Grain ship aft superstructure fire on Lake Superior 1970's

[Guest]

Halco should have been ashamed to build and sail these ships considering these were considered new builds it wasn't like Hall didn't know what a nice ship was, transport canada the SIU when they still had teeth should have done something!

[Lakercapt]

These ships by far had the absolute worst accommodations ever seen on a so called modern ship on the lakes, the Master came from one of the modern for and aft 730s in the hall fleet we always wondered who he ticked off to get stuck on one of these.

I agree 100% with this as I sailed on these apparitions and I would have to think hard to say something positive about them.

[William Lafferty]

Oh, I get the reference to Fawlty Towers. One of the funniest British sitcoms ever produced.

"Do I detect the smell of burning martyr?" I can't tell you how many times I have used this Basilism.

[Guest]

Oh, I get the reference to Fawlty Towers. One of the funniest British sitcoms ever produced.

[Guest]

A friend was working on the Montecliff Hall when it had the fire in Sarnia They were told that the alarm system was being tested So if you hear an alarm ignore it They were in the mess room having coffee when a someone came in yelling FIRE They told him No its just a test He kept telling them FIRE The way my fiend tells the story it sounds like the episode of Fawlty Towers when Manuel comes out of the kitchen yelling Fire and Basil keeps pushing him back in saying It’s only a drill My friend said it was welding outside on the back of the wheelhouse Heat caught the chart table and or wood paneling on fire

Hope everyone else gets the reference to Fawlty Towers. I sure don't.

[Guest]

My bad, I'm a little rusty on the boats that have been scrapped. Sorry

I have too of late. Just can't seem to get interested in the Canadian new builds for some reason, perhaps because they were built overseas. Looking back to just 2010 it seems easier to keep up on the ones that remain rather than the ones that are gone.

[Syd bc]

A friend was working on the Montecliff Hall when it had the fire in Sarnia They were told that the alarm system was being tested So if you hear an alarm ignore it They were in the mess room having coffee when a someone came in yelling FIRE They told him No its just a test He kept telling them FIRE The way my fiend tells the story it sounds like the episode of Fawlty Towers when Manuel comes out of the kitchen yelling Fire and Basil keeps pushing him back in saying It’s only a drill My friend said it was welding outside on the back of the wheelhouse Heat caught the chart table and or wood paneling on fire

[Guest999]

Also remember the Steelcliffe Hall became the Windoc and struck a partially open bridge on the Welland and caught fire.

was struck by a partially closing bridge.

A bridge operated by an inebriated bridge operator. I still sometimes hear or see 'the Windoc hit the bridge', as opposed to the accurate 'the drugged fool operator lowered the bridge too soon'.

[Guest]

These ships by far had the absolute worst accommodations ever seen on a so called modern ship on the lakes, the Master came from one of the modern for and aft 730s in the hall fleet we always wondered who he ticked off to get stuck on one of these.

[Guest]

My bad, I'm a little rusty on the boats that have been scrapped. Sorry

[basketcase]

Also remember the Steelcliffe Hall became the Windoc and struck a partially open bridge on the Welland and caught fire.

was struck by a partially closing bridge.

[Lakeport]

I remember working on the Windoc the winter before she hit the bridge while in layup in Thunder Bay and there was more wood in the accommodations than I've ever seen on any ship. The one thing I remember was the smell inside that was absorbed by the wood was kind of musty and somewhat of a moldy smell with a hint of old gym socks. It must have been beautiful in it's day but the wear on the wood took away from that.
I worked on the Algontario at Port Arthur Shipyard when it went back in service and it had her problems on the mechanical end. I can remember there was a lot of unexpected issues popping up one after another.

[garbear]

Also remember the Steelcliffe Hall became the Windoc and struck a partially open bridge on the Welland and caught fire.

[Guest]

The boat was rebuilt as the Algontario and has a page on boatnerd. She was scrapped a few years ago.

It was not rebuilt as Algontario, it was rather repaired and resumed trading for Hall as Cartiercliffe Hall until being sold to CSL and renamed Winnipeg in 1988. It became Algontario in 1994 following its purchase by Algoma Central Marine. Interestingly, this ship was one of three sister ships that the Hall Corporation had rebuilt into Great Lakes bulk carriers during 1977-1978, all of which had onboard fires within just a few years. In addition to the Cartiercliffe Hall fire in 1979, Montcliffe Hall had a wheelhouse fire at Sarnia in 1981 and Steelcliffe Hall sustained a crankcase explosion and fire at Duluth in 1984. I have always heard that these three ships were not easy to sail on.

[Guest]

The boat was rebuilt as the Algontario and has a page on boatnerd. She was scrapped a few years ago.

[Guest]

The USCG Report is an interesting read. Its surprised that there was so much wood used in the construction of the accommodation areas. I was under the impression that many of dividing walls would have been steel.

[Mr Link]

Cartiercliffe Hall 1979. Seven sailors died.

http://continuouswave.com/misc/cartiercliffehall.html

http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/algontario.htm

https://books.google.com/books?id=Pg5UA ... nt&f=false

[Coalburner]

I saw a grain ship with a high aft superstructure (no forward pilot house) on fire off Copper Harbor, MI in the 70's. I understand that a few members of the crew were casualties. The high aft superstructure acted as a big chimney for a fire that started in the crews quarters. I heard that the fire was fueled by wood paneling. The pilot house was all melted by the heat. I think the ship was later rebuilt and possibly renamed. It was a Canada vessel and the CG from Canada was fighting the fire.
Does anybody remember this fire? And what ship was it.
We went out on one of the Isle Royal boats to the scene from Copper Harbor.
The reason this came to mind is because the images of the fire onboard that carrier recently showed the fire going right up the pilot house area like a chimney!