The Story of the Anchor (The James Norris)

The Story of the Anchor (The James Norris). . , 6:1 | The Story of the Anchor , With the projected opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway being built to allow larger ocean-going vessels direct access to the upper great lakes scheduled for 1959, the need for larger vessels and other innovative ideas was paramount., As a result, the Upper Lakes and St. Lawrence Transportation Co. contracted with the Midland Shipbuilders Co., Midland, ON for the construction of 2 new, larger bulk carriers even though the dimensional restrictions for the new Seaway had not been determined at that time. The first new laker for the Upper Lakes fleet would be built in 1951 and launched as the James Norris on a cold and windy December 11, 1951. The beautiful new straight-decker, the largest vessel in the Upper Lakes fleet, was named after the Upper Lakes chairman and controlling shareholder., The James Norris was powered by a Canadian built Vickers Skinner Marine Uniflow 5-cylinder steam engine rated at 4,000 Hp. (2,942 KW) with 2 heavy fuel oil-fired Foster-Wheeler water tube boilers. The power was fed to a single fixed pitch propeller giving her a rated service speed of 16.1 m.p.h. The vessel is equipped with a 1,000 Hp. (746 KW) bow thruster., After completion in early 1952, the James Norris entered service on May 14, 1952 proceeding to Fort William, ON (now Thunder Bay) for a cargo of grain. Her early years as a straight-decker were spent on the upper lakes in the coal, grain, and iron ore trades. The vessel entered the Seaway trades in 1959 with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway hauling grain products from the upper lakes to St. Lawrence River posts and iron ore from ports on the Gulf of St. Lawrence back to the Great Lakes. By this time, however, the James Norris was soon to be outsized by the new “730-footers” built to Seaway opening restrictions of 730’ (222.50m) length and 75’ (22.86m) width., Prior to her 1981 conversion to a self-unloader, the vessel’s 19 hatches serviced 6 holds where she was capable of carrying 18,750 tons (19,051 mt) at a mid-summer draft of 25’07” (7.79m). The first 2 hatches of hold #1 were utilized in the self unloader conversion leaving that hold with just the 1 hatch. boom that can be swung 90° to port or starboard and unload at a rate of up to 2,953 tons (3,000 mt) per hour. The holds were plastic lined with vibrators throughout., In 1993, the James Norris with her self-unloaded fleet mates, commenced operating under the banner of the newly formed Seaway Self Unloaders, St. Catharines, ON, a pooling arrangement combining the self unloading fleets of Algoma Central Corporation and ULS Corporation (Upper Lakes Shipping). The James Norris continued to actively trade through the 2011 navigation season. However, on December 6, 2011, she arrived at Port Colborne, ON and docked at the Welland Canal’s wharf 17 to end her season and formally be retired. Shortly thereafter, on December 9, she was moved to the short distance to International Marine Salvage for scrap metal., The James Norris was the oldest vessel in the Upper Lakes fleet and with 60 years of service, and was the oldest Canadian registered steam powered lakeboat still in service. The classic steamer was also the last remaining Midland-built lakeboat working the Great Lakes. The Norris created, and redefined, the classic great lakes straight-hull Laker profile of the captain’s bridge at the bow, and the engine and stack at the stern., She was the very first, and the last, of her kind. That would be enough of a cool factor if it wasn’t for its last cargo . . . a final stop at Windsor Salt. It seems the James Norris (at least its 8000 lb. anchor) simply came back home to Port Windsor at last.