouldn't be a truly original Canaller, but it would be realistic. Isn't it worth saving a piece of Canadian history almost as important as the Canadian Pacific (which united the Provinces)?

I don't see your point. The Marine Muse um of Upper Canada WAS a public institution - and so is Heritage Toronto, which used to be known as the Toronto Historical Board. How much more pubic can you get? People donated to it thinking their artifacts would be on display at the museum and accessible by the public. It started out that way, but then...

Jay Bascom wrote:The rest of the artifacts formerly on display there are now secreted away in the warehouse dungeons of the inappropiately-named Heritage Toronto, whose chief factotum proudly admits that it has them but will not let anybody see or use them. Former (and founding) museum curator Alan Howard must be rolling over in his grave seeing what has become of the museum he almost single-handedly put together.

What's the point of having such artifacts secreted away where no one can see them? Sounds like a sad situation. Makes one wonder why some chose to sell to private collectors rather than donate to public institutions.

TWilush wrote:It's notched, lengthened, converted to a cement carrier and has no remaining superstructure. Not much of a museum candidate..

Those two are the closest you're ever going to get to a complete canaller.. unfortunately.

Unfortunately, as in the song, "you're too late in asking"! There are no remaining intact canallers. Wolf River, even in her altered state, could never be considered a representative canaller. Neither could Metis in her stripped down barge state, but at least she is still being used on a fairly regular basis as needed as second boat to the Roman in the Essroc fleet.

And re the former and much lamented Marine Museum of Upper Canada in Exhibition Park at Toronto, the tug and railroad engine are no longer there. The tug Ned Hanlan is now on display on a new base ashore next to the ferry dock at Hanlan's Point on the Islands, and the Northern-type steam locomotive is now at the Roundhouse Museum near the base of the CN Tower. The only display still at the old museum site at Stanley Barracks is the steam engine of the sandsucker Niagara II (ex Imperial Lachine) which still rests there in its case. The rest of the artifacts formerly on display there are now secreted away in the warehouse dungeons of the inappropiately-named Heritage Toronto, whose chief factotum proudly admits that it has them but will not let anybody see or use them. Former (and founding) museum curator Alan Howard must be rolling over in his grave seeing what has become of the museum he almost single-handedly put together.

It's notched, lengthened, converted to a cement carrier and has no remaining superstructure. Not much of a museum candidate...

Skip G wrote:Technically, the Wolf River, idle for many years but still intact at Thunder Bay, was built as the canaller Tecumseh but does not carry the profile of what we remember a typical canaller.

Also the barge Metis is a partially intact canaller. Not sure if she's still in Toronto or not. Didn't see her last time.

Technically, the Wolf River, idle for many years but still intact at Thunder Bay, was built as the canaller Tecumseh but does not carry the profile of what we remember a typical canaller.

The only Canallers left lie on the bottom unfortunately. I don't know of any surviving one in ocean use.

I would love to see a museum for these great ships and would make a trip of it to go see it. In my opinion they were the most beautiful ships on the lakes.

I could not agree with you more. And, it does not matter what side of the border you're on. Let's just say I'm from the Sarnia side of the St. Clair river.

The cost of procuring, if still in existence, one of these boats and restoring it would prove too costly here. We simply do not have the cash base our American cousins do. However, I would have loved to seen one of these girls as they were so unique to the industry.

The maritime museum in Toronto at Exhibition Place was amazing and had great artifacts on display. I loved going through it as a child. However, it is now defunct. All that remains there is a static display of a tug boat and a steam locomotive. An all too common thing here, things are saved only to fall into disrepair.

Like most Canadians, I would like to see more museums in the Great Lakes Region. However, we are in a time where many other Canadians would claim a misuse of tax payers' money if one were to be built.

I guess we will just have to cross the boarder to see these kinds of things.

M.

I remember as the scrap dates of the last Canadian Steamers approached (Algoma Quebecois & Montrealais), many Boatnerds wrote in saying one of these (and also Collingwood 730-Footers) should be saved as a museum, especially since Canada has no Lake Freighter museums. Maybe it's not my place to say this, being from the "States", but wouldn't it be more fitting to save one of those almost uniquely Canadian ships - The Canaller (the US concentrated on Upper Lakers, having only a handful of Canallers)? The Lookback #705 concerning the Thomas P. Clement and a quote from a Canadian writing about the Saskatoon who said, "The steel hulled canallers were the backbone of the Canadian lake shipping industry for many years." Drove this point home. However, with the scrapping of the D.C. Everest, is this even possible? Maybe some examples are on the ocean or can be Salvaged. But if Canada were to have only 1 Laker Museum, wouldn't displaying an almost uniquely Canadian ship - the Canaller - be the most fitting thing to do?43m1ae