December 2018
Drivers traveling along the Queen Elizabeth Way know very well the abandoned ship that sits in a small cove in Jordan Station. Officially named “La Grande Hermine” (The Big Weasel), the ship is a replica of the largest of the three ships that French Explorer Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River.
La Grande Hermine has become one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Niagara region, but it had a more modest beginning in 1914, when it was built in Quebec as a ferry on the St. Lawrence River. It later became a cargo ship and then found a new life as a floating restaurant.
In 1991, the ship was converted into a replica ship and was even turned into a haunted pirate ship for a Halloween charity fundraiser one year to raise money for a student hot lunch program.
The ship was eventually left to rust in a cove at Jordan Harbour in 1997 while its owner sought to relocate it to Niagara Falls for possible use as a floating casino. This never came to be and the owner has since passed away.
Two decades later, the half-sunk ship is a burnt-out, rusting ruin; a victim of time, the elements and an arson fire in 2003.
Sources: Grande Hermine – Wikipedia, This abandoned ship sits on the side of a major highway in Ontario, Landmark Jordan Harbour ‘pirate ship’ being taken apart.
Update October 2024: Due to the deteriorated state of the old ship, the Canadian coast Guard, who have jurisdiction over shipwrecks in Canadian waters, have contracted a salvage crew to dismantle and remove the ship. The two masts had previously been removed in December 2021, as they had become a safety concern. Now the entire ship is at risk of collapse. Work is expected to be completed by December 2024.