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Bonnyville

Particulars Of Canadian War Vessels Building & Projected by Naval Service Headquarters (D. N. C. Dept.) 1943 � 1945: Bonnyville [CN878]. Canadian List of Shipping 1970: Steel tug Bonnyville [C.179027] registered at Ottawa. Built at Owen Sound in 1944. 37�; 11 g.t. Also carried in Canadian List of Shipping 1994; 1997; Transport Canada List 200 � 2001. Transport Canada List 2003: Owned by Randy Colwell, Lively, Ontario. [C.179027].

 

Bonnyville RCN Official Photo NF-3856-2_DHH courtesy nauticapedia.ca.
Registry #179027. 1 � 95bhp, 2nhp Cummins Diesel Engine (1944). She was a Ville-class tug in Royal Canadian Navy service 1944-1945. She was employed in general towing at St. John's NF. In 1946 she was sold to The Upper Ottawa Improvement Co., Ltd., Ottawa, ON. In 2018 she was owned by Randy Colwell, Lively, ON.
source: http://www.nauticapedia.ca/dbase/Query/Shiplist4.php?&name=Bonnyville%20(H.M.C.S.)&id=2140&Page=1&input=bonnyville

 

This is the ICO boat Bonneyville with J.J. McCallum and Tom Madoar. Portage du Fort, QC.
source: https://portagedufort.weebly.com/histoire.html

 

Bonnyville working, location and date unknown.
Source: https://www.masterfile.com/image/en/700-00084424#hrc-req-700-00084424

 

Bonnechere and Bonnyville ashore at Fort Coulonge, QC. The Upper Ottawa Improvement Company (ICO) (1868- 1999) ran the log-driving operations on the Ottawa River.
source: http://hwtproject.ca/lumbering/the-ico-booms-culbute-ship-canal/

 

John Pomeroy notes: Bonnyville ashore at Fort Coulonge, QC, 1994.

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Summer 2000 at the Tug Races in Sault Ste. Marie. Paul Capel Collection.

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Paul Capel notes: "Roberta Bondar Marina - Soo, 2000. Very clean boat, home port Gore Bay. Bonnyville was also at one time owned by Paul Groves."

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Sometime before 2001, likely at Soo tug races.
http://www.geocities.ws/pirates_at_40/ships.html

 

Bonnyville 8/25/01. Photo by Mike Nicholls.
Photo source boatnerd.com.

 

Sault Ste. Marie, The Great Tug Race, 2002.

 

Sault Ste. Marie, The Great Tug Race, 2002.

 

Sault Ste. Marie Tugboat Race early 2000s. New Billy, Queensville, Bonnyville, Channel Bratt, Cobra.

 

2003 Great Tugboat Race, Sault Ste. Marie, ON.
Photo by by Roger LeLievre and N. Schultheiss.

http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/special/sootugrace03/

 

2003 Great Tugboat Race programme courtesy Jeanette Cox. "Homeport for the Bonnyville is Gore Bay, Ontario, on Manitoulin Island. She was built in 1944 in Owen Sound by Russel Brothers for the Canadian Navy. She only spent about two years in service and was purchased by the Upper Ottawa Improvement Company to raft timber until the Colwells bought her in June 1997. They worked on her for two years and launched her in August, 1999."

 

RBF notes: - Pleasure tug (Gore Bay, ON Aug 26, 2005)

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RBF notes: - Pleasure tug (Gore Bay, ON Aug 26, 2005)

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Video from The Manitoulin Expositor, published on 13 Jul 2013. The tugboat flotilla in Little Current, ON, for Bridgefest weekend.

 

For more Russel exhibits visit Owen Sound Marine & Rail Museum 1165 1st Ave West, Owen Sound, ON N4K 4K8
(519) 371-3333     http://marinerail.com