Quedoc/Senator of Canada Scrapping Question

[Guest]

Weren't these ships originally acquired by Marine Salvage prior to being resold for scrapping offshore?

[GuestfromEU]

Well, you learn something new every day. Perhaps the people of Curaçao were jealous of all the lake boats being scrapped in Cartagena/Mamonal. Even today there is always talk of adding new industrial activity in the Dutch Antilles, particularly Aruba and Curaçao, as the refineries are volatile, changing ownership every few years, and always under the threat of closing down.

I like your sources. Both websites are favourites of mine, and can easily be wormholes that consume hours of my time. It is interesting reading the Marine Reporter from the 1970s, as they wrote many articles on Great Lakes activities.

[William Lafferty]

Of course this was before my time, but I have some experience working in Curacao. I would question the result of any scrapping taking place in Curacao ...

There was interest back in the day:

http://magazines.marinelink.com/tags/re ... d-antilles

It appears many of the vessels in that time period, like Senator of Canada, were purchased by Metaldome C.por.A. at Willemsatd but actually broken up at Santo Domingo. A quick glance at the Robin des Bois site shows that there is intermittent shipbreaking at Willemstad proper by Antillean Scrap NV. Here is a shot of the yard:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/pho ... id=1812467

[GuestfromEU]

Of course this was before my time, but I have some experience working in Curacao. I would question the result of any scrapping taking place in Curacao, particularly when most other ships of the time were going to recycling in Caracas and Cartagena. Curacao was much more developed at this time, owing to the Dutch colonization, and I doubt that country would have been particularly interested in the dirty ship scrapping business.

Not to say it didn't happen, and a compromised hull integrity from the tow could have dictated a detour. It does become hard to trace a vessel sold for scrap, even today, as they are sold to a 3rd Party, who re-sells them to a recycling facility. Unfortunately, this is not so transparent, because it is meant to be this way, as all of you already know.

Let me search some more in the Dutch sources to see if I can confirm anything.

[Guest]

Unsurprisingly, the same inconsistencies appear in Ahoy & Farewell II. The most consistent accounts come from publications by Skip Gillham which relate both ships going to Curacao, Netherlands Antilles.

As related in Toronto Marine Historical Society's Scanner V. 18 No. 8 May 1986, some of this confusion may have originated from a report that came from the crew of the towing tug performing the scrap tow that it was headed to Caracas, Venezuela but actually went to Curacao. With the similarity of names and the more commonly known Caracas, this may have just been a simple mistake by the person submitting the report to marine journals.

I cannot recall, or currently find, where I read about Goldwils' involvement in this scrap sale but I don't believe either steamer made it to Texas.

[William Lafferty]

That's odd. I have the Quedoc arriving at Brownsville, Texas, on 18 July 1985 for demolition by Goldwils, Inc. The Senator of Canada arrived at Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles, also on 18 July 1985 for demolition, which was completed the following year at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Maybe the tow split at some point with the Quedoc being resold? Or was Goldwils the broker and both went to Curacao?

[Guest]

I have found conflicting information in the MHSD's Great Lakes Ships We Remember Volume 3. In this book, the history of Quedoc says both ships went to Curacao, Netherlands Antilles for scrapping while the account of the Senator of Canada relates that they went to Caracas, Venezuela for scrapping. I have a feeling this is due to a mix up of the city names, but was wonder which one, if either, are correct?