Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 32, no. 9 (Mid-Summer 2000), p. 12

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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 12. T. M. H. S. member Ken Wright, of Glenburnie, Ontario, recalls that not only was his father a deckhand in BEAVERTON in 1924, but that he himself was an oiler in her during the 1957 season. Ken notes: "I made what was supposed to be the (BEAVERTON' s) last trip in December of 1957. I was an oiler, and on the last trip I was fireman and oiler since no one would ship out of Mont­ real or Thorold (union halls) as fireman in the middle of December. I can't blame them. "It was rough all the way to Thunder Bay. In fact, we made about four tries in two days to get out of Whitefish Bay and into Lake Superior before we fi­ nally got under way. When we got to Thunder Bay, we loaded grain at 10 o'clock at night. We headed down the lake for the Soo. Then we started to pump foam out of the bilges instead of water (which meant that grain was getting wet -Ed. ). When we got to the Soo, they checked the draught. They decided that we were taking on water at two inches per hour. They sent us to Windsor Sandwich East, where the (wet) grain was clammed out and used for pig feed, and she (BEAVERTON) was to be scrapped. " But BEAVERTON had not yet reached the end of her long rope. We do not be­ lieve that EDMONTON was fitted out in the spring of 1958, the year in which much of the new St. Lawrence Seaway became operational, but BEAVERTON did. On May 27, 1958, she arrived at Montreal and laid up alongside EDMONTON at Bickerdike Pier. EDMONTON never ran again, but BEAVERTON did fit out and made a few trips in the spring of 1959, soon laying up at Kingston, Ontario. Neither of the two venerable canallers faced anything better than the scrap­ yard once the new Seaway era had begun and C. S. L. 's upper lake package freighters could trade all the way down to Montreal. In 1960, BEAVERTON was sold to the Steel Company of Canada Ltd., and on September 8, 1960, the Mc­ Allister tug JAMES BATTLE towed BEAVERTON up Lake Ontario to Hamilton, where she was dismantled during the following winter. EDMONTON remained in lay-up at Montreal but, by February of 1961, she was lying in the Louise Basin at Quebec City. Sold in 1961 to Steel Factors Ltd., a Montreal scrap dealer, she was moved to Lauzon, Quebec. Her forward cabins were burned out there during June of 1961, and the hull soon was dis­ mantled there. Ed Note: Our interest in BEAVERTON was piqued by a recent letter from Ken Wright, wherein he recounted his late-season experiences in the steamer. When Ye Ed. found himself reading that letter while standing within eyesight of BEAVERTON'S brass builder's plate, the fate of this feature was sealed! Our sincere thanks to Ken. Ron Beaupre also provided invaluable assistance in several areas and, as usual, the writings and camera work of late T. M. H. S. members John H. Bascom and James M. Kidd are acknowledged with gra­ titude for their attention to detail. For those who may be as fascinated by Rowley Murphy's Port Dalhousie "block­ ade" photo (it really only was a Sunday, and the canal was closed Sundays), as are we, the boats we can see in that view are: Left side, front to back - TURRET COURT, BICKERDIKE, unidentified. Centre - ADVANCE and EDMONTON. Right side, left to right - HADDINGTON, HARRY E. PACKER, JOHN DUNCAN. West (left) Pier - RELIANCE, ROB ROY, CADILLAC, ROBERT WALLACE. East (right) Pier - ACADIAN (I), GEORGETOWN, SIMLA, ROSEDALE, KEYPORT. Our best guess is that the photo was taken in 1909. We say that because ED­ MONTON is still in Mathews and not Merchants Mutual colours, and because 1909 is the year in which KEYPORT, the newest ship of the lot, made her first appearance.

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