Flashback George M. McKee / Metridia

An interesting tug was built in 1928 by Davie Shipbuilding + Repair in Lauzon, QC. It was built for Anticosti Shipping Co, and as the owner's name would imply it was for service at Anticosti Island. That huge island dividing the St.Lawrence River as it empties into the Gulf of St.Lawrence was rich in timber.
The Anticosti Corp had a major operation on the island, which.involved cutting timer in the winter, floating down rivers to bays, booming and bundling it, then towing it out to the ship Port Alfred. The ship then carried the wood to the Saguenay River port of the same name where Anticosti had built a pulp mill.

Named George M. McKee, the tug was heavily built to work in ice and had a cutaway bow like an icebreaker. Also rare for a tug at that time it had a diesel engine. Its large 5 cylinder Fairbanks Morse was rated at 700 bhp. It carried a crew of fourteen, including a large engine room crew (housed below deck aft).

The tug as originally designed by Milne Gilmore and German.

It served the Anticosti Corp until 1933 when it was acquired by Manseau Shipyard, the shipbuilding arm of the Simard family at Sorel, QC. The shipyard was to become Marine Industries Ltd, and they remained owners of the tug until 1970.

I don't know what the tug during the World War II years, but following the war it made many trips to Halifax, Sydney and Shelburne, NS to to tow decommissioned warships to Sorel for scrap.It also made trips to the United Stares east coast, to such places as Camden, NJ - probably towing surplus naval vessels.

 Metridia at Ile-aux-Coudres, QC awaiting a much needed refit in the spring of 1972.

In 1970 the tug was sold to a diving company based in Montreal and renamed Metridia. In 1976 owners in Rimouski bought the tug, but it was beached at Bic, and eventually dismantled and scuttled off nearby Ile St-Barnabé.

Metridia beached at Bic, QC in 1978.

By the time I saw it first in 1972 it had been much modified with a steel wheelhouse and raised bulwark forward, but in other respects looked much the same as when it was built.

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Oldie from the Shoebox

1. Metridia spent the winter of 1971-72 at Ile-aux-Coudres, QC. Its heavy icebreaker bow is visible in this April 11, 1972 photo.

2. A sad end to a handsome tug, Metridia beached at Bic, QC in 1978.

In 1928 the Anticosti Shipping Company commissioned Davie Shipbuilding & Repair in Lauzon (now Lévis) QC to build a modern seagoing tug for their wood operations on Anticosti Island, in the Gulf of St.Lawrence.

This large shipyard (much in the news in 2011 after being rescued from bankruptcy again) was building magnificent cruise ships for the St.Lawrence River, canal freighters and humble dump scows - all at the same time.

The tug was named George M. McKee and its primarily use was to tow bundled wood from various collection points around Anticosti Island to the waiting ship Port Alfred. The ship would then take to wood to the company's mill in Port Alfred for manufacture into paper.

That operation only lasted a few years before other methods were employed, and the tug was sold to Manseau Shipyard of Sorel. Manseau was the ownership vehicle for the Simard family, whose empire included steel fabrication and lucrative St.Lawrence River dredging projects. Manseau eventually became Marine Industries Ltd and maintained a large towing fleet.

The tug was built for icebreaking and was no doubt a useful adjunct to MIL's fleet of many wooden tugs. It was 100'-0" length BP and 26'-0" breadth with a draft of only 10'-0". Also remarkable for a tug of the period, it was fitted with a 700 bhp Fairbanks Morse diesel engine.

Crew accommodation for 13 was below decks forward, and aft over the tail shaft. The deck house was only for galley, mess and heads, with the rest devoted to accessing the huge engine which was 20'-0" long, not including flywheel assembly.

The original small wooden wheelhouse and dodger were replaced with steel one. A captain's cabin and spare cabin were located abaft the wheelhouse. Also a steel bulwark replaced post and wire stanchions on the foredeck.

Following World War II the tug was kept very busy by MIL towing surplus naval vessels to Sorel for layup and eventual demolition. The tug picked up the tows in such ports as Shelburne, Halifax and Sydney, NS.

MIL sold the tug in 1970 to International Diving Centre Inc of Montreal. They renamed the tug Metridia and it was in their ownership when I photographed it at Ile-aux-Coudres in 1972.

In 1976 it was sold again to Navires océanographiques Inc of Rimouski. I last saw it in derelict condition in Bic, QC in 1978, and I assume it was subsequently broken up there.

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