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- S.S. Kewatin in Port McNicol, Ontario, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
January 2018
Moored at a dock in Port McNicoll, Ontario, visitors can tour a ship that harkens back to the glory days of passenger travel on the Great Lakes.
Owned and operated by Canadian Pacific Railway, the S.S. Keewatin is the last of the Edwardian-era Great Lakes passenger steamers. Out of service since it was retired on 28 November 1965, 350-foot Keewatin was saved from the scrapyard and has served as a museum, initially in Douglas, Michigan, where is was know as the Keewatin Maritime Museum, from 1968 until it relocated to Port McNicoll in 2012.
The S.S. Keewatin was built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1907 and saw her maiden voyage on 7 October 1908 in Owen Sound.
During its years of service, Keewatin and her sister ship, the S.S. Assiniboia,were among five ships that transported passengers, freight and mail between her home port of Port McNicoll and Fort William, now part of Thunder Bay. This filled the gap between CP rail lines in southern Ontario and Fort William, as there were no railway or highway connections that far south until 1956, when the Trans-Canada highway around Lake Superior was completed.
An interesting feature of the Keewatin is that it’s main dining room is a smaller but otherwise identical version to the one on the RMS Titanic, launched five years later.
The owners of Keewatin, Friends of the Keewatin and Skyline Developments had originally envisioned a re-developed McNicoll waterfront project that was to include 1,400 homes, a yacht club, marina, retail shops and entertainment facilities. Those plans have failed to materialize and Skyline sold the property in the spring of 2017, a sale that didn’t include the Keewatin.
The Friends of the Keewatin are now looking to relocate the ship to either nearby Midland or Owen Sound, where Keewatin was originally based until 1912.
Tours of the ship are conducted by an army of volunteers, some of whom were part of the crew during her sailing days, from the middle of May until early October.
A short film tiltled,”BRING HER ON HOME – the return of the S.S. Keewatin” can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYhn6I27nzM
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- Dining room, a smaller version of what was later built on the RMS Titanic, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Dining room, a smaller version of what was later built on the RMS Titanic, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- China with the Canadian Pacific Railway logo on them, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- The ballroom, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- The ballroom, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- The smoking lounge, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- The main staircase, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Interior cabin area, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Interior cabin area, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Passenger cabin, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Passenger cabin, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Passenger cabin, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Cargo deck, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
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- Map showing the route the S.S. Keewating would take on a voyage, September 2012. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
Sources: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2018/01/17/ss-keewatin-needs-a-new-home-operators-would-consider-a-pitch-to-owen-sound-if-midland-doesnt-want-it, https://kryhul.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/ss-keewatin-comes-home/
