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Post by Northern Exploration on Jun 16, 2012 18:15:30 GMT -8
We have discussed before, turning historic vessels into useful purposes, to preserve them from hitting the breakers. In the past the Great Lakes had almost as many steamships plying back and forth as the Pacific Coast. A train went from Toronto part way and then Steamships took over. Many Americans, Torontonians and other Canadians summered in Muskoka and on the Great Lakes. There were no major roads either, so many of the "Northern Communities" were dependant on the connection. (Northern still south of the parallel of Winnipeg) The crush north of people was substantial. As the Railroads and Road system expanded the Steamships went out of business and gradually disappeared. The S.S. Sequin runs as a very successful tourist and tour boat. segwun.com/Now a major developer is returning the S.S. Keewatin from Michigan to Port Nicholl on Georgian Bay. It was built before the Titanic and actually shares some design features with the ill fated ship. Now it is going to be turned into a restaurant as part of the resort. I will let you read the articles if you are interested. www.yourhome.ca/homes/newsfeatures/article/1212011--s-s-keewatin-is-sailing-home-to-port-mcnicollnews.nationalpost.com/2012/06/16/built-five-years-before-the-titanic-blizzard-of-the-north-steamship-making-its-way-back-to-canada/
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Post by Northern Exploration on Jul 8, 2012 10:23:39 GMT -8
Here is coverage of the arrival of the SS Keewatin in Port McNichol, ON. Ironic in that around the same time the venerable Captain John's Restaurant in Toronto was seized for non-payment. www.thestar.com/business/article/1217601--captain-john-s-restaurant-ordered-to-shut-downThe former ship Jadran had been serving touristy and dated seafood, steps from the Westin Harbour Castle hotel and the Toronto Island Ferries. Think Ivars circa 70's with not quite the same quality. The restaurant overlooked the hotel on one side and a parking lot on the other. On the water but no view of the water because there were curtains and sheers on all the windows. Now as this end of the waterfront is switching from industrial to residential/office, not far from the main Pan Am Games redevelopment, the restaurant has ran out of time. Not changing the menu with the times and allowing it to stagnate over many years, the future of the ship isn't looking good. It is basically now stuck in the mud of the lake so moving it isn't going to be cheap either. If the food concepts were kept modern, the interior properly maintained and renovated as a venue space, and the view improved by making proper use of the stern of the vessel that overlooks the harbour, it would have been an excellent venue. Condos are pushing into the area big time, many good food restaurants have moved in, and no hotel concierge with any brains was going to send someone there with so many other choices. Restaurants are paying huge rent nearby in the Corus Entertainment building, and in condos nearby, so there is a market nearby for something creative and different. A great pub, a good seafood concept, and an event venue, if done right would be a great success. An opportunity now likely lost.
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Post by queenmary2 on Sept 9, 2012 5:33:09 GMT -8
Hello all from a former chief nightsaloonsman on Princess Patricia. I was privileged to be invited on Keewatin's tow back from Michigan to Port McNicoll in June and have finally managed to get together my account of the trip. Ten of us had 112 staterooms to choose from. We departed from the old Michigan State Ferries dock that Sunshine Coast Queen had used when she was the Mackinac Strait ferry Vacationland - before they opened the Mackinac Bridge in 1967. You will find the link to my account of the Keewatin voyage here: greatlakescruising.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/bringing-the-keewatin-back-to-canada/Kevin Griffin London, England
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 9, 2012 6:47:12 GMT -8
Wow! Thank you Kevin for posting that link on our forum. Much appreciated, it was a good read. - I'm glad that you got to experience that trip. I encourage everyone on this forum to go to you link which then has a link to your FLICKR photos; (everyone will love your photos of this trip).
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Post by lmtengs on Sept 9, 2012 8:39:19 GMT -8
Hello all from a former chief nightsaloonsman on Princess Patricia. I was privileged enough to be invited on Keewatin's tow back from Michigan to Port McNicoll in June and have finally managed to get together my account of the trip. Ten of us had 112 staterooms to choose from. We departed from the old Michigan State Ferries dock that Sunshine Coast Queen had used when she was the Mackinac Strait ferry Vacationland - before they opened the Mackinac Bridge in 1967. You will find the link to my account of the Keewatin voyage here: greatlakescruising.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/bringing-the-keewatin-back-to-canada/Kevin Griffin London, England Thanks for those! You wouldn't happen to have taken any photos of the Princess Patricia while you worked on her, would ya? Those would be much appreciated too. Interior, exterior, below decks, the whole works!
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Post by queenmary2 on Sept 9, 2012 8:43:07 GMT -8
Thanks, Flugel Horn. In fact, BC's own Princess Charlotte bore many similarities to the surviving Keewatin. She came from the same shipyard as Keewatin and her sister ship Assiniboia, Fairfields of Govan, in 1908, just a year later. The three ships had the same length but Princess Charlotte was about three feet wider (the lakes ships were restricted in beam by the locks in the St Lawrence) and they had many of the same features, both external and internal. For example, the bridge arrangement on all three ships was identical when new (the lakes-style round bridges were added to Keewatin and Assiniboia in 1951). Of course, Keewatin was a machinery-aft single-funnel single-screw quadruple-expansion ship while Princess Charlotte was a three-funnelled twin-screw triple-expansion ship with a lick more speed, but otherwise the similarities were legion. The Empress of Britain and Empress of Ireland had also come from Fairfields, in 1906 in their case, and it's interesting to see the similarities in terms of the lines, skylights, clerestories, ventilators, railings etc externally and wooden panelling, bannisters, stairs, bed fittings, etc internally on all five ships. Not only for BC, but overall, Fairfields of Govan was Canadian Pacific's most important shipyard, both for newbuildings and for refits. Fully eight Princesses were built there - Princesses Charlotte (1908), Adelaide (1910), Norah (1929), Elizabeth and Joan (1930), Marguerite and Patricia - my own alma mater - (1948) and Princess of Nanaimo (1951). Kevin Griffin London, England Attachments:
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Post by queenmary2 on Sept 9, 2012 8:56:23 GMT -8
Mr Long in Maple Ridge, I wish I had shots of the Princess Patricia. I acrtually spent more time in her than I did in Assiniboia on the Great Lakes but I only got these photos of Keewatin this year. It was slightly eery but ever so enjoyable to be stepping aboard her 47 years after having worked on her identical sister, but today I have a digital camera I can slip into my pocket and also takes videos while in the 1960s we had to deal with film!
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Post by lmtengs on Sept 9, 2012 9:50:12 GMT -8
Mr Long in Maple Ridge, I wish I had shots of the Princess Patricia. I spent more time in her than I did in Assiniboia on the Great Lakes but I only got these photos of Keewatin this year. It was slightly eery but ever so enjoyable to be stepping aboard her 47 years after having worked on her identical sister, but today I have a digital camera I can slip into my pocket and also takes videos while in the 1960s we had to deal with film! If you have photos on film, you can bring the negatives or even the pictures themselves into a shop to get scanned into digital photo files
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Post by Northern Exploration on Sept 9, 2012 10:33:09 GMT -8
Thanks Kevin/queenmary2 for the great link to the blog. That must have been such a great trip. People don't always realize how many ships and steamships in particular traveled all over the Great Lakes. In some pictures of Muskoka it looks like their version of our freeway jams. I really look forward to getting to Port McNicoll and seeing the ship myself.
There are a bunch of mega resorts being built these days on the Great Lakes with people wanting timeshare or fractional cottages, so they escape the work and upkeep of a traditional cottage. I hope the Port McNicholl one makes a go of it because I fear, like the condo market, there is a lot of overbuilding. Would hate to see the ship brought back and then not be restored and used properly.
Not as historic but the SS Jadran or Captains John's Restaurant in Toronto looks destined for the scrapyard. It has been for sale for quite a while, is mired in Lake Ontario mud and silt, and was just recently closed by the city for lack of moorage payments. Just when that area of the Port and Downtown is exploding by development. I hope someone with vision will take it over and redo it properly as a venue.
I hope to get up to Muskoka and take a cruise to see the fall leaves, on either the SS Segwun or the new-build-but-made-to-look-old Wenonah II. A family members health may prevent it. The Seqwun is celebrating its 125 anniversary this year.
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Post by Queen of Nanaimo Teen on Sept 9, 2012 17:49:32 GMT -8
I too, thoroughly enjoyed reading through that webpage!
I (like many people on the forum) have quite a good knowledge of CP's Coastal Liners (Princesses and Empresses), but very little about the great lakes service. I was under the impression that there were no CP Steamers left!! It's especially interesting how well that couple preserved her for all those years. The Princess Charlotte has always been one of my favorites. I especially love the way the bridge wings are oriented. It is very neat to note the similarities between her and the Keewatin! What an amazing story. Thanks again!
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Post by queenmary2 on Sept 10, 2012 0:10:06 GMT -8
For those who might be "Back East" this fall, the news has just broken that Keewatin will be open for a while before Canadian Thanksgiving, see the link here: drone-on.com/2012/09/08/keewatin-opens-to-the-public/For those wanting to visit a product of the same shipyard that produced eight Princesses for Canadian Pacific, here's an early opportunity. The official opening will be next spring, however. If you double click on the arrival shot by the way the two figures on that "Princess Charlotte" style bridge wing are Eric Conroy, who heads up The Friends of Keewatin, and myself. If you count you'll see that all ten of us were up on deck (most up forward and three aft), plus the towmaster Michael Cunningham (in the wheelhouse doorway), who working with the tugs and the assistance of the pilot brought her in to berth safely despite frequently changing winds. And have a look at all those enthusiastic volunteers who have been working on her ever since! Kevin Griffin London, England
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Post by Northern Exploration on Sept 10, 2012 11:01:46 GMT -8
For those who might be "Back East" this fall, the news has just broken that Keewatin will be open for a while before Canadian Thanksgiving, see the link here: drone-on.com/2012/09/08/keewatin-opens-to-the-public/For those wanting to visit a product of the same shipyard that produced eight Princesses for Canadian Pacific, here's an early opportunity. The official opening will be next spring, however. If you double click on the arrival shot by the way the two figures on that "Princess Charlotte" style bridge wing are Eric Conroy, who heads up The Friends of Keewatin, and myself. If you count you'll see that all ten of us were up on deck (most up forward and three aft), plus the towmaster Michael Cunningham (in the wheelhouse doorway), who working with the tugs and the assistance of the pilot brought her in to berth safely despite frequently changing winds. And have a look at all those enthusiastic volunteers who have been working on her ever since! Kevin Griffin London, England I am going to see if I can make that work and maybe take some pics for everyone. No promises but we will see. It is about a 2.5 hour drive. As well the traffic north on Fridays and back on Sunday's is insane. So it usually means going up and back either on a weekday or a Saturday.
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Post by Northern Exploration on Sept 10, 2012 11:26:45 GMT -8
There was a floating boat show this year that I missed. It was led by the RMS Segwun and Keewatin II and over 100 antique Muskoka boats and other wooden antique boats did a big joint cruise. The blog below show a few photos. Scroll down to August 20.
It is fun to go to one of the interlake locks when one of these cruises happen and see the boats up close. Last summer I saw a group of 15 old wooden Chris Craft boats of varing sizes use the locks at Fenlon Falls on the Trent Canal System.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 30, 2013 19:20:47 GMT -8
For the 3 of you on this forum who watch CBC television, there is an episode of "Murdoch Mysteries" on TV right now (8-9 pm) that is set on the SS Keewatin. More importantly, it is filmed on the Keewatin herself. Very cool....
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 25, 2013 20:03:50 GMT -8
A YouTube video about the filming of the Murdoch Mysteries episode on the SS Keewatin
I like the lady in the front-row, left. Ready to sneeze?
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