After arriving to great fanfare on a warm summer day in 2012, the SS Keewatin leaves its home port for the final time later today.
Wayne Coombes, president of the Friends of Keewatin, said the ship will leave Port McNicoll at 5 p.m. Monday rather than Tuesday morning.
“The tug captain has decided to get ahead of an incoming storm,” Coombes said, referring to the tug boat that will pull the Edwardian-era vessel to a shipyard on Lake Ontario.
A spokesman for the Keewatin’s new home, the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, said the weather and other factors have shifted the departure window a few times.
“The ship will be departing for a Hamilton-area shipyard for repairs and is expected to arrive there within five days,” Phil Gaudreau said.
“Following months of repairs in dock, it will resume its voyage to Kingston, arriving late summer or early fall.”
The fate of the ship's 11-year stay in Port McNicoll was sealed last month when Skyline Investments Inc. announced it was donating the Keewatin to the Limestone City museum.
Museum manager Doug Cowie is expected to arrive at the ship to see it off early this afternoon along with former Friends president Eric Conroy.
Cowie earlier told MidlandToday that his operation offers five intangibles that make it the perfect location to ensure the ship welcomes visitors for years to come.
“We worked a long time with Canadian Heritage," Cowie said. "We have the five things necessary to be successful. Our primary goal is to preserve the ship.”
Cowie notes the museum has the necessary finances to keep up with the high costs of maintaining a ship like the Keewatin, which when it leaves Port McNicoll will be headed to a shipyard for funnel painting and deck reparations.
“That will cost a lot of money," he says. "You need that initial financial resource.”
As well, Cowie says that Kingston is already draws a huge number of tourists annually without the Keewatin, meaning there will be thousands ready to enjoy what the ship has to offer.
“We believe it will have the tourism base to support the ship thereafter," he said.
The museum also boasts a dry dock, something Cowie says was an important element in granting essential Canadian Heritage designations.
“We have been put through a vigorous review by Canadian Heritage," he said.
