The issue with the wood stucture is that she cannot sail as a passenger ship due to the risk of fire at sea. Sitting next to the dock is an other issue, whether you are tied up or sitting on the bottom.

Not sure if her not being an active vessel disqualifies her from any USCG inspecton.

Seems she does have a sprinkling system installed that receives its pressure from shore.

Pete

I was told by one of the workers at the site that the Keewatin is aground in Douglas/Saugatuck where it is "berthed." That is the reason that it doesn't need to meet many legal requirements that would otherwise apply to a floating vessel. Especially one with so much wood in the superstructure.

port mcnichol on georgian bay

Is there any word on where in Canada this ship will go? I for one would love to see it :)

The North American and South American laid up at Saugatuck for the winters from 1914 to 1923 at the Big Pavilion at Saugatuck. Problems with the channel silting in the fall and the conflagration that consumed the Ottawa Beach Hotel provoked the Georgian Bay Line people to shift to Holland, a shift steeped in irony. When the hotel burned, insurers were reluctant to cover vessels in lay-up next to large wooden structures (like the Pavilion), so the CD&GBTCo decided to lay-up the boats for the 1924-1925 winter on Black Lake (site of the burned-out hotel, today's Lake Macatawa), at Montello Park off West 16th Street, away from potentially combustible buildings. That's the first irony. The second irony is the South American was gutted by fire three days after arriving at that new location to lay-up, on 8 September 1924.

Or Holland, in Lake Macatawa, where they stayed for winter layup all those years.

Drove thru Saugatuck today (Sept 26). The Keewatin was closed. I want to see her again before she leaves.

Last Spring, there was a steam tugboat that also belonged to the Keewatin owner that was sold on E-Bay. It still sits in the middle of the harbor with a slight list (I understand it is aground due to low water levels). Much dredging will be required to move the tug, and the Keewatin to get her out to Lake Michigan.

When the ships of the Buffalo Naval Park were moved from the old dock to the new basin a few years ago they needed some plate repair work below the water line, but the biggest challenge was removing all the silt that had built up under the hulls, basically freezing them in place. Attempts were made to dredge, then move the Little Rock, with 3 tugs no less, and the ship wouldn't move until they tried again with a suction dredge so they could get underneath the hull & on the 2nd try, she finally pulled free of the mud.

Well, it's not mud, but a sand and clay mixture that might respond to hydraulics, perhaps. She will have to have a thorough general searching since I would guarantee she has sat on the bottom of Lake Kalamazoo for years. The channel to the top of that lake from Lake Michigan is supposedly maintained at a minimum 14 feet, but that channel has been notorious since first constructed for sanding up, and I'd be surprised if it is at that depth now. It really only handles recreational traffic. A number of revetment improvements have been made to the channel the past few years, but I don't think dredging has occurred. The real problem will be from the southeast side of Lake Kalamazoo, where the Keewatin sits, to the channel itself, as the news reports indicate.

That said, I have to say I think the move makes sense, as much as I'll miss her, since she is "going home." Let's face it: Ideally, the North American or South American should have been sitting in Saugatuck, lo, these many years, given their histories with the town.

The news reported the the Keewatin has been sold and will be towed back to Canada. After being moored for 40 plus years in the mud in the Kalamazoo River, what will be need to prepared her for the tow?