(click on any photo to enlarge!)
above: the frozen Welland Canal as seen on Mar.4, 2010. This part of the canal was not fully drained over the winter of 2009-10, so the ice is seen high up to the canal banks. In the distance is the St.Catharines Garden City Skyway, built in 1963, which carries the QEW highway over the canal.
above: this is the same view, just twenty days later, on Mar.24, 2010! The ice is all gone, and the canal is almost at its normal water level. The Homer draw bridge is seen in its raised position in the distance, waiting for Nadro Marine's tugboat Vigilant 1 to pass on its way southbound up the canal, towards Lock 3.
above: same view, a typical summer vista of the Welland Canal, in July of 2010.
above: Jan.9, 2011 - this winter (2010-11) the canal was drained. Quite a difference from the previous photo, showing the width of the Big Ditch.
(See more photos at Welland Canal re-filled)
above: Mar.7, 2011, the water in the canal is being allowed to slowly rise again back up to its normal levels, in readiness for the shipping season set to begin in the third week of March. The section seen here was opened in 1932 as part of the fourth incarnation of the canal; the first three routes of the canal joined Lake Ontario at Port Dalhousie in west St.Catharines; this current fourth canal route joins Lake Ontario at Port Weller, in east St.Catharines. The Welland Canal opened in 1829, making this its 182nd shipping season.
above: May 20, 2011, the Algocanada from St.Catharines heads south towards the Skyway.
above: May 20, 2011 - here's a nice view of the Algocanada cruising in still waters...
... and below is my watercolour postcard titled 'Fishing by the Algocanada', showing some kids fishing on a hot August day along the Welland Canal, as the Algocanada looms in the distance:
! Click on any photo to enlarge !
above: Jun.6, 2011 - the BBC Orinoco of St.John's, heading southbound, is tied off at the dock on the west-side of the Welland Canal, just south of the Homer Bridge. A load of wind-turbine blades is seen strapped to her deck. The Orinoco is waiting for a northbound ship, the Atlantic Huron (seen at the far right distance) to make her exit out of Lock Three.
below: Mar.4, 2011 - a wider view shows the shiny Paul. J. Martin at the right; while at the left sitting in the drydock is Algoma Central Marine's John B. Aird of Sault Ste. Marie. Note the canal bed in front of the drydock doors is dry. This area seen in the foreground is the turning basin for the ships as they manoeuvre in and out of the drydock.
above: the same view, as it was earlier on Jan.6, 2011, showing the Martin on the right and the Aird at the left, with the canal full of water in front. Compared to the previous photo, it looks like the Martin was about to get a new paint job.
above: here's the same view, as it was on Jan.29, 2010, looking at the Port Weller Drydock. The CSL Assiniboine, can be seen in the drydock at the left, and the Peter R. Cresswell is seen at the right. Note that the canal bed at this time is dry. The CSL Assiniboine was christened by Jocelyn Hyndman-Goettke (CSL CEO Stuart Hyndman's daughter) at the Port Weller Drydock in June of 2005. The Assiniboine was a remanufactured ship, in that it was formerly the Jean Parisien, which had a new forebody attached to it at the drydock. At the time, this was the fourth ship in CSL's renewal program to have such a forebody replacement.
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below: Jun.17, 2011 - this close-up shows how tight a squeeze these ships have in order to get in and out of the locks. Here the northbound Heloise of Panama is seen exiting Lock Three with merely inches to spare.
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below: two historical markers, located near Lock 4, about the Welland Canal and the Twin Flight Locks:
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above: Jun.29, 2011 - the Peter R. Cresswell heads south under the Skyway towards the Homer bridge.
above: Aug.27, 2011 - the southbound Peter R. Cresswell is seen exiting Lock Three.
It's not something police generally want to discuss publicly.
But when two people jump to their deaths from Niagara bridges about 12 hours apart in public settings, it's difficult for them not to acknowledge the tragedy of suicide.
Ontario Provincial Police had to shut down the Niagara-bound lanes of the QEW Wednesday about 8:30 p.m. for several hours after a man jumped from the Niagara St. overpass and was killed.
Thursday morning shortly before 9 another man jumped from the Niagara-bound side of Garden City Skyway.
His body was recovered from the Welland Canal by Niagara Regional Police divers.
One lane of the highway and a section of the pedestrian pathway next to the canal were closed for about three hours as police investigated the death.
"It's a coincidence that we had two incidents back to back. There's nothing to indicate otherwise," said Staff Sgt. Jan Idzenga, commanding officer the Niagara OPP.
Niagara Regional Police were involved in both investigations and said foul play is not suspected.
NRP spokesman Const. Nilan Dave also said there appears to be no connection between the deaths.
Both men were residents of St. Catharines — one in his fifties and one in his sixties.
below two photos: Aug.31, 2011 - the southbound barge St.Mary's Cement sits raised in Lock Three, ready to exit; this barge is propelled by the tugboat Petite Forte of Hamilton.
above: Jul.10, 2011 - the John D. Leitch of Toronto heads north from Lock Two.
As an aside, what's kinda weird is the above photo of the Algocape, and the previously-above photo of the Gordon C. Leitch, were both taken on the same day, on Jul.13, 2011, within minutes of each other. The Algocape was heading north from Lock 4, while at the same time, the Gordon C. Leitch was heading south towards Lock 3; so, these two soon-to-be-doomed ships - which would both end up as scrap in Turkey - actually passed each other that day!)
below: Oct.5, 2011 - here is a closer view of how the above railroad draw bridge across the Welland Canal looks like when it is raised. There are two sets of tracks on this bridge.
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below: Aug.17, 2011 - the northbound Tim S. Dool approaches the entrance to Lock Two.
above: Aug.18, 2011 - the southbound Nordport of Limassol is about to exit Lock Three.
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below: Mar.1, 2011 - looking southwards into Lock Three. Repairs on the lock were made during the winter shut down of the canal. Concrete is being piped down to workers,who are seen at the bottom of the lock, where the north door of Lock Three normally closes.
below: Sept.6, 2011 - the Canadian Coast Guard ship Limnos is docked at the west-side of the Welland Canal, slightly north of Lock One, in St.Catharines. Also docked here, seen in the left distance, is the Canadian Multi-Role Patrol Frigate HMCS Montreal.
above: Sept. 6, 2011 - aft view of the HMCS Montreal docked in St.Catharines
below: Sept.9, 2011 - the northbound Federal Pioneer arrives at the mouth of the Welland Canal from Lake Erie; at the far left, sitting along the east-side of the canal, is the Canadian Leader, which is being scrapped.
below: Sept.9, 2011 - the northbound Algoma Transfer of Toronto is docked at the east-side of the canal, just north of the Robin Hood silo in Port Colborne.
below: Sept.15, 2011 - the downbound Spruceglen of Montreal is exiting Lock Three.
below: Sept.22, 2011, approx. 6pm - the Cedarglen (formerly the Ems Ore, rebuilt later to become the Montcliffe Hall, and later the Cartierdoc) here is heading northbound out of Lock Three, carrying a load of coal to Quebec city.
above: Sept.22, 2011 - the northbound Cedarglen's wheelhouse passes through the Lock Three exit
below: also on Sept.22, 2011, at about 2pm, the Heloise of Panama was heading southbound up the Welland Canal, here seen on her way towards Lock Two.
below: Sept.22, 2011 - at the same time as the southbound Heloise was approaching Lock Two, the northbound Algoma Guardian of St.Catharines was inside Lock two, being lowered.
below: Sept.22, 2011 - by 6pm, the southbound Heloise had made it out of Lock Two, and is now seen in the distance passing under the Homer Bridge (coming towards the camera), while the northbound Cedarglen , at the right, is seen just leaving Lock Three.
above: Sept.22, 2011 - at 6:20 pm, the southbound Heloise is about to enter Lock Three, while in the distance the northbound Cedarglen is seen passing the Homer Bridge.
below: Oct.27, 2011 - the Barbro of Valetta heads southbound, approaching Lock One; she is passing by two ships seen docked at the left, at the west-side of the canal. Closest to the camera is seen the aft of the north-facing tug Petite Forte, which is connected to and which propels the barge St.Mary's Cement. Farther in the left distance is seen the south-facing Lyulin.
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below: Oct.28, 2011 - the southbound Canadian Enterprise is seen leaving Lock One; just across the canal (to the right of the ship's bow, out-of frame on the east-side of the canal) is the location of the Port Weller Drydock.
below: Dec.11, 2011 - the Canadian Olympic heads into Lock One, while the southbound Saguenay is seen in the far right distance.
below: Dec.16, 2011 - the pre-fab building seen in place, just on the south-side of the Carlton St. bridge; the little buidling was installed on Dec.15, 2011.
below: Dec.13, 2011 - in the foreground, the site is being readied for the pre-fab building. (the St.Mary's Cement barge is heading south in the distance)
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below: Jan.4, 2012 - the Welland Canal's 2011 shipping season officially ended on Dec.26, 2011, where ships were given until until Dec.30 to exit; the last ship to travel the canal was apparently a coast guard ship. Draining of the canal was started the next day; below is the view on Jan.4, 2012, looking south towards the Skyway, where the banks of the big ditch are being revealed again. The center of the canal isn't yet frozen, but at the banks ice has formed, which cracks and drops as the canal water levels slowly drop beneath it.
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below: date not known, pos 1970's; looking at the south-side of the Homer bridge. The canal is drained and an excavator is working down in the canal bed. Note that only one wing of the bridge is raised.
below: Feb.4, 2012 - looking northwards at the south-gate of Lock Two, as construction work takes place around the massive lock doors. You can see the deep drop into Lock Two at the upper left. The steel beams of the Carlton St. bridge deck are seen running along the top.
below: Dec.13, 2011 - looking (in a NE direction) at the area directly east of Lock Two, where the sluice gate 'pond' area is located. Here the pond is seen filled, at its normal working level; while on the east-side of the pond, crews are seen, busy hammering home a line of new steel casings:
above: Feb.4, 2012, same view - a cover of rubble stone has been placed on top of the steel mesh; the mesh is connected to the new steel pilings by heavy steel chains.
above: same view, by mid-March, 2012 - the water in the canal has been refilled; the tips of the steel pilings have now been covered with concrete capping, and a new steel safety railing has been added at the right.
below: Jan.17, 2012 - here is the view, looking north-east, while standing at the south-end of Lock Seven; as can be seen at the right (to the south), the canal is still full of water here. There are three barriers seen here: at the right bottom, this first safety barrier is stopping the water from heading north into Lock 7. Further to the left, the lock cavity is seen drained; there is a second pie-shaped safety-wall seen at centre-left, with its tracks visible at the bottom; and a third barrier is at the far left, also with its tracks visible. 
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below: Jan.17, 2012 - looking a bit farther to the left - that pie-shaped barrier gate can be clearly seen at the right (this is the east-side wing). It is seen on its trackway, protruding out from where it normally resides, recessed in the concrete wall. A bit of the opposite west-side wing gate is seen along the left of the photo.
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below: Jan.17, 2012 - at the left is the west-side wing of the pie-shaped barrier gate; it is seen sitting within its recess, out of the way, as it normally does during the regular season. In the centre can be seen the south-end doors of Lock Seven, these are the actual working lock doors which operate during the shipping season. The east-side lock door (at the right) is open, parallel with the sides of the lock; while the west-side lock door is seen protruding into the lock cavity. You can see that just beyond those doors, the floor-level drops off significantly, as that is where the ships sit while being lowered/raised on their passage. The north-end doors of Lock 7 are in the far distance.
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below: Mar.7, 2012 - slowly the water is trickling back into the Welland Canal (check out the same view, as it was exactly a year ago, on Mar.7, 2011, earlier in this post)
above: Mar.14, 2012 - same view; the canal water level continues to rise, with just several feet more to go.
below: Mar.7, 2012 - looking eastward across the canal, where in the distance the shallow pond area is dry.
Today was the opening day of the 2012 Welland Canal shipping season, marking the canal's 183rd year of operation. (First opened on Nov.30, 1829)
On Mar.22, there were two ships - both heading downbound - which were named as being the "first" of the year to pass through the canal: Capt. Rob Dominaux of the barge/tug Alouette Spirit/Wilf Seymour, received the ceremonial Top Hat at Lock 3; yet, at Lock 8, another Top Hat was presented to Capt. Sean Jowsey of the barge/tug John. J. Carrick/ Victorious.
below: Mar.22, 2012 - after their Top Hat recognitions, the Alouette Spirit and the John J. Carrick continued northbound down the canal. Here, just after noon, the Alouette Spirit, festooned with flags, is seen heading northbound, approaching Lock One.
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below: July 5, 2012 - the upbound Ojibway leaves Lock Two.
above: Apr.14, 2012 - the downbound Arubaborg of Delfzijl angles in for her approach into Lock 2.
above: Apr.25, 2012 - at the right, the Algosteel sits in the drydock at Port Weller; while at the left, sitting low, is the HMCS Athabaskan, which arrived in late March for an extensive overhaul.
above: Jun.23, 2012, the upbound Songa Jade passes under the Garden City Skyway, heading towards the Homer Bridge and Lock Three.
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above: Jun.30, 2012 - looking southwards along the Welland Canal, from the top of the Garden City Skyway. In the foreground, the upbound Saguenay from Montreal is just squeezing herself into Lock Three. Further in the distance the Glendale Lift Bridge can be seen crossing the canal, and further back, the steps of Locks 4, 5, and 6 rise up as they take the canal up the Niagara Escarpment.
above: Apr.25, 2012 - the southbound Algosea passes under the Glendale Lift Bridge, approaching Lock Four
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above: Sept.3, 2012 Canadian navy ships HMCS Moncton (in left distance) and HMCS Summerside head north out of the Welland Canal into Lake Ontario.
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below: Dec.11, 2008 - the northbound Federal Katsura of Panama enters Lock One.
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below: Dec.11, 2008 - looking at the Port Weller drydock: this is the Windoc sitting inside the drydock, seen with her stern removed.
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ABOUT THE ILL-FATED SHIP "WINDOC"
above: Sept.9, 2011 - three ships are seen tied up at the mouth of the canal in Port Colborne, along the east-side wall, directly north of Lake Erie.
At the far left is the Canadian Leader, (see video).In the center, tied off to the Canadian Leader, is a rusty smaller blue-painted vessel, the K. R. Elliott.
Interestingly, the Canadian Leader's red chimney stack was at her rear, but her wheelhouse was way up at her bow: it is seen in the center of the photo, behind where the smaller K.R. Elliott is.
From this angle, though, that wheelhouse (which belongs to the Leader) looks as though it might be part of that third ship, whose bow is seen at the very far right, facing Lake Erie - but actually, that third ship has no wheelhouse whatsoever!!
This is because this ship is the infamous doomed Windoc, whose wheelhouse was sheared off in a disastrous collision with the Allanburg Bridge on Aug.11, 2001!
In the next photo below, the Windoc, still in the same place, is seen from a different angle: this photo looks at the ship from the east, from the mosquito-infested Nickel Beach. Clearly, looking at the right, the Windoc's stern has been totally removed.
This is a ship graveyard.
[What is also eerily interesting about my above photo is that there is an uncanny tie between the Canadian Leader and the Windoc, which now both sit here at the scrapyard dock.
The connection is that the Canadian Leader was the FIRST SHIP in line to go through the temporarily-raised Allanburg bridge, two days after the Windoc accident!!
As coincidence would have it, the Canadian Leader happened to be the first of 25 ships that were backed-up waiting at various points of the canal to get through the bridge. The further irony is that the Canadian Leader passed by the Windoc, which would have been still-smouldering and grounded in the canal. The Windoc was never to work again, while the Leader still remained a working ship for some time longer - yet both have ended up beside each other in the same place, ten years later, as scrap!!]
(click on photos to enlarge!)
below: Sept..9, 2011 - a closer aft view of the Canadian Leader.
below: Aug.31, 2011 - a bit of the K. R. Elliott's bow is seen at the far left; at the right is a closer view of the Windoc's starboard, showing large sections of steel being been cut out and removed from her hull.
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below: Aug.12, 2001, photo by R.Bobak: here is the Allanburg Bridge (also called Bridge 11) of the Welland Canal, the day after the Windoc hit it - or more precisely, after the bridge was lowered onto the moving ship.
This is looking at the south-side of the bridge; the Windoc was heading northbound (to the right) as the bridge was unexpectedly lowered before she fully passed and cleared the bridge. (As this picture was being taken, the Windoc was still smouldering and grounded along the west-side of the canal, a bit further off to the right.)
Here a small boat is seen making its way under the bridge while engineers on the boat inspected the girders. Considering the spectacular nature of this collision, it is amazing that the damage, as seen in the center of the bridge, was not worse; the bridge survived, but the Windoc's wheelhouse was destroyed.
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below: Aug.12, 2001, photo by R.Bobak - while the inspectors were examining the bridge, as seen in the previous shot, at the same time, farther down the canal on the north side of the bridge, the Windoc was still burning - a day after the crash.
This photo looks north, while standing in front of the Allanburg Bridge, on the east-bank of the Welland Canal. The bridge is directly to the left, just out of frame.
The Windoc is seen in the centre-distance with smoke pouring out of her while fire crews kept hosing her down. The ship, after having had her wheelhouse completely destroyed by the bridge collision the day before, had continued to float - out of control - for about a mile north until she finally grounded, on fire, along the west bank of the canal. Here a continuous crowd of spectators made their way down the east-side of the canal path to watch the spectacle.
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You must have seen the You Tube video of the Windoc event - if not, see how it happened !!!!
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By Jan.10, 2003, the Niagara Falls Review summarized what happened on the night of the Windoc collision, after much of the subsequent legal wrangling subsided:
Operator on pain killers, wine when Windoc struck, investigation finds
The operator who lowered a
Seventeen months after the Windoc smashed into the Allanburg bridge Aug. 11, 2001, the safety board released its report Thursday on its investigation into the fiery collision.
Investigators determined human error of the lone bridge operator - not a mechanical malfunction of the bridge or an error of the ship's crew - was a primary cause for the disaster, which closed shipping on the Welland Canal
"The Windoc was visible from the control room of the bridge. It is likely that the operator's performance was impaired at the time of the accident," investigator Paul van den Berg said at a news conference in Thorold
Before being called in to work an overtime shift Aug. 11, the bridge operator had taken pain killers for a recurring back ailment and consumed between two and four glasses of wine, the safety board said in its report.
"The investigation revealed that the bridge operator was on his scheduled day off," said van den Berg. "He had taken Darvon-N tablets that morning to relieve back pain. He had also consumed several glasses of wine around lunch time."
The operator received the invitation to work an overtime night shift between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., but made no mention of the medication or alcohol he had consumed, said the report.
But authorities couldn't state conclusively whether the operator was impaired because no drug or alcohol testing was conducted after the collision.
Investigators had no reason to initially suspect intoxication as a contributing factor, said Camille Theriault, safety board chairman.
"However, more and more as they got into the investigation there were definitely some signs that pointed toward the possibility of impairment and that it was a factor in this accident," he said.
Shortly before he dropped the bridge into the Windoc's path, the operator's speech was slurred in taped telephone conversations he had with the controllers in the Seaway's Traffic Control Centre, according to the report.
The operator accidentally called the control centre at 8:50 p.m. while trying to reach staff at Lock 7, but had trouble understanding he'd made the mistake. This exchange was conducted over a speaker phone, and before hanging up, the two controllers on duty made comments about the way the operator sounded.
"Less than two minutes later, the accident occurred," the report states.
Van den Berg said the master of the Windoc sounded a few blasts of the ship's whistle to alert the bridge operator and called the traffic control centre.
But it was too late.
The collision sheared off the wheelhouse and funnel. A fire ignited inside the ship moments after the crash and burned for 22 hours, destroying the engine room and crew quarters.
None of the 22 crew was injured, including the helmsman who remained inside the wheelhouse as it was ripped off over his head.
The collision closed the Welland Canal to shipping traffic for two days and put the Allanburg Bridge
Immediately after the crash, the bridge operator seemed unable to comprehend the severity of the incident, according to the safety board report.
When he first was contacted by seaway traffic controllers minutes after the accident, the operator indicated a vessel had struck the bridge.
It took traffic controllers several more attempts to reach the operator by phone 10 minutes later. When asked whether the Windoc was on fire, the operator reported there was "a small fire" aboard the ship, said the report.
The first Niagara Regional Police officer on the scene and the seaway area co-ordinator found the bridge operator sitting in his darkened control room apparently in shock.
The bridge operator's likely impairment wasn't the only safety deficiency singled out by the Transportation Safety Board.
Investigators determined the seaway hadn't properly identified "safety-sensitive positions" to make certain they were staffed with capable personnel.
"The system in place to ensure that these individuals occupying those positions were competent and fit for duty was inadequate," said van den Berg.
In addition, it wasn't uncommon for bridge operators to complete an entire 12-hour shift without ever speaking to a supervisor in person.
"Bridge operators spend a significant amount of time working alone and with little opportunity for management to ensure they can consistently perform their job function in an appropriate and safe manner," said van den Berg.
The seaway needs to bring in backup monitoring systems - such as infrared technology to detect the presence of vessels beneath bridges - to prevent future collisions, Theriault said.
The safety board also criticized the seaway's initial handling of the canal disaster. "The corporation's response to the accident was conducted in an ad hoc basis, which hampered co-ordination and deployment of responding personnel and equipment," said van den Berg.
Seaway spokeswoman Sylvie Moncion said she couldn't discuss the safety board's report because of the corporation's court battle with N.M. Paterson and Sons, the former owner of the Windoc.
However, she said the seaway is planning to review its safety- sensitive positions to ensure "all of the people in those jobs meet the requirements."
As well, she said management have developed a workplace alcohol and drug policy that has been endorsed by the Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents Seaway employees.
"It doesn't include mandatory drug and alcohol testing, but if we feel there is an employee who has a problem, then we would be able to take appropriate measures at that point," she said."
*Bill Currie of the St.Catharines Standard reported in 2001 on an ironic twist between an earlier ship also named Windoc, which had also been owned by the Paterson Co., and which also hit a bridge on the Welland Canal, back in 1938, eerily similar to what would happen to the next Windoc in 2001:
"For the second time in the 171-year history of the
Both were Paterson
Both were called Windoc.
The original Paterson-flagged ship called the Windoc collided with Bridge 20 in Port Colborne
By uncanny coincidence, the Allanburg lift-bridge did similar damage Saturday night to the latest Windoc, also owned by N. M. Paterson and Sons Ltd.
Both incidents resulted in no crew injuries, but extensive damage to the stern sections of the ships.
Great Lakes shipping historian Skip Gillham, who recently co- authored a book on the Thunder Bay-based Paterson company, said it has been the only shipping firm to have experienced this kind of collision with the centre section of a lift-bridge.
"Can you imagine being in the pilot house and seeing the bridge coming down?" Gillham said. "I just thought the coincidence was absolutely incredible."
A Standard account of the 1938 crash said the bridge operator lowered the Canadian National Railway bridge because he thought he saw the lights of an approaching train. Meanwhile, the Windoc captain decided to increase the speed of the ship to try and avoid the collision, but struck the bridge hard as it fell. The bridge crushed the superstructure into a twisted mass of metal.
Gillham has a picture of the aft section of the original Windoc after the collision.
"It's just a tangle of stuff," he said.
This weekend's collision sliced the top of the wheelhouse and a fire burned out the stern section well into Sunday before it was extinguished.
In both cases, Gillham said it would have been impossible for the vessels to avoid the collisions by slowing or reversing engines.
While there have been many ship accidents in the canal -- although no others where a bridge came down on a ship -- the weekend collision recalls one of the most serious accidents in which a vessel collided with a lift-bridge.
On Aug. 25, 1974, the U.S. ore carrier Steelton struck Bridge 12 in Port Robinson. The bridge was being raised too slowly as it was struck by the bow of the Steelton. Half of the bridge toppled into the canal. The bridge was never replaced.
The latest ship to carry the name Windoc was built in 1959 by Schlieker-Werft in Hamburg , West Germany Rhine Ore for Transatlantic Bulk Carriers Inc., of Monrovia , Liberia
Eighteen years later, Halco, Ltd. of Montreal bought the vessel and had it rebuilt for Great Lakes service at Davie Shipbuilding in Lauzon, Que. The cost to rebuild the ship with a lengthened bow and cargo section was about $9 million.
As part of that reconstruction, the mid-ship pilot house was moved to the stern and it was re-named Steelcliffe Hall.
The Steelcliffe Hall joined the Paterson
The original Windoc was built in 1899 by Globe Iron Works in Cleveland Cleveland Italy
The Windoc's strange tale continued:
Eventually, by early September 2001, the Windoc was finally pulled north by four tugs, out of the Welland Canal into Lake Ontario, and towed to Hamilton Bay, where she sat moored at Pier 8 over the winter - but on Mar.9, 2002, a storm hit Hamilton, with winds reported up to 120 kph and waves at 2.5 m. Astoundingly, the Windoc - unmanned, empty and without any power, like a ghost ship - broke free of her moorings and was cast adrift during the night, rolling around Hamilton Bay, until she finally grounded in a sandbar!!
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...and so, ten years after the Windoc's fateful collision, by the summer of 2011, both the Windoc and Canadian Leader were sitting side by side in Port Colborne, waiting to be scrapped.
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Thanks for visiting Right In Niagara; see also my related post, Welland Canal Refilled.
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