Looking forward from the Past

 A recent post on Facebook reminded me that traditional Great Lakes freighters, built with the wheelhouse forward, are becoming rarer as time goes on. As older ships are removed from service and scrapped their replacements have the wheelhouse and all accommodation aft like modern bulkers around the world. This loss of distinctive appearance is regrettable, but understandable, as new technology has meant that the visibility provided from a forward wheelhouse is no longer essential to safe navigation.

Also ships that work the Great Lakes are now often built to work off the Lakes and beyond the Gulf of St.Lawrence for short sea voyages to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and even to the Bay of Fundy coast of New Brunswick. Some even go farther afield and make ocean voyages.The forward mounted wheelhouse is much more exposed, subject to more pitching and isolated from the accommodation, galley and is thus a liability. Steering and engine control connections are also awkward and complex.

Halifax saw many ships with wheelhouse forward  over the years, although they were generally of the small canal sized vessels (some of which had been built in the UK and made transatlantic crossings in peace and war.)  The many locks on the old St.Lawrence River canals limited ships to 260 feet long and 45 feet wide with a maximum draft of 14 feet.

 

The Charles R. Huntley, built in 1926 in Scotland, was obsolete by the time the St.Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, although it was still sound enough to be converted to a suction dredge. It worked on the construction of the South End Container Terminal in Halifax (then called Halterm) in 1969 and kicked around for several years thereafter, dredging in Saint John and St.Lawrence River channels. It also had some close calls at sea in bad weather. It was finally scrapped in 2003 as BV Reyna.
 

The Lachinedoc, built in 1956 in Newport, Wales, was one of the last ships built to the old canal dimensions. It carried a pair of cranes to handle newsprint cargoes, but also carried bulk grain to Halifax as in this 1970 photo. It remained in Canadian service until sold overseas in 1975 and was lost in Bahrain in 1981.

Once the St.Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, and much larger ships could travel to and from the Great Lakes some of the canallers were lengthened and even deepened to increase their capacity.

Eastcliffe Hall was built in 1954 to suit the old canals but in 1959 was lengthened 90 ft ( 27.5m) from 258 ft (78.9m) to 349 ft (106.4m) and deepened. [It sank with  loss of life a few days after I took this photo in Halifax in July 1970.]

When the Nortcliffe Hall was sold south in 1975 it wisely fitted storm shields over the wheelhouse windows. (Built in 1952 as the first Frankcliffe Hall it was deepened in 1959, renamed in 1962 and returned to Canada as Roland Desgagnés in 1976. It sank off Pointe-au-Pic in 1982 with a cargo of salt from Pugwash, NS for Montreal.)

New ships, built to the maximum allowable size for the new Seaway locks (originally 730 feet by 75 feet), were basically enlarged versions of the traditional ships, with wheelhouse and some accommodation foward. Also they were not normally built strongly enough to go to sea. Their relatively long and slender shapes would need considerable reinforcement beyond what was needed for Great Lakes conditions, especially if they were to work off Lakes in winter, and as noted, the forward wheelhouse was a liability. Lakers also had limited sailing range, as fueling locations were plentiful on the Lakes. Even into the 1960s and beyond, many lakers still burned coal.

A new breed of "salty laker" was designed for both high seas (salt water) and Lakes work (fresh water). One of the first was an odd ship, a self-unloader, the Hallfax built in the UK, with wheelhouse forward. It was built to carry coal from Sydney, NS to Montreal and Toronto and often back-hauled grain to  Halifax. Well shy of the maximum dimensions for the Seaway, it was enlarged, but never really fit in and must be considered an experiment.

In 1970, when this photo was taken, Halifax did not have the ability to receive grain from self-unloaders, and instead used the old-fashioned "grain leg" which was a bucket conveyor that reached into the ship's hold. However the ship did use its self-unloading equipment to move cargo to one central hold so that the ship did not have to shift as each hold was emptied.

After this, new "salty-lakers" were built with wheelhouse and accommodation aft. The Cape Breton Miner (680 ft x 75 ft) and near sister Ontario Power (712 ft x 75 ft) carried coal from Sydney, NS under contract to Ontario Hydro, but would also carry grain to Halifax on the return trip. They operated deep sea in winter, and had bulbous bow and "seagoing" hull shape.

Another unique ship was an exception to the rule. The Frankcliffe Hall (second of the name) was built in 1963 for the Lakes trade. It was later converted to a self-unloader and reinforced so that it could make "short sea" voyages to Halifax with grain and to back-haul gypsum, salt or other bulk cargoes. The ship's original fine appearance was marred by the self-unloader frame and an awkward funnel extension. The ship remained a steamer too until broken up in 2011.

Renamed Halifax when acquired by CSL, it was the last Great Lakes caller in Halifax with wheelhouse forward.

 There was also one unplanned visit of traditional Lakers to Halifax and that was when the Helen Evans and the Thornhill arrived in late 1980.

The Helen Evans was built back in 1906 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in the Detroit suburb of Ecorse, it was originally called the James Laughlin and worked for Jones + Laughlin Steel's Interstate Steamship Co until 1952 then Wilson Transit before its sale to Canadian owners in 1964. Those owners were Hindman Transportation of Owen Sound, ON - noted for their ability to squeeze more years of service out of old hulls. They renamed the ship Helen Evans (after fleet owner Captain George Hindman's daughter) and in 1967 re-powered the ship with second hand steam machinery from a Liberty ship. Then in 1974 they converted its boilers from coal-fired to oil. However at only 550 feet long it was not large enough for profitable operation, as ships of maximum Seaway size could be operated by a same or smaller sized crew.

In 1978 Hindman sold the ship to Quebec + Ontario Navigation, but that ownership was short lived and Q+O sold it for scrap in 1979. The buyers were in Colombia, and the ship was to be towed to their scrapyard in Mamonal along with another veteran ship. 

The Thornhill, the other ship in the tow, was also built by Great Lakes Engineering Works in 1906, but for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co, and named Ishpeming. It was re-powered with steam turbines in 1951, and served Cliffs until 1966 when Canadian owners Upper Lakes Shipping bought the ship. They operated it as Thornhill until 1979 when they sold it to intermediaries who sold it on to the Colombian breakers.

 The tug assigned to the job was the Captain Ioannis S, ex Sistella, ex Sandy Cape, built in Norway in 1994 and rated at 5400 bhp. It had recently been acquired by Quebec Tugs. With the tandem tow assembled, they departed Quebec City September 17 and while out in the Gulf of St.Lawrence a malfunction in the tug's controllable pitch propellor system caused it to back over and sever the tow line.

The Helen Evans and Thornhill (with names painted over, and port lights plated over) were eventually rounded up and towed into Halifax on September 23, 1980. It was a memorable event, as these were the first (and so far only) classic lakers to arrive in Halifax in original configuration. (I make a distinciton between "lakers" and "canallers".)

Of note, both ships had new larger wheelhouses built in the 1950s. Radar and other navigation aids had become mandatory and would not fit in the confines of the old steering stations, so more room was needed.

 

 

Tugs finally got the dead ships alongside Pier 21 (it took four tugs each). There was no one aboard the ships save a harbour pilot and no operable winches, so gangs of linesman had to be arranged from shore and from the tugs. Note the emergency steering wheel on the boat deck aft. Another of the problems with a forward wheelhouse was the long connection from helm to rudder, running the length of the ship. In case of emergency the ship could be steered from aft, but how it was navigated must have presented challenges!

After a few weeks in Halifax, the tow arrangement was restored, the flotilla set sail October 16 and arrived in Colombia October 30, 1980 without further incident.

Among the remaining forward wheelhouse ships on the Great Lakes today, several are Canadian, but none are likely to ever visit Halifax, as they are not strengthened for "outside" work. Most get as far east as Sept Iles, QC. One example is the John D. Leitch (730 ft x 77'-11 3/8") which operates regularly on the lower St.Lawrence.

 Built in 1967 the John D. Leitch has none of the grace of its predecessors, but has proven to be a valuable member of the ULS, then Algoma fleets. (Its cargo section was widened when the Seaway increased the maximum width from 75 ft to 78 ft.)

Two others, CSL's CSL Tadoussac and Frontenac have foiled my attempts for clear photographs -   Frontenac by skillfully camouflaging itself in fog. 

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Thornhill - what were they thinking

Another of the periodic reports from the What Were They Thinking Department of  Shipfax.

On the strength of a contract to deliver Cape Breton coal to Ontario Hydro's power generating plants, Upper Lakes Shipping (ULS) built two revolutionary self-unloaders, Cape Breton Miner (in 1964) and Ontario Power (in1965) at their shipyard, Port Weller Dry Dock, in St.Catharines, ON.

Cape Breton Miner tied up at the Dartmouth Marine Slips Long Wharf for repairs.

 

Ontario Power arrives in Halifax. The Ivews Knoll buoy is just under its bow, and in the foreground is the little lighthouse that used to be at the tip of the breakwater at Halterm.

The two ships, although not exact sisters, were built to navigate the St.Lawrence Seaway then trade deep sea when the Seaway was closed for the winter. On their return trips from the Lakes they could carry grain to lower St.Lawrence ports, then carry iron ore from Sept-Iles, QC to Sydney, NS.

Cape Breton Miner unloads grain-but using the grain leg, not is own self-unloading gear. The grain leg is a conveyor consisting of buckets on an 'endless' loop belt.

They were also suited for carrying aggregates, gypsum, phosphates and all sorts of bulk cargoes. Both ships called in Halifax from ttime to time, usually to load gypsum, but also to unload grain, to take bunkers or for repairs.

Ontario Power arrives in ballast to load gypsum.

When the contract with Ontario Hydro ended, the ships were sent into deep sea trades more often.  Ontario Power was flagged out to Vanuatu in 1983 and transferred to ULS International under the new name Thornhill  (Thornhill in suburban Toronto was the location of an experimental feed farm used Maple Leaf Mills. John D. Leitch owned ULS and Maple Leaf Mills. This was the second ship to carry the name for ULS.)
In 1984 the ship was sold to Naviera Seri SA de CV of Mexico and renamed Alkali Seri giving some indication of its trade. In 1986 it was sold to Gulfmar Transportation CV, also under Vanuatu flag and renamed Kalli. It arrived in Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping June 9, 1987.   
Developments in self-unloader technology had made the ship obsolete, but also its size was restrictive for much ocean trading.

As we have seen Upper Lakes had in the meantime decided to get into larger self-unloaders that would not be able to transit the St.Lawrence Seaway, but rather than building new ships, they converted existing bulk carriers into self-unloaders. [see previous post on Cape Breton Highlander / Canadian Highlander / Citadel Hill.]
Whereas purpose built self-unloaders had their gear integrated into the ship's original construction, some originality was required for conversions.

In its first season of operation Ontario Power glides into the Eisenhower Lock in the United States portion of the St.Lawrence Seaway. Support arms for the unloading boom are integrated into the ship's superstructure. 

The conversion of the bulker Thorsdrake into a self-unloader was fairly straight forward (see previous post) - not so the next Thornhill.

Thornhill (iii) started out as a conventional bulker, fitted with four cranes and named Frotabrasil for Frota Oceanica Brasileira at the Engenheria e Maquinas SA (EMAQ) shipyard in Rio de Janeiro. Although construction was largely completed in 1982, the ship was not commissioned until 1987. By that time the owners had made other arrangements and the ship was sold almost immediately to the uniquely named Iwojima Island Steamship of  Cyprus Ltd and renamed Athos.
 

Next owner was the South India Shipping Corp and they renamed the ship Gennai Peruma.

ULS International bought the ship in 1993, renamed it Thornhill and undertook a spectacular conversion. Rather than build the usual hopper shaped holds into the ship, with the resultant loss of cargo capacity, the decision was made to use traveling elevators that would bring cargo up to deck level with bucket lift type legs which deposited it onto a conveyor system then to the unloading boom. When most of the cargo had been discharged, front end loaders were used to scrape the last dregs toward the unloader "legs".
 

Thornhill could also load itself when no shore facilities existed. This was a fairly unique advantage, but relied on complex and cumbersome machinery.
  

The ship's gross tonnage remained 21,733 and deadweight changed from 47,043 to 37,934 , presumably to compensate for the all the weight of the unloading gear.

The two elevators traveled on rails on the ship's deck. The unloading conveyor boom is slewed out.

Stowed aft for sea, the elevators reduced forward visibility to virtually nil.

The ship stopped in Halifax January 23 to February 4, 1999 for repairs to the unloaders' bushings. The work required shore cranes to lift the unloaders slightly off their bearing pedestals. The ship then carried on to Auld's Cove to load aggregate. 

An ungainly looking ship puts out to sea.

However later in the same year it went to Saint John, NB where the ungainly unloaders were removed. In their place three Northwest brand crawler cranes were installed on deck - one to starboard and two to port.

After removal of the elevators, the ship relied on crawler cranes to bucket the cargo onto the transfer conveyor.

At the same time the ship was transferred to Salem Shipping Inc and placed under the management of Barber Ship Management. In 2004 the ship was sold to Chinese owners becoming Chang Ming 9 Hao and in 2006 Guo Dian 5. It may still be in service.

The attached sketch was prepared for the print version of Shipfax in January 1999. I quote part of that entry: " The drawing attempts to show how all this works, and the photographs show the consequences."

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