Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 32, no. 8 (May 2000), p. 8

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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 8. are firmly of the opinion that the reciprocating steam engine is the only one for safe navigation through the numerous locks connecting the Great Lakes up to the present, and are content to wait for further developments before committing themselves to the adoption of a system which they consider is more or less of an experiment. " In an article entitled "Half a Century of Marine Engineering", which appear­ ed in the June 1929 issue of "The Marine Engineer and Motorship Builder", published in London, England, it was stated in part: "Electric propulsion was first tried some years before the War, and it is noteworthy that Mr. H. (Henry) A. Mavor, a Britisher, did a great deal of pioneer work in this di­ rection. The British-built Diesel-electric vessel TYNEMOUNT was the pioneer ship of this type, Mr. Mavor being responsible for the arrangement and de­ sign of her electrical machinery. " TYNEMOUNT was a rather unusual-looking vessel, and we are indeed lucky to have a photograph of her. She had a hull which was virtually devoid of sheer and, in fact, appeared even to have a reverse sheer, making her look a bit hogged. She had a fully-topgallant forecastle 48 feet in length, and a half­ topgallant poop 42 feet long, with a straight stem and a counter stern. Her anchors were housed in large, round-topped pockets set quite close to the stem, and heavy rubbing strakes ran along her sides to protect against ca­ nalling damage. There was only a short section of closed bulwark at the forward end of the forecastle head, and both a vertical steering pole and hinged "spearpole" were provided. On the forecastle head was placed a large texas cabin, with squared front, enclosing the master's quarters and office, and what may have been an observation room for guests. An awning stretcher was placed over the foredeck, indicating an intention to shade that area, something that would not likely have been done unless the ship was intended to carry guests. A curved-fronted pilothouse was placed on the bridge deck above, with a canvas weathercloth strung on the bridge deck rails. The pilothouse did not have an angled sunvisor over its front windows, but rather an overhang of the roof, much as sported by KEYPORT, KEYSTORM, KEYWEST (I) and PORT COLBORNE, for example. There was an open navigation bridge on the monkey's island, with a canvas dodger on its rails. Aft, there was a rather bald-looking deckhouse with little boat deck over­ hang. It was protected by a closed steel taffrail, and at its forward end, just ahead of the break of the quarterdeck, was what looked something like a traditional laker's "boilerhouse", but whose top was a bit lower than the rest of the boat deck. This was the fuel oil bunker tank. Two ventilator cowls rose from the front of the aft cabin itself. There were two lifeboats, one on either side of the boat deck, and they were worked by radial steel davits. The small, spindly and barely-raked smokestack rose well aft, behind the lifeboats. There were two masts, each equipped with cargo-handling gear. The tall pole foremast, only slightly raked, rose out of the spar deck immediately abaft the break of the forecastle, and from it was slung one aft-mounted cargo boom, which had a three-ton lifting capacity. The mainmast was stepped abaft the fourth cargo hatch, and it was raked parallel to the foremast. The main was equipped with two three-ton cargo booms, one slung forward and one aft. In anticipation of TYNEMOUNT being taken up by the Montreal Transportation Company Ltd., the builders painted her up in that fleet's usual colours. She had a black hull, forecastle and poop, with a high boot-top which probably was painted grey. Her cabins were white, while her masts were buff. The smokestack, such as it was, was black with the small letters 'M. T. C o . ' in white on either side. TYNEMOUNT was registered at Newcastle, and she was given British official number 133544. She was 250. 0 feet in length between perpendiculars (256 feet overall), 42. 5 feet in the beam, and 17. 1 feet in depth. Her Gross Tonnage

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