Saint Lawrence seaway, 1960

[John Arton]

Found this,
Smashing video on construction and opening of it with some well known vessels.
I went up there on the Beaverfir in 1970 on the 10th anniversary celebrations.
Rgds
J.A
https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=I...&v=rlOW2V8AJRs

[Ivan Cloherty]

Thanks for that, brings a tear to the eye. With modern elf n saftee do you still have to swing out standing on an upside down T bar over the lock to jump and then pull a mooring line ashore in icy conditions

[cappy]

Found this,
Smashing video on construction and opening of it with some well known vessels.
I went up there on the Beaverfir in 1970 on the 10th anniversary celebrations.
Rgds
J.A
https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=I...&v=rlOW2V8AJRs

...have not seen this before absolutely terrific watching ....followed on with the final findings on mv derbyshire .....a sad tale indeed.......cheers cappy

[John Arton]

That trip up the seaway was memorable for another reason.we were almost light ship with only a couple of hundred tons of cargo for Toronto in No1 hold tween deck. As we were entering the lock we hit the concrete lead in wall before the gates. This resulted in a large gash in the hull well above the water line. The lock master immediately refused us entry and we had to back up and moor on the tie up wall.on putting the pilot ladder over the side so the captain and pilot could exams the damage along with the seaways authority, we were confronted with weapons drawn American police. They stood guard over us the whole time we were on the tie up wall. The upshot of all the discussion was that we were allowed to continue up through the American locks but with a tug escort. It being a holiday it took hours until they could the nearby tugs crew to start up and come to escort us. While we waiting we were treated to an excellent flying display by the USA air force display team.
Eventually we could see the tugs engine start up as they prepared to come over to escort us. The captain turned to the pilot and remarked that with the tug everything would go easily now to which the pilot replied that with the tug it would be more difficult and so it proved. Getting into the lock was pretty easy but the stretch between was difficult as the tub could just about keep up with us on our dead slow speed coupled with the crew of the tub having been having a merry (hic!) time celebrating the anniversary show.
Once clear of the American locks the tug left and we continued on our own through the Canadian lock and canal, across lake Ontario to Toronto where we discharged the last of the cargo and permanent repairs were made to the hull.
All in all a very enjoyable trip with just a bit of extra excitement thrown in.
Rgds
J.A.

[Doc Vernon]

Thanks JA most interesting Video, as i have not been there or seen this before.
Must have been a wonderful experience going through there!
Cheers

[John Arton]

Doc
I loved going up the seaway across lake Ontario passing through 1000 islands, where some of the houses were awesome. The scenery all the way up was fantastic and every turn brought something new. We had a cat on the ship and the only time it would appear on the bridge was when we were going up the seaway, where it would stay for the whole transit, watching everything from its perch on a little shelf fixed alongside the captains chair, disappearing once we reached lake Ontario or the Jacques Cartier bridge, depending upon weather we were upbound or down bound.
The tie up walls, where you would wait until the traffic in the lock cleared, were covered in ships and crews names but the best one was on the first American tie up, where a huge arrow pointing towards the fence enclosing the lock, had been painted, along with the words, "the cook went that aways".
Rgds
J.A.

[Bill Cameron]

My trip up, the Seaway was before it really opened, the Dundee I served on was specially built in Burntisland on the Forth river, we were a Scottish company The Dundee , Perth & London shipping coy, we were flat bottomed, had special winches for transitioning through locks.
We entered and left the Lakes via the Lachine canal in Montreal, then on to Toronto, and further, none of the “Seaway” locks were in use at first, there were 28 of a crew all East Coast Scots from the Dundee and Aberdeen pools, the best bunch of lads I had ever sailed with,I really enjoyed travelling up and down the Lakes to Newfoundland and back for ten months. I thing the first Seaway lock we used was the Iroquois lock, we also took the Navigator and an other Officer from HMS Britannia with so they could have an idea what the Royal Yacht would have to put up with.
It was the best ten months of my seagoing career.

[Duke Drennan]

Thanks for that, brings a tear to the eye. With modern elf n saftee do you still have to swing out standing on an upside down T bar over the lock to jump and then pull a mooring line ashore in icy conditions

That brings back memories Ivan. More than once I had to let go of the rope due to my feet slipping on the ice on the dockside as she drifted back out.

[John Arton]

Am I right in recalling that you had to use wire ropes to tie up in the locks and there is/was a fairlead specific for seaway use?
Rgds
J.A.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Am I right in recalling that you had to use wire ropes to tie up in the locks and there is/was a fairlead specific for seaway use?
Rgds
J.A.

Lakes leads consisted of two vertical rollers and two horizontal rollers forming a square that the rope/wire could not escape. The Panama lead was deemed to be inadequate and cause too much chafing of the rope/wire causing it to break, the Panama rise and fall was much slower than the Lakes and in Panama you used the Mules non rotating wires which didn't kink. The Lakes leads had to be kept well lubricated/greased especially on Foc'le and break of foc'le as the seized up if you sneezed.