Growth and disaster on the Great Lakes Canada Steamship Lines

coalhaven, bulk freighter of csl, loading coal in oswego, new york, in october, 1941

csl s growth through industrial booms of both world wars largely tied increasing importance of steel industry in ontario, mills built, or built, in sault ste. marie, hamilton, , nanticoke. csl tapped last of remaining coal traffic pennsylvania across great lakes railways in canada. following railway dieselization, subsequent coal traffic moved csl large fossil-fuel burning electrical power plants.

in addition cargo shipping, company expanded overnight passenger shipping traffic well. notably popular hamonic, huronic , noronic of old niagara navigation company 1902–1912 lineage (roughly 6,000 grt , 350 foot piece). last passenger ships, however, came out in 1928. cruise ships st. lawrence, quebec , tadoussac; built @ davie shipbuilding , repair co. in lauzon, p.q. st. lawrence built in 1927, , quebec , tadoussac identical sister ships of 1928. ran richelieu, former narraganset (1913) of long island sound, purchased csl same time other 3 built davie. 3 ships 350 feet in length, had breadth of 70 feet, , 8,000 tones grt; richelieu smaller. sailed on st lawrence , saguenay rivers, departing montreal , stopping @ quebec city, murray bay , tadoussac (where company owned hotels) , saguenay bagotville (la baie). richelieu able go on chicoutimi because of shallower draft. quebec burned @ tadoussac in 1950 loss of 7 lives, , other 3 ships continued on route until 1965. after opening of st. lawrence seaway, tadoussac s bow modified make able make few trips lake ontario, , made occasional trips through updated welland canal buffalo , detroit in 1960s. yarmouth castle fire in 1965 near bahamas, stricter coast guard safety regulations in form of new international solas program put end 3 ship s long careers. richelieu, st. lawrence, , tadoussac sold joseph de smedt of belgium. tadoussac renamed passenger no. 2 , richelieu, passenger no. 3. passenger no. 2 , old st. lawrence scrapped after serving accommodation ships in 1970s, while passenger no. 3 sold danish interests , renamed st. lawrence 2 , served accommodation ship eastern bloc refugees before being sold arab interests in 1975 workers barracks in sharjah, uae, became half-buried in sand 1981, , scrapped down 1990. earlier hamonic had burned due dock side fire in 1945 @ point edward , later scrapped. huronic had been converted carry freight 1944, retired , scrapped in 1950.

csl found responsible disastrous september 1949 fire , destruction of ship ss noronic in toronto harbour. fire swept through ship killing 118 139 passengers (many slept), no members of crew. inadequate alarm, passenger evacuation plans, , neglected extinguishing systems found @ fault. captain suspended 1 year abandoning ship before ensuring crew , passengers safe. demolished in 1950.

no new passenger ships built line or other shipping lines due declining passenger ferry trade. date, , despite of resurgence in passenger traffic on great lakes in recent years, csl has no known plans cruise ship service on or off of great lakes.