Service history
The ship was ordered by Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) from Davie Shipbuilding for construction at the yard in Lauzon, Quebec with the yard number 652. Launched on April 24, 1965 as Fort William, the ship was completed in May 1965. [1] Fort William, named for Fort William, Ontario, was initially a package freighter carrying ore pellets, the largest and last one constructed for Canada Steamship Lines. She capsized on September 14, 1965, due to human error when unloading at Montreal, Quebec. Her lower holds were emptied, while her upper decks were heavily loaded. Fort William was carrying 300 tons of calcium carbide which reacted with water to produce acetylene which then exploded. Five sailors were killed. The vessel was salvaged, taken to Davie Shipbuilding and restored to service in May 1966. [2]
Fort William collided with the merchant vessel Paul L. Tietjen on August 10, 1967. The two ships collided head-on in Lake Huron, with Fort William only slightly damaged while Paul L. Tietjen was holed in her bow. [2] In 1976, the vessel was transferred to Power Corp of Canada Ltd. [1] Fort William continued in uneventful service until December 17, 1977 when the ship ran aground in Maumee Bay at Toledo, Ohio. Two years later, on October 1, 1979, Fort William struck the Detroit River Light in fog. Fort William's bow was damaged, and the ship was sent to Thunder Bay, Ontario for repairs at Port Arthur Shipyards. [2]
Due to increased competition from other methods of transport for packaged goods Fort William was laid up at Hamilton, Ontario in 1981. [2] The vessel was purchased in 1982 by the Lake Ontario Cement Company, now ESSROC Canada, which converted the ship to a self-unloading cement carrier. The ship was renamed Stephen B. Roman in 1983, named for a prominent Canadian mining engineer. [3] In March 2007, the ship ran aground at the mouth of the Genesee River. The ship was unstuck, but silt build-up at the entrance to the port of Rochester, New York prevented the ship from entering. This led to 7,000 shipments of concrete by truck. [2] [4] In 2017, Stephen B. Roman was acquired by McKeil Marine. The purchase was announced on January 19, 2017. [5]
Following her purchase, Stephen B. Roman was laid up in Toronto and remained alongside. Stephen B. Roman was the last of the Fairbanks-Morse-powered lakers and the final former CSL package freight fleet ship in service. In November 2018, the ship was officially taken out of service and sent to a scrapyard in Aliağa, Turkey. [6] Stephen B. Roman was reflagged Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and sailed to Turkey under her own power. On December 18 the ship was beached to be broken up. [7]
Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.
SS Keewatin is a passenger liner that once sailed between Port Arthur/Fort William on Lake Superior and Port McNicoll on Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. She carried passengers between these ports for the Canadian Pacific Railway's Great Lakes steamship service. Keewatin also carried packaged freight goods for the railway at these ports.
CCGS Earl Grey is a Samuel Risley-class light icebreaker and buoy tender in the Canadian Coast Guard. Constructed in 1986, the vessel serves a variety of roles, including light ice-breaking and buoy tending, as well as being strengthened for navigation in ice to perform tasking along the shores off the Atlantic coast of Canada. Like her sister ship, CCGS Samuel Risley, she carries a large and powerful crane on her long low afterdeck for manipulating buoys. Earl Grey is the second icebreaker in Canadian service to carry the name.
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CCGS Tracy was a Marine service vessel and navigational aid tender operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. Designed for service on the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River, the ship joined the fleet in 1968 and was stationed at Canadian Coast Guard Base at Sorel, Quebec and serviced the Quebec Region. The vessel was taken out of service in 2013 and was sold in 2017 to private interests.
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Algonova was a single-hulled oil tanker launched in 1969 as Texaco Chief for Texaco Canada Ltd. In 1986, the ship was renamed A. G. Farquharson. In 1995 the ship was sold to Imperial Oil. Purchased by Algoma Central in 1998, the ship was renamed Algonova. In 2007, Algoma Central sold the vessel to Belgrave Investors Corporation, which renamed the vessel Pacifico Trader. Helmer Business Incorporated acquired the vessel in 2012 and renamed the ship Great Portobello. The vessel is currently in active service.
Atlantic Superior was a self-unloading bulk carrier owned and operated by Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). The ship was constructed in 1981, launching in 1982 and was the first self-unloading vessel designed, for ocean service, built for CSL. In 1997 the vessel was operated on behalf of National Gypsum Company as M.H. Baker III. In 2003, the ship returned to her former name Atlantic Superior. She was sold for scrap and broken up at Xinhui by Jiangmen Zhong Xin Shipbreaking in 2015.
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Algoma Compass, formerly Roger M. Kyes and Adam E. Cornelius, is a self-unloading bulk carrier built in Toledo, Ohio in 1973 for the American Steamship Company. The bulk carrier carried bulk cargoes throughout the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. The vessel has earned a reputation as a "hard luck" ship, experiencing mechanical failures and groundings. In 2018, the ship was acquired by Algoma Central and put in service as Algoma Compass.
Radcliffe R. Latimer is a lake freighter launched in 1978. The vessel is owned by Algoma Central but operated under charter to Canada Steamship Lines from 1994 to 1997. As Algobay, the bulk carrier was involved in a collision with another lake freighter in 1980. In 2009 the vessel was rebuilt in China for service in the Caribbean Sea. The vessel is currently in service.
SS William C. Moreland was a 600-foot (180 m) long Great Lakes freighter that ran aground on Sawtooth Reef, Lake Superior on 18 October 1910, only a month after entering service. Visibility was poor due to the smoke from several forest fires, causing the William C. Moreland to ran full steam onto a reef. There were many attempts to salvage the ship, but eventually only the 278-foot (85 m) long stern was salvaged and was used to build the 580-foot (180 m) long Sir Trevor Dawson.
Algoma Provider was a Canadian lake freighter, which operated from 1963 to 2013 under the flag of several shipping lines. She was built to seawaymax dimensions at the Collingwood Shipyards in Collingwood, Ontario for Canada Steamship Lines. She was powered by a steam turbine, and was the company's last steam-powered vessel. Initially named Murray Bay, the ship was sold in 1994 to Upper Lakes Shipping, which renamed the vessel Canadian Provider. In 2011, Upper Lakes Shipping sold its entire fleet to Algoma Central, which renamed the lake freighter Algoma Provider. The vessel continued in service until 2013, when she was sold to be broken up for scrap. The ship was renamed Ovi for her journey to the scrapyard in Turkey. During her career, the ship carried bulk cargoes to destinations along the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes.
CCGS Tanu is a fisheries patrol vessel in service with the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship was constructed in 1968 by Yarrows at their yard in Esquimalt, British Columbia and entered service the same year. Home ported at Patricia Bay, British Columbia, the ship is primarily used to carry out fisheries patrols and search and rescue missions along Canada's Pacific coast.
SS Emperor was a steel-hulled Canadian lake freighter in service between 1911 and 1947. She was built between 1910 and April 1911 by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company in Collingwood, Ontario, for Inland Lines, Ltd. of Midland, Ontario. She entered service on May 3, 1911. Emperor was sold to Canada Steamship Lines of Montreal, Quebec. Under the ownership of Canada Steamship Lines, she carried a wide variety of cargoes, but most frequently iron ore to Point Edward, Ontario, where it would be transported to Hamilton, Ontario, by train. After the opening of the fourth Welland Canal, Emperor carried the ore straight to Hamilton. She was involved in several accidents throughout her career.
SS Chester A. Congdon was a steel-hulled American lake freighter in service between 1907 and 1918. She was built in 1907 by the Chicago Shipbuilding Company of South Chicago, Illinois, for the Holmes Steamship Company, and was intended to be used in the grain trade on the Great Lakes. She entered service on September 19, 1907, when she made her maiden voyage. In 1911, Salt Lake City was sold to the Acme Transit Company. A year later, she was transferred to the Continental Steamship Company, and was renamed Chester A. Congdon, after lawyer and entrepreneur Chester Adgate Congdon. She was involved in several accidents throughout her career.
