NT Dartmouth off to Newfoundland

We will soon be bidding farewell to one of the fixtures of Halifax harbour. The bunkering tanker NT Dartmouth, which was taken out of service during the summer and has been laid up ever since, will be leaving for Newfoundland, probably this week.

As a single hulled tanker, she only has four more years to go before the requirements for double hull come into force, at which time she will be obsolete.

For more on this interesting vessel, built in 1970, see earlier posting of May 25.

Not mentioned in that post is a piece of 'non-original' equipment, fitted to her deck. Mounted just forward of the wheelhouse is a grey coloured derrick, which is in fact a hydraulic ladder, salvaged from an old fire truck! The ladder can be used by the crew to reach the deck of a ship if they need to get aboard. I don't believe it has seen much use, but it replaced some very long rigid ladders once carried for the same purpose.

The main derrick, mounted farther forward is used to raise the fueling hoses to the ship's manifold.

In the photo above NT Dartmouth is in the midst of the Tall Ships Parade of Sail July 20, 2009. She managed to get a ringside seat in the event when she was returning to her berth at pier 34, but was held in position for a few hours for the tall ships to pass by.

Rowan Gorilla III

The suppliers Hebron Sea (seen here) and Maersk Challenger have been constantly shuttling back and forth to the Rowan Gorilla III this weekend. The jack-up rig has been spudded down in Halifax preparing to conduct a four well devlopmental drilling project for Encana's Deep Panuke gas field off Nova Scotia, at a reported rate of $285,000 (US) per day.

Terra Nova gone

Poised and ready though I was for the departure of Terra Nova this afternoon, atmospheric conditions did not cooperate for photography. A pall of fog drifted into Halifax in the early afternoon, and by 4 pm, just as the sun was setting we were subjected to large patches of "black thick" fog.

The sorry excuse above is much enhanced by computer magic, and shows much more of the ship than my eyes were able to see.

HMCS Terra Nova was launched in 1955 by Victoria Machinery Depot in British Columbia, and commissioned in June 1959, a member of the Restigouche class of destroyer escorts, and assigned pennant number 259. She was upgraded in 1967 (IRE) and 1985 (DELEX) and was hastily refitted in 1990 to participate in Operation Friction, part of the Desert Storm Operation of the (first) Iraq war.

On July 11, 1997 she was decommissioned and laid up. Aside from one brief interval, she has spent most of the time since at Jetty Lima. That interval was during the filming of the movie K-19:The Widowmaker, where she somewhat improbably portrayed a US destroyer.

With one of the most distinctive possible warship profiles, which was not altered, (a US type pennant number "942" was painted on her hull ) Terra Nova was still most decidedly not a US destroyer!

So this afternoon at 4 pm she sailed off into the fog, in tow of Atlantic Elm, bound for the nackers yards in Pictou.

40th Anniversary of Hudson 70

On this day in 1969 CSS Hudson (Canadian Survey Ship) set out from Halifax on a record breaking scientific cruise. The ship circumnavigated the Americas, by sailing south in the Atlantic, around Cape Horn, north in the Pacific to the Bering Sea and through the Northwest Passage, back to Halifax. Along the way scientists carried out numerous studies, recorded reams of data and did pioneering work in many fields.

The trip took 11 months, and when the ship returned to Halifax on October 16, 1970 she had achieved many firsts and at least one notable second.

On the southward trip she carried out oceanographic stations from the equator on the 30 degrees west longitude line as far as 55 degrees south. She retraced the Beagle Passage, only the second ship to do so since Darwin's voyage 132 years before. She measured current flows in the Drake Passage for the first time. She was the first, and only ship ever to sail the longest possible straight line at sea, on the 130 degree west longitudinal line from 55 degrees south to the Gulf of Alaska, performing oceanographic stations every 2 1/2 degrees.

Her pioneering surveys of the Pacific Plate off Vancouver Island added considerable knowledge to the then infant science of plate tectonics.

Her surveys of the southern Beaufort Sea recorded sea bed scours made by ice, which proved to be a revolutionary discovery.

In company with CSS Baffin, she was only the 6th ship to complete a Northwest Passage (Baffin was circumnavigating North America on this trip.) They were beset by ice in the Prince of Wales Strait and were broken out by CCGS John A. Macdonald, and escorted through Viscount Melville Sound to Baffin Bay. From their studies they determined that Baffin Bay was really an ocean.

After passing to the east of Newfoundland (so that they could truly say they circumnavigated the Americas) they arrived safely at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, the ship's home base.

Hudson has since become CCGS Hudson (Canadian Coast Guard Ship) through government reorganisations, but is still Canada's premier ocean research vessel. Built in 1963, she is still going strong, although her trips are now much shorter.

In the photo above she is shown returning to Halifax July 14, 2008.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl

The Norwegian naval training vessel Statsraad Lehmkuhl arrived today for a visit. The tall ship is on her way back to Norway, and will tie up at the Cable Wharf (Murphy's) for a few days. Unfortunately she did not sail into port.

Built in 1914 as Grossherzog Friedriech August, as a German training ship, she was taken over by Britain following World War I. In 1921 she was purchased by Norway and given her present name (which means cabinet minster Lehmkuhl, after her sponsor.)

During World War II, when Germany captured Norway, she was renamed Westerwarts for a time, but reverted to her present name after the war. She is currently owned by a foundation and used for various tall ships programs, including the Royal Norwegian Navy's officer training.

The photo above was taken on her first pass. She then made a 360 degree turn around George's Island and came back up the harbour, much closer to the shore, and with her yard arms manned (or personned) for a more formal arrival.

Canadian Sailing Expeditions folds

The Halifax Chronicle Herald reported today that Canadian Sailing Expeditions will cease operations on Friday November 20. Plans to reorganize the company and sell its tall ship Caledonia to a Florida based firm have apparently taken longer to put in place than expected. CSE was under creditor protection and was expected to have a plan in place December 4. This has been delayed due to the current credit crunch.

Passengers who have booked for the winter cruise season will be refunded according to the report.

Caledonia made an impressive sight in this summer's Tall Ships event in Halifax - we hope to see her sailing again.

Updates to follow:

Adieu Gatineau

The once splendid Canadian warship Gatineau left Halifax this morning on the end of a tow wire. The sadly bedraggled vessel is bound for Pictou in tow of the tug Atlantic Elm, where she will be cut up for scrap by Aecon-Fabco.

Gatineau and fleet mate Terra Nova have lain idle in Halifax since they were decommissioned by the RCN. They are the last surviving members of the Restigouche class, and only the Fraser from the RCN's steamer days remains afloat.

The snarled up towing bridle didn't look too happy to me, and the ship was going sideways for a time, looking like a reluctant dog on a leash. It will be a slow trip to Pictou.