Hull #815 (Dick Warkentin newsclipping Jan. 10, 1997). Canadian List of Shipping 1956: Romeo and Annette [C.190421] registered at Owen Sound; built at Owen Sound in 1949. 86'4 x 36'1 x 10'3; 165 g.t.; 88 n.t.; 350 hp. Owned by Restigouche Ferries Ltd., Cross Point, Quebec. Steel motor vessel [C.190421] passenger and automobile ferry built at Owen Sound in 1949 by Russel Brothers Ltd. and launched as a] Romeo and Annette 1949 - 1966; renamed b] Upper Canada in 1966.
"Originally launched as the Romeo and Annette, the Upper Canada was was the 822nd ship Russel Bros. built (Fred) Russel said. It was one of two ferries built for Capt. Romeo Allard, who ran a ferry service betweenBathurst, New Brunswick and Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, he and (Bob) Farley recalled. A similar vessel, the Ongiara, was built a few years later and still carries passengers and service vehicles to Toronto Island from the city on a daily basis..." - Owen Sound SunTimes, 1/04/97
Upper Canada on a 1997 return to her original port of Owen Sound. Photo by Marjorie Couchman Black.
A Transport Canada marine services inspector was aboard the ferry, Upper Canada, for almost two hours Wednesday morning, checking hull, engine, navigation and safety equipment, according to the vessel's captain, Keith Stanton.
Capt. Stanton said the inspector issued a safety in spection certificate that would allow the ferry to operate legally for the rest of the, shipping season.
The safety certificate issued by the federal marine services inspection unit before the boat was put into operation in July expired Wednesday. If the inspection had not been carried out, the ferry would have been forced to tie up until it was inspected. The ferry will be inspected again next year by the federal department before it is allowed to resume operations in the 1978 season.
The Windsor Star, 22 Dec 1977, Thu Page 1
Ice strands ferry, tanker at Kingsville By BRIAN FOX
KINGSVILLE A United States Coast Guard icebreaker this morning managed to break the ice around the Upper Canada ferry and Cemba, a small privately-owned oiler, but the two boats were still stuck off Kingsville dock, unable to push their way through the broken ice.
U.S. Coast Guard chief, G.G. Guy of the Detroit centre, said the icebreaker Caw worked for more than three hours to break the ice in which both boats were stuck since Wednesday morning.
Chief Guy said that neither boat was able to push its way through the broken ice under its own power and that a private tug would have to be hired to tow both boats into Kingsville harbor. The Caw began working about 7 a.m. Efforts were being made at noon to obtain a tug to bring in the two boats.
Both boats, which are based on Pelee Island, had attempted to get into Kingsville Harbor Wednesday morning to pick up a last load of winter fuel for Pelee Island when they became stuck in the ice about 10 a.m. The Upper Canada Ferry was stopped several hundred yards short of the harbor and the Cemba, which had followed the Upper Canada out of Pelee Island's Scudder dock was stopped about 1 1/2 miles offshore because of rows of ice piled several feet thick in some places by southwesterly winds.
Both crews, five men on each, were forced to spend the night aboard the boats. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter picked up food and blankets for the men on both boats from Pelee Island about 5 p.m. The coast guard was unable to send their icebreaker until this morning because of the number of boats stuck in the ice in the east outer channel of the Detroit River.
Chief Guy said the coast guard freed four ships stuck in the channel Wednesday and that the Caw had left Kingsville to free another boat stuck in the ice off the harbor in Monroe, Ohio. According to Pelee Island Reeve Charles Wallace, both the Cemba and the Upper Canada were sent to Kingsville Wednesday to pick up a load of fuel for the island.
The Cemba was scheduled to pick up a load of fuel oil for storage at the Pelee Island Co-operatives storage tanks near scudder dock. The Upper Canada was to have picked up 4,000 gallons of propane to fuel two portable grain driers on the island. Approximately 30,000 bushels of wet soybeans, worth about $180,000 at current prices, are in storage on the island and could rot unless propane is delivered to the island to fuel the grain driers.
Francis Ryerse, manager of the co-operative, said there are still 80,000 bushels of soybeans on the island which now will not be moved to the mainland until the ice breaks up in the spring. About 30,000 bushels of those beans are wet and could rot this winter unless we get propane to fuel the driers, Ryersee said. A lake freighter from the Thorold-based Quebec and Onta- CONTINUED on page 4
Ice strands boats (Continued from Page One)
o!?Iransportation t-td., had been scheduled to pick up all 80,000 bushels of beans Wednesday and take them to storage bins on the mainland. The 30,000 bushels of wet beans were to have been dried in mainland driers as well. However, the company decided not to send the freighter to pick up the beans because of increasingly heavy ice conditions on the lakes, according to company spokesman Jim Mitchell.
Mitchell said the freighter scheduled to pick up Pelee Islands beans had been used for other jobs on the lake and could not come to Pelee Island until Wednesday because of scheduling. However, Mitchell said that because of the increasingly heavy ice conditions on the lake, it was decided that the freighter should not be sent to the island from Toronto.
One of the company's freighters took one load of 120,000 bushels of beans off the island Oct. 24 and the remaining 80,-000 bushels are the last part of the island harvest according to Ryersee. A Chatham based ministry of transportion and communications spokesman said he would decide this morning if the Upper Canada would be allowed to attempt to get back to Pelee Island this morning with the 4,000-gallons of propane.
The Upper Canada had been scheduled to go out of service today and be laid up for the winter in Wheatley Harbor. Reeve Wallace said the only reason the Upper Canada was allowed to attempt to get into Kingsville Harbor Wednesday was because of the serious need for propane for grain drying. Ryersee said the Pelee Island Co-operatiVe has enough fuel oil, and gasoline on hand to last the winter. He said the Cemba's load of fuel oil was for reserves on the island in case of a particularly bad winter.
The Windsor Star, 23 Dec 1977, Fri Page 1
Queens Park sinks bid to get fuel to Pelee grain driers
PELEE ISLAND A last-minute attempt to get 4,000 gallons of propane to Pelee Island farmers failed Thursday night when the provincial ministry of transportation and communications refused to pay for a tug to break ice in order to get the shipment through.
Pelee Island Deputy-Reeve Lewis Garno said that he had tried to hire the tug Atomic, owned by McQueen Marine of Amherstburg, to break the ice in front of the Upper Canada ferry so that the propane could be taken from Kngsville harbor, where the Upper Canada is now docked, to Pelee Island. Garno said the ministry had been prepared to pay for most of the cost of the tug at $175 an hour, on the understanding that it would be used for a maximum of 20 hours.
However, Garno said he found out late Thursday afternoon that the tug would take at least two full days to come from Amherstburg to Kingsville and then escort the Upper Canada through the ice to the island and back to the mainland. The cost of renting the tug for two entire days would have come to $8,400 and Garno said the ministry felt the expense could not be justified.
The Upper Canada ferry had been sent from Pelee Island to Kingsville Wednesday in an attempt to get the propane to the island. However, the ferry became stuck in the ice several hundred yards out of Kingsville harbor.
The five-man crew of the ferry was forced to spend the night aboard the boat and a U.S: Coast Guard icebreaker was called in Thursday morning to free the vessel from the ice. Even after the ice-breaker worked for three hours breaking ice around the ferry, it had to be hauled into the harbor by a small tug stationed in Kingsville and the Upper Canada did not dock until 3 p.m. Thursday.
The ferry had been scheduled to go out of service Thursday anyway and it was to have been laid up for the winter in Wheatley harbor. However, the ferry was sent for the propane because it is needed to fuel two portable grain driers on the island.
About 30,000 bushels of wet soybeans, worth about $180,000 at current prices, are in storage on the island and could rot unless the propane is delivered to the driers. In all, there are about 80,000 bushels of beans on the island but only 30,000 bushels are wet and in danger of rotting. A lake freighter from the Thorold-based Quebec and Ontario Transportation Co. Ltd. had been scheduled to pick up all 80,000 bushels of beans Wednesday. They could then have been dried on the mainland. - However, the company CONTINUED on page 4
The Windsor Star, 06 Jan 1978, Fri • Page 6
Ottawa PELEE ISLAND A federal government proposal that the province accept a lump sum payment and take over and operate the federally-owned Pelee Islander ferry has been rejected by the provincial government.
Essex-South Liberal MPP Remo Mancini said Harold Gilbert, deputy minister of transportation and communications, told him of the provincial governments decision on the federal offer Wednesday. The provinces decision will mean that island residents will be left with only one ferry, the provincially-owned Upper Canada, to meet their transportation needs when the shipping season resumes in the spring.
"If the federal government doesn't come up with a better offer that will involve them in providing both short and long-term solutions to the islands transportation problems, then only the Upper Canada will operate next year," Mancini said. The federal government decided last spring that it would stop subsidizing the Pelee Islander next year after paying operating subsidies for ferry services between the island and mainland for the past 71 years.
The federal government decision is part of an over-all policy to turn responsibility for ferry operations over to the provinces. This fall, the federal government offered the Pelee Islander to the province in addition to offering an unspecified lump sum payment if the province would take over the operation. "The province feels that it has already met its obligations to provide a short-term solution to the transportation problems of Pelee Island by putting the Upper Canada into service and I agree, Mancini said.
The province put the former Wolfe Island ferry, the Upper Canada, into service in August and promised to pay for 100 per cent of the operating deficit of the ferry as its contribution to the short-term solution of the island's transportation problems. At the time, it was thought the Upper Canada would supplement the service being provided by the Pelee Islander until both the federal and provincial governments could reach agreement on a long-term solution to the islands transportation problems.
The long-term solution was to have been a new vessel capable of handling the island's transportation needs for the forseeable fu- ture. Both that long-term solution and the provincial takeover of the Pelee Islander now appear to be out of the question because the federal government is refusing to participate, Mancini said.
The Windsor Star, 13 Jan 1978, Fri • Page 8
$285,000 will be spent to repair, run Pelee ferry PELEE ISLAND
The provincial government spent $131,000 in 1977 to put the Upper Canada ferry into service between Pelee Island and the mainland and to operate it from the last week in July until mid-December. The government plans to spend $285,000 this year to improve the former Wolfe Island ferry and operate it, according to Essex South MPP Remo Mancini.
Mancini said according to year-end cost figures released Thursday' by the ministry of transportation and communications, it cost the province $53,000 this spring to take the Upper Canada ferry out of its Kingston drydock, refit it and sail it to Pelee Island. A total of $78,000 was spent to subsidize the operating costs of the ferry from the last week in July until Dec. 22.
This year, the province will spend an estimated $190,000 to install bulkheads and new lifeboats on the ferry. Bulkheads are watertight compartments that will keep a boat from sinking if a hole is punched in the side beneath the waterline. The ferry was only allow-ed to carry half its full complement of 100 passengers last summer because federal-marine inspectors ordered bulkheads installed and the work could not be done until this year.
Mancini said the province is estimating it will cost $95,-000 to subsidize the operating costs of the ferry. - The province has agreed to cover the operating deficit incurred by the Upper Canada ferry. "The amount of money the province has already spent on the Upper Canada snows that the province is living up to its responsibility to provide adequate transportation for Pelee Island residents, Mancini said.
The federal government decided last spring to stop subsidizing the Pelee Islander, a subsidy which it hijid paid for 71 years. The provincial government recently refused an offer from the federal government that included an unspecified lump sum payment and the gift of the Pelee Islander ferry if the province would assume complete responsibility for operating it.
The Windsor Star, 21 Feb 1978, Tue Page 53
A winter hiatus During the long days of summer the Kingsville docks are alive with the sounds of gulls, fishermen and the coming and going of boats. But during the winter, the docks become silent sleeping grounds for the vessels of summer. Star photographer Stan Andrews found this frozen twosome a tug and the Pelee Island ferry, Upper Canada waiting for the warmth which will free them from their icy prison.
Andrews used a Hasselblad camera with a 65 mm lens, along with an exposure speed of I 60th of a second and f-stop U.TheTri-X pan film was processed in D-76 developer for 8'2 minutes.
The Windsor Star, 05 Jul 1978, Wed Page 8
Pelee ferry ailing again; it's third time since May By BRIAN FOX
PELEE ISLAND - The Upper Canada ferry has been taken out of service for the third time since it began operating in May, this time to rebuild one of its two 173-horsepower engines. The ferry will be out of service for the next nine days, according to Ray Hanton of the Chatham office of the ministry of transportation and communications.
The engine is being sent to Toronto to be rebuilt. Hanton said copper filings were found in the engine oil during routine preventative maintenance checks last week and that engineers suspect that a bearing in the engine has worn out. The engines are 32 years old and are the ferry's original ones.
Shortly after the provincially-owned and subsidized ferry began operating in May, it was laid up in Kingsville Harbor for four days while a bearing on one of the ships two drive-shafts was replaced. The ferry had to be taken out of service again for six days in June while bulkheads installed this winter were welded on the outside of the hull in a LaSalle drydock. Bulkheads are watertight compartments designed to keep a ship afloat if a hole is punched in her side.
With the Upper Canada ferry out of service, the islands 250 residents once again face a transportation problem. The federally-owned Pelee Islander ferry, which began operating Friday between Sandusky, Ohio, and the Canadian mainland tinder a dollar-a-year lease to the township, will be the only ferry in operation and islanders will have to compete with U.S. tourists for space.
Island transportation committee chairman Paul Rieger said he was told Tuesday that U.S. tourists have booked all of the deck space on the Pelee Islander for their cars until next Tuesday. The Pelee Islander can carry about 15 cars. The Upper Canada can carry 10 to 12 cars.
Rieger said the township will have to cancel some of the space booked by tourists in order to bring vital freight to the island, adding to the unfavorable publicity the ferry has already received on the U.S. side because of its late starts. In addition to things such as groceries, space must be found on the Pelee Islander every Thursday for two truckloads of feed for the island's pheasant farm.
Passengers are really no problem because the Pelee Islander can easly accommodate a few more from the island in addition to the U.S. tourists. "Its the freight and the car space that will be a problem," Rieger said. There is also no chance of increasing the number of trips made by the Pelee Islander because it takes almost the full day to make the round trip between Sandusky and the Canadian mainland. The Pelee Islander makes the trip seven days a week.
The Upper Canada, when it is in service, makes 10 round trips a week between Pelee Island and the Canadian mainland. The Upper Canada does not run to the U.S.
Cutting back on American car reservations will reduce the revenue the township can expect from the Pelee Islander during its profit-making summer run. The federal government, in signing its lease with the island, agreed to pick up any operating deficit up to $25,000 until September when the province will take over. However, any deficit over $25,000 will have to be paid by the township.
The Windsor Star, 13 Apr 1984, Fri Page 3
Star photo Rob Hornberge. THE FERRY UPPER CANADA, which has resumed its twice daily trips to Pelee Island, is shown approaching the Leamington dock Thursday. Traffic aboard the ferry has been light so far this year, but officials with the provincial ferry service are bracing for the usual horde of tourists who descend on the Leamington and Kingsville docks every summer. Last year more than 65,000 passengers used the ferry service and a company official has predicted even greater use this year. July and August are usually the peak months for the service.
The Windsor Star, 30 Aug 1986, Sat Page 49
THE FERRY UPPER CANADA at Scudder's Harbor, Pelee Island.
The Windsor Star, 13 Apr 1984, Fri Page 3
Star photo Rob Hornberge. THE FERRY UPPER CANADA, which has resumed its twice daily trips to Pelee Island, is shown approaching the Leamington dock Thursday. Traffic aboard the ferry has been light so far this year, but officials with the provincial ferry service are bracing for the usual horde of tourists who descend on the Leamington and Kingsville docks every summer. Last year more than 65,000 passengers used the ferry service and a company official has predicted even greater use this year. July and August are usually the peak months for the service.
The Windsor Star, 13 Apr 1984, Fri Page 3
Star photo Rob Hornberge. THE FERRY UPPER CANADA, which has resumed its twice daily trips to Pelee Island, is shown approaching the Leamington dock Thursday. Traffic aboard the ferry has been light so far this year, but officials with the provincial ferry service are bracing for the usual horde of tourists who descend on the Leamington and Kingsville docks every summer. Last year more than 65,000 passengers used the ferry service and a company official has predicted even greater use this year. July and August are usually the peak months for the service.
The Windsor Star, 13 Apr 1984, Fri Page 3
Star photo Rob Hornberge. THE FERRY UPPER CANADA, which has resumed its twice daily trips to Pelee Island, is shown approaching the Leamington dock Thursday. Traffic aboard the ferry has been light so far this year, but officials with the provincial ferry service are bracing for the usual horde of tourists who descend on the Leamington and Kingsville docks every summer. Last year more than 65,000 passengers used the ferry service and a company official has predicted even greater use this year. July and August are usually the peak months for the service.
Owen Sound SunTimes May 28, 1949
Ferry Romeo & Annette at Dalhousie, NB, July 17, 1965. Scan from a slide in my collection. Photo by David Freeman. Rene Beauchamp archive.
Scan of my oldest slide of UPPER CANADA, alas not quite sharp. She was in her second year of service at Kingston. So many cars they can't close the ramp! Rene Beauchamp archive.
Upper Canada at Marysville, Ont., 1970. B. Johnson photo. "In the years that followed, the Wolfe Island Ferry Service saw many changes. The Ontario Department of Highways, as the Ministry of Transportation was known then, took over the operation and ownership when the 16 car ferry Upper Canada (former Romeo and Annette, from Dalhousie, New Brunswick) joined the service in 1965. Thanks to the Honourable Syl Apps, MLA for Kingston and the Islands, ferry service was now free of charge. A few years later, plans were in motion for a newer and larger ferry to replace both the Upper Canada and Wolfe Islander (II)." photo source
Photo Date: Aug. 19th, 1971 Photo and tables below courtesy Great Lakes Vessels Index,
Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University
OSMRM Collection
From Russel company brochure: BARGES - SCOWS - FERRIES. Gerry Ouderkirk archive.
Photo taken from a post card supplied by Matthew Carlson. Click to enlarge.
Romeo & Annette [C.190421] was Hull 815 of Russel Bros. Ltd., Owen Sound. Built for Captain Romeo Allard and operated by Restigouche Ferries Ltd. of Cross Point, Quebec. She was launched on Friday, May 27, 1949 and later went to work running between Dalhousie, New Brunswick and Miguasha Point, Quebec on the Bay of Chaleur in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Her dimensions were 86.4' in length and 36.1'10.3' in width with tonnages registered at 165 Gt and 88 Nt. Propulsion was achieved with a single screw that was connected to a 350 horsepower diesel engine. She was sold to The Minister of Highways, Ontario in 1965 and was upbound in the Seaway in October of that year bound for Kingston. She ended up wintering there and it was during this layup that her name was changed to Upper Canada.
In the spring of 1966 she replaced the Wolfe Islander (2) which was laid up at the LaSalle Causeway undergoing a major engine overhaul. In 1975 Upper Canada was retired after the Wolfe Islander III went into service. On July 15, 1977 Captain Harold Hogan and crew took Upper Canada to Leamington, Ontario where she was used as a back up boat for the Pelee Islander. On March 3, 1978 she was officially re-registered out of Chatham, Ontario.
Ontario Northland Marine Services operated the small vessel until 1991 when their new Jiimaan went into service on the Pelee island run. Shortly thereafter she was taken to the Dean Construction yard in LaSalle, Ontario, where she sat until June of 1994. Upper Canada was leased to the Beausoleil First Nation for Christian Island service at that time and she was taken to Georgian Bay. She wintered at Owen Sound 1996 - 1997.
Upper Canada was replaced on the Georgian Bay run to Christian Island by the double-ended ferry Sandy Graham in 2000. Sandy Graham came to the Great Lakes from Norfolk, Virginia, in the fall of 1999 and wintered at Vic Powell's shipyard in Dunnville, Ontario. She ran aground in the St. Clair River in the spring of 2000 on her delivery voyage to Christian Island and had to be taken to Hamilton for drydocking. Sandy Graham finally entered service during the summer and Upper Canada was retired. Ontario Northland brought her back to Leamington for the winter of 2000-2001. Presently she is owned by Al Johnson who also also owns 6 tugs, 5 of which are in service off the Great Lakes. She is currently docked in the Black River in Lorain, Ohio under the high level bridge. It is possible that she may one day return to service as a cross lake ferry for Lake Erie.
Story by Gerry Ouderkirk with thanks to Dan McCormick, Massena, N.Y.; Jim Toyne, Leamington, Ontario; Ron Beaupre, Port Elgin, Ontario; Jay Bascom, Toronto, Ontario; Rev. Al Hart and the scrapbooks of the late TMHS memeber, Ivan Brookes.
Image above courtesy Tim Jaques (2015): Here is when she was the Romeo and Annette, plying the mouth of the Restigouche River estuary between Dalhousie, New Brunswick and Miguasha Quebec. She is shown in this postcard on the Quebec side. She was the sister ferry to the Romeo and Juliette, which operated between Campbellton New Brunswick and Cross Point, Quebec.
Evan Cook commented in 2016: I've loaded average size dozers and loaded dump trucks on this boat. Sure made her list when driving on. Late 80's, early 90's. They'd load the cars on and leave between the ramps clear. I'd drive tandem dump trucks on, loaded with sand for Pelee Island. When loading bulldozers on we would put tires down under tracks to keep dozer from sliding. Was funny when loading...the boat would list way over and the people up on the top gangway would be scared, thinking boat was rolling over.
Jim Hastings comments (May 1, 2020): "Took a look at her in 2001, had the generator and motors running, All she needed then was paint and a stern bearing. She had been converted to pilot house control from when she ran in Kingston Ont. in the 60's and 70's. I was on her a lot in those days, she used to run with Wolfe Islander II. Cool little boat."
The carferry "Upper Canada" docked along the Black River in Lorain, OH. Hopefully waiting for the day she may be restored and returned to some type of service.
One of the lifeboats of the carferry "Upper Canada" seems to be a good collector of rain water. At least the life boat appears to be water tight.
The pilothouse of the once proud carferry "Upper Canada" docked along the "Black River " in Lorain, OH. Hopefully waiting for a day she can be refurbished and placed into service.
Photo November 12, 2008. "I thought this ferry to be a neat little ship but unfortunately it is laid up and probably will not sail again. The Upper Canada, a strange name for a U.S. tug was built in 1949 as the Romeo and Annette. It became the Upper Canada in 1966. Owned by Lake Towing of Cleveland, Ohio and laid up in Lorain, Ohio. No IMO number found." source: http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=777958
April 15, 2009. Upper Canada at Lorain, Ohio. Photo by Mike Nicholls (boatnerd.com).
Additional comments from boatnerd: "I worked aboard the 21-car ferry "Romeo & Juliette" built in 1953 and retired off the Millidgeville run, Kennebacasis River, NB in 2002. She had survived being replaced by a bridge on 2 previous runs - one at Campbellton, Bay of Chaleur and the other at Chatham, Miramichi River. She was operated by the Highways - NB Dept of Transportation. Her steering-gear bore Russel Bros. manufacturing plate & there was quite the commotion when it needed repairs ["we can't get parts - they're no longer in business!"]. And to her last days, she carried "Owen Sound, Ont" as her Port of Registry [Saint John, just down-river, is a deep-sea port] which totally bewildered the tourist traffic. Much-loved by the locals of the Kingston Peninsula, and a credit to her builders...
Been on hundreds of trips to and from Pelee Island visiting relatives as a kid. Lots of memories riding
on that ferry especially during bad weather. It is quite wide for its length and has a relatively round bottom, rode like a cork in bad weather...
Upper Canada was tied up in the river just north of the Henderson Bridge, good shots from the bridge (the bridge is on Rt. 611. Looks down on the Jonick Dock where Ryerson unloads). She hasn't moved since they towed her in years ago (2003?). The owner of the vessel also owns
the adjacent shore property. She's been listed for sale, & hasn't run in years...
Mac MacKay notes (04.17.09): "Her Canadian registry was
suspended January 14, 2008. This usually happens when the owner can't be reached or fails to renew registration. She does not appear as
Upper Canada in US registry."
Upper Canada ferry October 18, 2014 at Lorain, Ohio. Photo by Shaun Vary.
Photo April 18, 2015.The derelict vessel known as the Upper Canada sits on the bank of the Black River underneath the Lofton Henderson Memorial Bridge. Abandoned in the early 2000s, Lorain officials are not sure how or why it ended up there. source: http://www.morningjournal.com/article/mj/20150418/NEWS/150419511
By Drew Scofield, The Morning Journal
POSTED: 04/18/15, 6:50 PM EDT | UPDATED: ON 04/18/2015 9 COMMENTS
Unbeknown to some, Lorain is home to its very own �ghost ship� � a 90-foot vessel that mysteriously showed up on the Black River in the early 2000s having run aground underneath the Lofton Henderson Memorial Bridge. It has sat there derelict ever since.
Last registered in 2008, the boat, now named the Upper Canada, has puzzled officials from the U.S. Coast Guard as well as the Lorain Port Authority for over a decade.
�At this point, the boat is not officially registered to anybody and no one knows who owns it,� said Ed Favre, marine patrol officer of the Lorain Port Authority.
A 1997 article by the Owen Sound Sun Times states that the boat was built in Owen Sound, Canada, by Russel Brothers Limited as an automobile and passenger ferry for a company called Restigouche Ferries. She was originally named the Romeo and Annette and entered service in 1949 under command of Capt. Romeo Allard, who ran a ferry service between Bathurst, New Brunswick and Quebec�s Gaspe Peninsula.
A Russel Brothers newsletter published in 1949 states that the ship could carry 12 cars, hold up to 40 passengers, was operated by a crew of six and came equipped with two life boats.
The vessel was built large enough that it was constructed with living quarters below the forward deck, complete with air conditioning. She was powered by twin diesel engines that were rated at 550 horsepower, powering a 50-inch three-blade propeller with an average speed of 10 knots.
When she was built, she was hailed as �one of the most modern and completely equipped vessels operating in Canada.�
Records show that in 1965, ownership of the vessel was transferred to the Ministry of Highways and was renamed the Upper Canada where she continued operation, carrying passengers and automobiles between Wolfe Island and Kingston, Ontario.
In the 1970s, she was removed from service after being replaced by another ferry, the Wolfe Islander III, and was taken to Leamington, Ontario, to be used as a back up boat for the Pelee Islander.
During the early 1990s, her route was once again changed when she was leased to the Beausoleil First Nation for Christian Island Service, where she served until the late 1990s.
According to the Great Lakes Vessels Online Index, maintained by Bowling Green State University, a man named Al Johnson took ownership of the Upper Canada sometime in 1999.
City officials are unsure how or why a Canadian registered boat ran aground in Lorain, and with no way to contact the owner, there seems little that can be done at this point.
Even the Coast Guard has no record of how or why it came to rest on the Black River, Bosun Mate First Class Eric Eberl said.
�The tough thing for us, is that we rotate every three or four years, so no one really knows about it or when exactly it was left there,� Eberl said.
Eberl said that after it did show up and was finally considered abandoned, the Coast Guard inspected the ship to make sure that it did not pose an environmental hazard by leaking pollution. But beyond that, it doesn�t fall under their responsibility.
�We try not to get in the practice of dealing with abandoned vessels,� Eberl said. �It doesn�t fall under our responsibility unless it became a hazard of some sort, or it broke free of its moorings and posed a navigation problem on the river.�
Since the boat still technically sits in the river, although it has run aground, the legal aspect of what to do with it is complicated, said Maritime Attorney James Reinheimer.
In order to salvage the boat or remove it, someone would need to have a claim against the vessel to try and get a title for it, he said. Somebody would need a monetary claim to do anything with it, Reinheimer said.
�Just running aground and abandoning the boat doesn�t give any individual or company a claim against the vessel,� Reinheimer said.
The legalities would be less complicated if it was sitting on land, he said.
�For instance, if it was sitting in a marina, they would be owed storage fees,� Reinheimer said. �That would give them a right that could be enforced in court to take the vessel and sell it for payment of the storage fees.�
Favre said that the Lorain Port Authority has renewed its interest in finding the last registered owner of the ship, but the issue is complicated since it was never re-registered after the registration expired in 2008. So the owner may not even be the same person, he said.
�We have this boat just sitting here on the river and no one knows who currently owns it,� Favre said. �It�s not that we want to go after the owner, but just as a point of information, we have this vessel here and we need to know who to get ahold of incase of an emergency.�
Until that time, the fate of the ferry is as mysterious as the reason it came to rest in Lorain.
April 20, 2015. News 5 Cleveland. It sits there rusty, quiet and full of stories to be sure, if it could speak.
From the Abandoned, Old & Interesting Places in Ohio facebook group,
July 29, 2015:
The 90-foot derelict vessel known as the Upper Canada sits on the bank of the Black River underneath the Lofton Henderson Memorial Bridge. Abandoned in the early 2000s, Lorain officials are not sure how or why it ended up there.
Last registered in 2008, the boat, now named the Upper Canada, has puzzled officials from the U.S. Coast Guard as well as the Lorain Port Authority for over a decade.
“At this point, the boat is not officially registered to anybody and no one knows who owns it,” said Ed Favre, marine patrol officer of the Lorain Port Authority.
A 1997 article by the Owen Sound Sun Times states that the boat was built in Owen Sound, Canada, by Russel Brothers Limited as an automobile and passenger ferry for a company called Restigouche Ferries. She was originally named the Romeo and Annette and entered service in 1949 under command of Capt. Romeo Allard, who ran a ferry service between Dalhousie, New Brunswick and Miguasha, Quebec on Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula.
A Russel Brothers newsletter published in 1949 states that the ship could carry 12 cars, hold up to 40 passengers, was operated by a crew of six and came equipped with two life boats.
Records show that in 1965, ownership of the vessel was transferred to the Ministry of Highways and was renamed the Upper Canada where she continued operation, carrying passengers and automobiles between Wolfe Island and Kingston, Ontario.
In the 1970s, she was removed from service after being replaced by another ferry, the Wolfe Islander III, and was taken to Leamington, Ontario, to be used as a back up boat for the Pelee Islander.
During the early 1990s, her route was once again changed when she was leased to the Beausoleil First Nation for Christian Island Service, where she served until the late 1990s.
According to the Great Lakes Vessels Online Index, maintained by Bowling Green State University, a man named Al Johnson took ownership of the Upper Canada sometime in 1999.
City officials are unsure how or why a Canadian registered boat ran aground in Lorain, and with no way to contact the owner, there seems little that can be done at this point.
Even the Coast Guard has no record of how or why it came to rest on the Black River. The Coast Guard inspected the ship to make sure that it did not pose an environmental hazard by leaking pollution. But beyond that, it doesn’t fall under their responsibility.
In order to salvage the boat or remove it, someone would need to have a claim against the vessel to try and get a title for it, he said. Somebody would need a monetary claim to do anything with it.
The Lorain Port Authority has renewed its interest in finding the last registered owner of the ship, but the issue is complicated since it was never re-registered after the registration expired in 2008. So the owner may not even be the same person, he said.
A little public records searching uncovered a comment in one of the articles that the person who owned the boat at the time also owned the property it was moored at (about 7.5 acres). I looked up the county records and found that the property taxes haven't been paid in about 7 years, and a realty company now owns the land.
As of 7/11/2018. No homeless living aboard. Photo by Bill Kloss.
Upper Canada in 2019. Lorain, Ohio. Photo by Bill Kloss.
The abandoned ferry "Upper Canada" languishing in Lorain, OH. 5/1/2020. Photo by Bill Kloss.
Google maps image from 2020
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
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