LL Series of Pilots

Off Campobello Island, the Eastport pilot boat North Sea waited to retrieve the pilot as we headed for sea.  It was April 26, 0540…  This first pilot had been a walk-on before we left Eastport.

April 27 at 0530, Portland pilot boat Spring Point came to meet us as we approached. 

At 0538, the pilot stepped aboard.

At 1753, the same boat followed us out to retrieve the pilot as we headed into the Gulf of Maine.

On April 29 at 0551 Halifax pilot boat Captain E. T. Rogers met us outside the harbor. 

Transfer was accomplished safely.

Port of registry listed on this pilot boat is Saint John.

At 1842, the same pilot boat followed us  to retrieve the pilot when we were safely out to sea.

The next pilot was April 30 at 1340 off Canso NS, landed from Strait Falcon.

Registry here is given as Halifax.

This pilot would get us safely through the Canso lock.

May 1 at 0529 I almost missed the pilot off Charlottetown, since they appeared not to be on AIS.

Pilot boat JRG was at the dock when we arrived.

Serious winds delayed our departure from Charlottetown, and when we did depart, a walk-on pilot took us as far up as

just past the Confederation Bridge, when pilot boat Bridge Lady

retrieved that pilot.  Waterway there is the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait.

 

I missed the next pilot pickup on May 4 at 0’darkest off Les Escoumins, but caught the moment half a day later where pilots exchanged places just before Quebec City.

The fresh pilot stepped aboard on May 4 at 1221, and 

moments later the overnight pilot stepped off and 

Ocean Guide sped him ashore.

Just downstream of Montreal on May 5 at 0754, I caught the next exchange . . .  Ocean Maisoneuve II did the delivery and pick up.

Note the muddy water, ie, strong currents, and absence of green on the trees.

Ocean Maisonneuve II has an unusual orange fender built into its hull.

Exchange complete, she speeds off.  Notice Montreal upper right in the distance.

Several other exchanges happened in the SLSW locks, but as we approached Lake Ontario at Cape Vincent, we exchanged pilots one last time before Toronto . . .

 

 

with the quite new Seaway V doing the honors.

All photos, any errors, WVD, who loses sleep to get photos like these.

Maybe someone can help me with details:  is the series made up of Laurentian pilots, District 1 US river/lakes pilots, and then port-specific docking pilots?  Any others?

LL Charlottetown to Montreal

This post encompasses two legs, but WiFi has not been cooperative.

Minimal comment:  this is the eight-mile Confederation Bridge.  Toll to cross by car:  $CD 50.

Bridge Lady is pilot boat to retrieve the pilot who departed with us at Charlottetown.

After a rough passage north along the Gaspé coastline, we enter the lower estuary, where a cold welcome awaited. 

Near Les Éboulements aka “the landslides,” this tug Felicia still adorns the shore.

From the ferry dock near there, Svanoy shuttled over to  Isle aux Coudres. 

As we approached the end of that first leg at QC, Ocean Guide came by to exchange pilots.

Kitikmeot W, Nordic Orion, and Spruceglen were in port.

as were the two powerhouses, Ocean Taiga and Ocean Tundra.

Departing I had my first opportunity to see Vincent Massey.  Four years ago she was undergoing transformation here.

Torm Timothy headed for sea.

A pilot exchange happened just downstream from Montreal, 

where Uhl Fast was in port.

All photos, any errors, WVD.

Océan Blue 6

A 4300 hp product of a Collingwood ON shipyard no longer there . . . it’s Océan Basques.

Here’s a better profile, taken a second earlier.  Basques provides ship assists in the port of Trois-Rivieres, QC.  

Docked nearby in the same port, it’s Océan Bravo, slightly older and larger though less horsepower,  a product of Quebec’s  Davie Shipbuilding. 

After Bravo, you’d expect and Charlie . . . and there’s most of the other names of the military alphabet up to Lima in the Ocean fleet. Charlie here is roughly a twin in size and power–though not styling–to Bravo.

Duga is based in the port of Sorel-Tracy, and is a 1977 product of the Trondheim Fjord of Norway.

Staying with the Océan fleet in the quite busy out of Sorel-Tracy, here’s Pilote 2000 stemming between

Leopard Moon and

Jebsens’ Sharpnes.

Downstream to Quebec City, here’s Océan Guide returning from a pilot run to Helena G and

exchanging pilots on Dara Desgagnes.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who was not surprised to find that Canada has more miles of coastline than any other country on the planet.

And here’s an unrelated research question sent along by frequent contributor here, Jan van der Doe, and referring to the photo below taken in rotterdam in 1954.  Question is:  What identification might be provided by the white numbers “3793” visible in the lower right on the dark hull of the vessel just forward of the burning Tanga?  Note the Dutch flag on the stern of the vessel so marked.

 

A Pilot’s Life 2

Algoma Mariner (2011) heads upriver with a load of ore.  This time of year and until the St. Lawrence Seaway opens, Montreal is the head of navigation, so that’s where the ore will be discharged and sent further by rail.

Pilot exchange at Quebec City is facilitated by Ocean Ross Gaudreault (ORG).

 

 

Minutes after the exchange, ORG (94′ x 37′) cuts a swath back to the base

using its 5000 hp through the freshwater ice that’s come down from

Lake Saint Pierre.

Back in September, I got these photos of the pilots’ exchange.

 

For some info on the Canadian Pilots, Laurentian Region, click here.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Océan Blue 2

Where has the time gone since I did Ocean Blue 1?  Well, it’s not been wasted.   Ocean blue seems at least as ubiquitous on the lower Saint Lawrence as  green-red G-tugs are to the upper Great Lakes watershed.

I took all these photos near their Quebec City base, nestled beneath the illuminated G3 grain elevators so reminiscent of the ones in Buffalo.

Right up front and center is Ocean Tundra, with Ocean Taiga looking over its starboard shoulder.  Are they still the most powerful Canada-built tugs at over 8000 hp?  I’m going to have to invest in winter layers so that I can come up in January and see these machines in ice mode.

Ocean Charlie docks here too.

Just in from an assist, Ocean Ross Gaudreault and Ocean Henry Bain return to base.   Click here for the particulars on all the Ocean vessels.

 

Here Ocean Ross Gaudreault and Ocean K. Rusby assist a heavily laden Garganey.

 

In the distance beyond Ocean Stevns, is that Jacques Cartier National Park?

And what blue-hulled vessel is that in the distance at the shipyard?

Ocean Guide does pilot exchange round the clock.

 

 

 

More Ocean vessels tomorrow.  All these photos by Will Van Dorp, who’s eager to return to Quebec.

 

North Bound 6

I’ve made myself back to the sixth boro by train now, and I’m succumbing to “train lag,” which means I’m allowing myself a few days to put up chronologically arranged photos before focusing on some scene that caught me and haven’t let go.  The Quebec City-Levis ferries are part of a huge network.

The Coast Guard base is just below–way below–Château Frontenac, where a fateful conference took place in 1943.

An excursion boat has as namesake a Quebecois–same guy the extra ‘l’ notwithstanding– who undertook a significant journey with a priest.

Ocean has a huge base in the old port.  I plan a host of Ocean posts soon.

I don’t know if Nordik Express still makes this journey, but I intend to find out.

Django dates from 1928, but more than that, I know nothing.

And finally, back from a job, Ocean Henry Bain returns from a job, passing the pilots’ station.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who recalls this morning as a day that lives in infamy.  In remembrance, check out the first photo here.

Océan Blue 1

A jolly tar sent me some photos that could be a continuation of Other Watersheds 17.  He was there recently, and these photos add to my desire to get back up there, since it’s been 25 years since I last saw this place.

Note the pilot boat.  Now I’ll use his words:  “MAERSK PALERMO northbound on St. Lawrence possibly bound for Nova Scotia or proceeding to sea.
Bridge in background connects mainland to Ile D’Orleans.  River SMOKES when it ebbs – 5+KTS.”

To see Ocean Charlie (1973) in exactly the same location in February, click here. Quebec City has an average January temperature of 9 F, compared with 30 for the sixth boro. If you want cold, go up to Quebec’s north country to Inukjuak, where the average January temperature is -12 F.

Ocean Tundra (2013) was built at Ocean’s own shipyard.   To her stern is Ocean K. Rusby (2005).  And the grain silos have also served as a projection screen.

Ocean Echo II (1969)  is a pin boat.

Ocean Guide returns from a call, fighting a current.

From a month ago, here are some other Ocean tugs, these in Hamilton.

For the entire Ocean tugboat fleet, click here.

Again, many thanks to the jolly tar.

For some stats on Canadian ports, click here.  Montreal–upriver from Quebec City– is one the the big four Canadian container ports; for info on the four, click here.