Novadoc

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William Lafferty
Posts: 1490
Joined: March 13, 2010, 10:51 am

Re: Novadoc

Unread post by William Lafferty »

There were three vessels named Novadoc. The first was a Canadian World War I "laker," Canadian Pathfinder, purchased from the Canadian government 8 October 1925 and renamed Norman M. Paterson and Novadoc the following year, in the fleet for only year until Paterson turned it over in February 1927 to the Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. shipyard in partial payment for Paterson's ten canallers built for Paterson at Wallsend by that builder, 1927-1929. The second Novadoc was the eighth of that group, launched 28 February 1928. All these vessels had a trunk deck forward the after house. The Novadoc that sits off Pentwater had that deck, while the third Novadoc, the subject of the "News," did not, launched as the Northton by Swan, Hunter's Low Walker yard on 20 May 1924 for the Mathews Steamship Company, Ltd. Paterson purchased it in late 1946 to replace canal-sized tonnage lost in the war, renamed Novadoc, but it never returned to the lakes after the war. Requisitioned by the Ministry of War Transport it served in the Caribbean bauxite trade during the war until turned over to the Province of Newfoundland and used in the coal trade between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Virginia. Paterson kept it in the coastal trade, the lakes closed for the season during its brief ownership by Paterson, until it foundered off Portland, Maine, on 3 March 1947 with all hands while carrying gypsum from Deepbrook, Nova Scotia, to New York. This is a long way of saying that, yes, the lower photograph from yesterday's news is the second Novadoc, lost in 1940.
Jared
Posts: 798
Joined: December 6, 2014, 4:51 pm

Re: Novadoc

Unread post by Jared »

Yes, though both were cannalers and both changed their rigging to be nearly identical except for the pilothouses.

Here is the Northton as the Novadoc.
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Rob

Novadoc

Unread post by Rob »

Isn't the picture of the Novadoc in today's "Today in Great Lakes History" the prior Novadoc to the one referred to in the article? I believe the one pictured is the one that was lost off Little Point Sable in Lake Michigan in the Armistice Day Storm in 1940.
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