Canadian Coast Guard small craft - Part 2

Back in 1984 the Dartmouth base was home to numerous small craft. Some worked navigation aids in small ports and others were tasked with pollution cleanup and other duties. (I have chosen photos taken over a period of years, but all the craft were in service in 1984).

Rustico Light, Nomad V, a landing craft, and "Seatruck" (the yellow craft on the pier) at the Dartmouth base.

Rustico Light was built in 1965 in Pictou by Stright-McKay Ltd, and was similar to a Northumberland Strait fishing boat, except its cabin was much longer.It was registered in Charlottetown.

Rustico Light with a rudimentary oil recovery vessel built on an old landing craft hull.

Nomad V was built in Shag Harbour in 1966 (the year before the UFO landed) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shag_Harbour_UFO_incident

Nomad V and Rustico Light in the background and a vessel known as the "Seatruck" in the foreground. It was painted bright yellow and outboard powered. It was used for deploying containment booms and for oil spill cleanup.

Nomad V was a general workboat, even acting as relief pilot boat in Halifax for a time in 1973. It was sent to remote locations such as Main-à-Dieu, Cape Breton, which was inaccessible to larger vessels.

In 1986 it was sold to Good People Sea + Services Ltd, operators of the marine railway in North Sydney. They renamed it Shelly Loran but is register was closed in 1988.

CGE 301 was equipped with a "slick licker" for oil spill cleanups. An unenviable task.

Larger Coast Guard craft carried their own small craft for tending to buoys or for beach landings.

The laid up Walter E. Foster forms the backdrop for a very beat up landing craft from the Louis S. St-Laurent, and CGE 301 hauled out on the dock. The Foster's landing craft has been removed, and its gantry davit stands empty.

When the Louis was in refit the landing craft was usually removed, so it was possible to see the huge davit gantry that could carry the weight of a fully loaded landing craft.

When ready for sea, the landing craft was nestled in place.

With Sir William Alexander and Provo Wallis alongside, the south yard of the base was full of buoys. It also had a few small craft under repair and if you look closely on the far right, a helicopter.

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Canadian Coast Guard small craft - Part 1

The review of the Canadian Coast Guard in 1984 continues.

Not just a big boat operator, the Canadian Coast Guard had numerous small craft too. So many in fact that it would be a monumental task to winkle out the names and fates of all of them. The new book Canadian Coast Guard 1962-2012 does a pretty fair job: http://longhillpublishing.ca/  

Here is a sampling:

TYPE 300 LIFEBOATS

 contributed

The 44 ft self-righting lifeboats were built to the U.S.Coast Guard design. In fact the first one, CG 101 was built by the USCG at its Curtis Bay, MD facility in 1969, and stationed at Clark's Harbour, NS. Another SAR station was established at Sambro, at the mouth of Halifax harbour and the boat stationed there also covered SAR calls in Halifax harbour as well as offshore.

An unknown boat in the foreground, and CG 117 and CG 118 in the background at the Dartmouth base for maintenance.

 

CG 118 in Pictou, NS. It was built by Eastern Equipment in 1975.

 

CG 117 at Dartmouth Marine Slips. It was also built by Eastern Equipment in 1975.

CG 141 hauled out at the Dartmouth base. It was built in 1981 at Georgetown, PE.

The boats were all numbered, but took on the names of their stations. Boats based in Sambro, Port Bickerton, Louisbourg, and Port Mouton were seen in Halifax from time to time. They swapped the boats around during maintenance periods, and even between regions.
Known as Type 300 they were retired over time up until about 2004. Some served as training vessels at the Coast Guard College in Point Edward, NS in their later years.


TYPE 400 CUTTERS
 
Type 400 boats were built for the Western and Central and Laurentian Regions by Breton Industrial +Marine of Point Tupper (Port Hawksbury), NS in two batches. The first was built in 1980.
CG123 was sent to the west coast and renamed Point Henry It was put up for sale as 2011-05, and new owners renamed it Point Henry.

 

 CG 124 became Ile Rouge, sold as 2013-01 and renamed Never on Time

The first of the second batch was built in 1982.

CG 125 at the Dartmouth base before heading to to the west coast. It was renamed Point Race and registered at Prince Rupert. Sold as 2011-04 it was renamed Point Race by new owners. Note some other small craft in the foreground. Nomad V is bow to the camera, it will be picked up in a subsequent post.

CG 126 was renamed Cape Hurd and was put up for sale this year as 2014-01. It was recently acquired by the City of Toronto and was reported in the Welland Canal just last week, headed for its new home.

AIR CUSHION VESSELS

Well suited for work in shallow water and mud flats, ACVs were also found to be useful for breaking sheet ice. They were ideally suited for areas of the St.Lawrence and CH-CGA  could be seen far downstream. There was a permanent landing ramp at Gros Cacouna, and there may have been others. They were particularly useful in areas where tides (up to 20 feet) left vast stretches of mud flats, making shore navigation markers impossible to reach at times.

Built in 1972 at Grand Bend. ON, the Bell Voyageur was also known simply as Voyageur since it was the only one of its type to serve with the CCG.

CH-CGA thunders across the flats at Baie St.Paul where the tidal range exceeds 15 feet.

 Once on the beach, the apron "deflates" because the air cushion weeps out when the fans are stopped. A Boler travel trailer provides rudimentary accommodation for the crew. a slightly larger trailer appeared in later years.

The CCG expanded its ACV fleet after Voyageur was retired in 1987. Later units got rid of the costly gas turbine engines and went with diesels, and permanent bases were established at Sea Island, BC and Trois-Rivières, QC.

More small craft to follow

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Canadian Coast Guard 1984 - Part 2

The Coast Guard's heavy icebreakers based in Halifax in 1984 were Labrador, John  A. Macdonald and Louis S. St-Laurent. It was a trick to get all three ships in the same photo, so I had to dig a bit deeper into the shoe box for this 1982 photo:

John A. Macdonald, Louis S. St-Laurent and Labrador at the Coast Guard base in Dartmouth.


Labrador

 CCGS Labrador in the graving dock at Halifax Shipyard

Built for the Royal Canadian Navy but unceremoniously transferred to the Minister of Transport in 1958, Labrador was the first naval ship to complete a Northwest Passage and the first naval ship to circumnavigate North America: Halifax to Halifax July 23 to November 21, 1955. Built by Marine Industries Ltd in Sorel, QC in 1953 and based on the USCG Wind class, it acquitted itself well in CCG service, and probably broke a lot more ice than it ever would have for the RCN.
Nearing the end of its working life in 1984, it was finally laid up in 1987 and renamed 1210 in February 1988. In September of that year it was towed out of Halifax by the Polish operated tug Rembertiturm. Upon reaching Balboa, 1201 was left while the tug returned to Mobile, AB for USCG Westwind and on return to Panama took the ships in tandem tow for Taiwan. The tug was sold en route, renamed Ocean Range and handed over the tow to Pacific Rescuer. The trio arrived in Kaohsiung June 24, 1989.

John A. Macdonald

Arguably the finest icebreaker the Coast Guard ever operated, John A. Macdonald did many remarkable things in its 31 year career. Built in 1960 by Davie SB+R in Lauzon, QC, the 15,000 shp triple screw diesel electric ship broke through the Northwest Passage in 1967 to rescue fleetmate Camsell from ice in the western Arctic, then broke out USCG Northwind north of Point Barrow, returning to Halifax via Panama. In 1969 she escorted the tanker Manhattan both ways in the Northwest Passage, and in 1975 rescued Camsell again.

She was not so fortunate in 1984 when she broke a prop blade while breaking out the Irving Oil tanker Arctic in the high north. On November 7, 1984  CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent was sent to assist in getting the John A. back to base by about December 1. John A. went into the Novadock floating drydock at Halifax Shipyard December 3 and completed repairs and the fitting of a new prop December 19.
The ship received a life extension refit in 1987, and despite more distinguished service the ship made its paying off trip in Halifax harbour December 2, 1991. It was renamed 1201 in 1992 and left Halifax November 22, 1993 in tow of the Dutch tug Elizabeth for India.

The day before its paying off trip John A. Macdonald looked amazingly good.

Many plaques and other mementos of its activities lined the bulkhead. The Manhattan trip held pride of place (despite the misspelling of the ship's name!). The 1987 refit, only four years before was not enough to save it from the ax.

 Almost finished with engines.

Louis S. St-Laurent

Louis S. St-Laurent is still with us and will be be for many more years. As stated above, it was thirty years ago that the Louis was called out to fetch John A. Macdonald, but it was during the famous Manhattan voyage that it cut a wide swath around the stalled convoy and impressed even the most jaded arctic hands.
However it was on one of those passes that it acquired the famous "Manhattan crease" which still appears on its hull, starboard side aft, at main deck level.

After refits, repowering and an entirely new bow, the Louis looks quite different today, and of course it is no longer based in Halifax.

All three icebreakers at the Dartmouth base in 1982, with the Dartmouth Marine Slips in the foreground, as seen from the Queen's Square building. Today's view from the same window would be barely recognizable.  

For Part 3 we will look back at some of the "lesser lights" of the CCG fleet in 1984.

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Canadian Coast Guard - a new book and a look back - Part 1

A new book The Canadian Coast Guard Fleet 1962-2012 by lead author C.D.Maginley celebrates the service's ships during its first 50 years. It is available from Long Hill Publishing. For more information and ordering see: http://longhillpublishing.ca/

Looking back over the CCG it has seen many changes, and as 1984 is the feature year for Shipfax, here is a look at what was happening thirty years ago.

The Coast Guard's Search and Rescue ships were painted in a distinctive scheme, which didn't last long! The scheme included the smaller inshore boats as well as the mid-shore and deep sea rescue vessels:

 CG 124 arriving in Tadoussac, QC displays the CCG SAR colour scheme. Built in 1980 by Breton Industrial+Marine, Point Tupper, NS, it was later renamed Ile Rouge. It served until 2011 when it was decommissioned and laid up in Prescott, ON and renamed  2013-01.Earlier this year it was sold as a pleasure craft and renamed Never on Time by Provincial Maintenance Inc of Niagara Falls, ON.

Ville Marie in the shadows of the mobile grain legs in Quebec City was built in 1960 by Russel-Hipwell Engine Co, Owen Sound, ON. It was built as a survey vessel, but transferred to SAR duties in 1980. The smallest diesel electric ship in the fleet, it was retired in 1986 and sold to a mission society.. Renamed Heavenbound, its conversion stalled for funds, then acquired by a Toronto area owner in 1995. He renamed it Still Watch and it achieved some fame in a TV sereis where iut was given the unofficial name of Vast Explorer. For more photos see the Russel web site:  http://stevebriggs.netfirms.com/osmrm/xvillemarie.html

In 1984 the primary SAR vessel in Halifax was Alert, built in 1969 by Davie SB+R in Lauzon, QC. It was laid up in 1994, chartered to the RCN, then back to the CCG in 1995 when it was finally decommissioned and renamed 1996-01. It was sold to J.Marr Co of the UK for offshore standby work and renamed Ocean Alert and after several resales, ended up treasure hunting in the Caribbean. It was scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey October 24, 2011.


With new ships ordered for buoy work and light icebreaking the older units were enjoying their last years of service.

 Alexander Mackenzie was built in 1950 by Burrard DryDock in North Vancouver, with a sister ship Sir James Douglas, for navaids work on the West Coast. It was transferred east in 1982 in exchange for Wolfe, and remained in service until 1988 when it was in turn replaced by Montmorency.
Renamed 902 It was sold in 1990 to Quebec owners involved in selling old fishing vessels to South America. Its activities have been somewaht vague since then, but in 1990 it became Viviane II for Balladier Shipping of Panama City, Panama and is still in existence according to Lloyds.
 

Thomas Carleton was one of  series of similar ice strengthened buoy tenders. Built by Saint John Dry Dock in 1960, for service in the Bay of Fundy. It is seen above riding heard on spectator craft during the 1984 Tall Ships Parade in Halifax. It was powered by durable Fairbanks Morse diesels.
It served until 1991 when it was renamed 1003. Breifly renamed Aurora Explorer (the name was never painted on the ship's hull). It became the Sea Shepherd Society's Cleveland Amory in 1993 and achieved notoriety when it  cut the trawl lines of the Spanish fishing vessel Rio Las Casas on the Grand Banks. However it suffered and engine failiure, was towed into St.John's, seized and sold at auction. The new owners renamed it Hawkeye Express and it reached Willemstad, Curaçao where it was arrested again for wage claims.It is believed to have been scrapped, and was dropped from Lloyds in 2002.

Some of the Navaids ships were still steamers:

Walter E. Foster was a product of Canadian Vickers in Montreal in 1954. It was also built for the Bay if Fundy and worked out of Saint John, and was rarely seen in Halifax. However in July of 1985 it arrived in Halifax in tow (yes) of Mary Hichens and laid up after a boiler collapse. It was soon de-rigged and cannibalized for parts. It was fitted with a Unaflow steam engine.

In Janaury 1986 it was moved to the Jetty Lima (still with its hammerhead crane). All its ports were welded over and  in early October it was towed to sea and sunk as a target by the RCN.

My favourite steamer was:

The first Edward Cornwallis, built in 1949 by Canadian Vickers, the builders also constructed its steam machinery on the Unaflow system. Note the little wisp of steam emanating from its stack while alongside at the Dartmouth CG base.
The prototype for the 1950s era ice strengthened ships of various sizes, she served until 1986 when she was replaced by a new ship of the same name. Renamed Edward to avoid a conflict, she was finally sold in 1987 and towed to Coburg, ON. Her future as night club or inn came to naught and in 1993 she was towed to Port Maitland, ON and broken up.


The icebreaking fleet was hard at work, with three ships based in Halifax, Labrador, John A. Macdonald and Louis S. St-Laurent. More of that in Part 2.

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Defense Minister unveils more than a name

CCGS Caporal Kaeble at the BIO dock yesterday, with a tarp over the name, prior to an unveiling ceremony.

At the "unveiling" ceremony for CCGS Caporal Kaeble VC at BIO yesterday, the Defense Minister allowed as how the new Hero class of nine patrol boats will have to be armoured up.

First it is of interest to note that the boats' design criteria must have been established a long time ago. With the Coast Guard and the RCMP as the operators and users of this craft, it was always assumed that the (civilian) CCG would operate the boats and that the RCMP would provide whatever weaponry was needed, and that it would likely be portable. Up-arming (or armoring as he said) could cost a lot of money, and in fact may be very difficult with such small craft.To make such an announcement well into the construction period of the boats (the third is soon to be launched, and the ninth is to be complete in 2014) indicates a shift in policy somewhere.


Second, what is the Minister of Defence doing in this, since the boats would be the responsibility of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (for the CCG) and the Solicitor General (for the RCMP). Has the Minister of Defence decided to take over the boats? He has been front and centre with them since Day 1, both as political minister for Atlantic Canada, but also in promoting shipbuilding. His role as Minister of Defence in this file has always been a mystery to me.
Third has there been pressure applied by the US to up the ante on our patrol capabilities to align more with the USCG, which is a military organization, and which arms all its patrol craft? This seems highly likely, since the boats will be used in border patrol, but it would be a huge change to the CCG to make it a military organization, and hardly the kind of policy shift to be quietly mentioned in a press interview. The RCMP's much reduced marine division (it was at one time comparable to the USCG, having its roots in the Revenue Service) would seem a more likely place for this policy to go than to the Coast Guard of the RCN.