Sixty years on - Part 2 Victor and Valour

 The first two new post World War II tugs built for Foundation Maritime, Foundation Victor of 1956 and Foundation Valour of 1958 are still operating. The latter is running in the fresh water of Lake Superior and so may be expected to last "forever". The former is still in salt water but seems equally indestructable. Both are powered by the durable Fairbanks Morse engines, which, although costly to maintain, are ultimately reliable. 

The two tugs replaced low power steam tugs and were quite successful because they were big and heavy. Their 1280 bhp single screw configuration was typical for the time and was  quite adequate for the ships calling in Baie-Comeau and Sept-Iles. 

The opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway in 1959 was foreseen and larger ships were built to run to and from the Great Lakes. It was chiefly to handle these, but also large foreign flag ships at the two St.Lawrence ports, that the two tugs were built.

 

This ca. 1958 winter view of the tug dock shows Foundation Victor on the north side (left of photo) of the dock with a small low power tug, and possibly a US tug. On the south (right) side is the seagoing Foundation Frances blowing down its boilers, and the steamer Banscot ahead of it. At the salvage dock, Foundation Josephine II awaits an assignment.

In the 1950s and 1960s Halifax was a winter port. Ships were diverted from the St.Lawrence for the winter months due to ice and these two tugs were quite capable of handling the typical general cargo ships and tankers of the time, and more than adequately displaced the steamers and low powered Ban tugs. It was not until the mid to late 1960s that winter navigation on the St.Lawrence became possible.

Foundation Victor was the pride of the fleet when it was built.

In the early 1960s Foundation Maritime again sought to upgrade its fleet, and that will be the subject of later posts in this series.

As of circa 1961 this was the FM harbour tug and crane fleet.

Foundation Vibert was built for Baie-Comeau and will be the subject of a future post. The Banscot and the two small tugs on the lower line worked in Halifax. The three "Bans"on the middle line also served in Port Alfred . 

The Foundation Beechwood was used in marine contruction work and is named for the Beechwood dam on the upper Saint John River where it worked.

When Foundation Maritime sold off its marine operations to Marine Industries Ltd of Sorel, QC, forming MIL Tug in 1968, new tugs were already planned for the port of Sept-Iles. By the time the MIL Tug operation was re-sold to Smit snd Cory in 1971, the new tugs were under construction. Pointe aux Basques and Pointe Margurite were twin screw, 4,000 bhp, icebreaking tugs that completely outclassed the Valour and Victor.

Marine Industries Ltd had stripped many of the useful assets from Foundation to support the dredging operations (J.P.Porter and Dragage Richelieu Dredging).  MILTug however was kept as a free standing operation and most of the tugs that remained with MILTug went to Smit and Cory. (The salvage tug Foundation Vigilant was sold off.)

Foundation Vigilant, at the salvage dock, was not wanted by Smith and Cory, so was sold off. The salvage dock and shed lasted, although unused, until 2020 when they were demolished. Bluenose II, on the right at the Oland's pier, has also found a new berth and the entire area has been filled in for a new development. That is either Point Victor or Point Valour peeking out of the left side of the photo.

Foundation Victor and Foundation Valour were transferred to Halifax for year round operation, and in 1973 renamed Point Victor and Point Valour by Eastern Canada Towing Ltd (ECTUG) which had been formed by Smit and Cory. By this time Halifax already had sufficient tugs to handle port operations so Victor and Valour were actually surplus to needs. (ECTUG was really only interested in terminal operations, so did not actively seek salvage or general towing work for its tugs.) The tugs were also a bit too large and ungainly to work within the confines of the finger piers. 

 POINT VICTOR

By 1977 ECTUG decided to sell the Point Victor and C.A. Pitts Engineering Ltd of Toronto acquired the tug. The company had marine construction projects, and like Foundation before it, decided it needed its own tug. Renamed Kay Cole it worked all around eastern Canada.

 

 

In 1995 Pitts was merging with other companies and a tug was not in the cards. McKeil Workboats of Hamilton, ON was a willing buyer.

They soon renamed the tug Jerry Newberry and put it to use in ways never foreseen by Foundation including barge towing to the US East Coast.

Fitted with some added bow fendering (in place of large truck tires) the Jerry Newberry tried its hand at ship berthing in Montreal for a time.

McKeil in turn sold the tug on to McNally Construction of Hamilton, ON and the tug kept its name.

They put the tug to some extreme use including trips to Labrador and Ungava Bay but by 2013 they were not finding enough use for it. New owners, from Newfoundland, named Sealand Shipping Services Ltd of Baie Verte, bought the tug and renamed it R.J.Ballott. They also added a towing winch I believe.

As of 2021 the tug was in regular use including a tow to Montreal. The tug often works in Labrador and the north shore of the Gulf of St.Lawrence, so is well out of the spotlight, but continues to provide service.

See more photos in my post from November 28, 2013

POINT VALOUR
Point Valour lasted a bit longer with ECTUG, but was also sold on. It is easily identifiable because of its slightly larger wheelhouse. I believe the large house was needed to accommodate the radar set which HAD become mandatory. There was no real need for a walkway ahead of the wheelhouse, except to clean windows, so the wheelhouse was enlarged forward by a foot or two.

As modern tugs came into service, shiphandling using a tow line became obsolete, and so did tugs like the Point Valour as they only had power ahead. They could not pull back with any power like the ASD tugs could.

 ECTUG finally sold the Point Valour to Thunder Bay Tug Services Ltd and it went into operation at the Lakehead.

 

Huge amounts of power are not needed in Thunder Bay as ships are limited to St.Lawrence Seaway size (the US flag 1,000 footers do not serve Thunder Bay, ON). Point Valour is still a big tug and its weight is still useful. (Thunder Bay is home to several tugs built in the 1940s, some of which are former Foundation boats. The Glenada in the photo above was built originally in 1944.)

 .

 

Old but indestructible, or When I'm sixty-four

 This blog has contained too many notices of old tugs going to the scrappers recently. Tug companies may be cleaning house as they have been carrying worn out vessels on their rosters for too long. However a few durable tugs are still soldiering on at relatively unheard of ages. One of those is the R.J.Ballot, which has apparently answered the Beatles question "Will you still need me....when I'm sixty-four."

R.J.Ballott at the former Coast Guard base, now the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) in Dartmouth.

Foundation Maritime, that legendary Halifax based towing company, built up a rag tag fleet during World War II. Some of those tugs were replaced by war emergency tugs in the late 1940s, but by the mid 1950s they still had several underpowered and steam driven boats. 

When the newly developing Labrador iron ore mines came into production, new port facilities were built at Sept-Iles, QC that could handle the largest of a new breed of bulk carriers. Along with nearby Baie Comeau, the ports required tugs with power and heft. Foundation went to Davie Shipbuilding in Lauzon (now part of Lévis), QC for what eventually turned out to be nine new tugs. Delivered in the years between 1956 and 1963, and all powered by Fairbanks Morse engines (and all but one, single screw driven) they have provided remarkable service for a variety of owners. 

It is notable that of those nine tugs, three were sold foreign and likely scrapped, and all but one of the rest remain in daily service in Canada. * - see below

The first of what were big ship berthing tugs at the time, is in Halifax now, having transitioned to long distance towing work. R.J.Ballott arrived from Makkovik, Labrador, via St. Barbe with the barge Kaligak loaded with construction equipment.

It is the same barge that R.J.Ballott towed out of Halifax on October 3, 2019

The tug, built in 1956 as Foundation Victor has had a long career with several owners as Point Victor, Kay Cole and Jerry Newberry and is still going strong at 64 years of age. It has been noted in this blog many times. Enter the name in the search box, or for a complete record see: R.J.Ballott

This Tim Randall photo shows Foundation Victor in its orginal colour scheme.

.

* Foundation Valiant, later named Point Valiant (i) and André-H. was broken up in recent months at Quebec City. See this recent post

Point Vigour ex Foundation Vigour  is still at work as McKeil's Molly M 1.

Point Viking ex Foundation Viking  works for Construction Polaris Inc of Sept-Iles, QC.

Point Vim ex Foundation Vim works for Les Barges de Matane Inc of Matane, QC.

Point Valour ex Foundation Valour works for Thunder Bay Tug Services at Thunder Bay, ON.

 *

R.J.Ballott at the old dock

 R.J.Ballott taking stores early this morning.

A surprise visitor to the Svitzer Canada dock (formerly Ectug, formerly MIL Tug, formerly Foundation Maritime) early this morning is the R.J.Ballott. Mention has been made of this durable tug in these pages before, most recently when it received its current name:
 http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/search/label/Jerry%20Newberry

Built in 1956 for Foundation Maritime as Foundation Victor it served Ectug as Point Victor, Pitts International as Kay Cole, McKeil as Kay Cole and Jerry Newberry and McNally as Jerry Newberry until purchased by Sealand Shipping Services Ltd of Baie Verte, NL last year. It is now named for the late father of the owner, a long time tug master for Foundation and Ectug.

A large tug for its era, with a dependable Fairbanks Morse engine (now upped to 1800 bhp) it is still a useful tug and the new owner has found a variety of work for it. Carrying rock from Wallace, NS to Caribou, PE, hauling the scrap barge for removal of the wrecked Miner at Scatarie Island and now headed for the Bay of Fundy to work on a power project, are among the many chores it is well suited for. Not just a harbour tug, it handled beautifully on its trip down to Halifax from Cape Breton last night, despite some lumpy seas and a tail wind.

Looking quite smart at the south side of the dock this afternoon.

It was storing up this morning on the north side of the Svitzer dock, and had moved around to the south side this afternoon to make room for the pilot boat. This is very familiar territory for the tug - it was based at the same dock during its Foundation and Ectug years.

 With Point Viking, Point Vim and Point Spencer in 1976 at the same dock.

Generally the outer ends of the Ectug dock were used by the duty tugs, and the inner berths by the tugs that would be on call if needed or in maintenance. 

Interestingly the only tugs to tie up at the Svitzer Canada dock in the past year have been former Ectugs, and both formerly from Sept-Iles. R.J.Ballott and Océan Basques. The latter tug supplanting Point Victor as Pointe aux Basques when it was built in 1973. Point Victor then came to Halifax where it worked sporadically. It was not as agile as the smaller 1200 bhp tugs, and was only used as a spare most of the time. When the twin screw Point Vibert came back from Baie-Comeau in 1977, on delivery of the Pointe-Comeau, Point Victor was declared surplus.

Little changed except for fendering and paint scheme, Point Victor was and is an imposing sight.

As a harbour tug, Point Victor had only a patent quick release towing hook , but was fitted with a towing winch when in McKeil ownership. Its boat has been replaced by a raft and the twin davit cranes removed. It s also now registered in St.John's.

.

Jerry Newberry sold

The veteran tug Jerry Newberry has found a new career. On the for sale list for more than a year, a buyer in Newfoundland has  purchased the tug, expecting to find work connected with the massive Hebron oil project. The tug is due to sail from its layup berth in Port Hawksbury in a few weeks, with a fresh coat of paint and some other improvements, to take up the new post.

The thrice renamed tug was the first in a new era of postwar tugs built in Canada for Foundation Maritime, the tug operation arm of the Foundation Company of Canada.With the development of new iron ore mines in Labrador and the looming opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway, Foundation saw a need for more powerful tugs. They set out to replace their entire fleet of pre-war and war-built tugs and in the end built ten new tugs over a seven year period, nine of them in Canada.

The Foundation Victor slid down the ways at Davie Shipbuilding in Lauzon, QC on November 19, 1956 and was handed over to her owners December 22. At 244 gross tons and 1380 bhp (delivered by an 8 cylinder Fairbanks Morse, to a single screw) it was a big tug for its time, and was thought to be capable of handling the biggest ships of the day. It was intended to work in Sept-Iles, QC in summer and Halifax in winter, following the pattern of the day when the Gulf of St.Lawrence was closed to winter navigation and Halifax and Saint John became the primary eastern Canada ports in winter.

The tug sailed from Lauzon January 11, 1957, and with the assistance of the icebreaker N.B.Mclean
worked through heavy ice to Bird Island. It then reached Sydney on its own to effect repairs to due to iced up radar and standard compass. It reached Halifax 19 hours after leaving Sydney.

Joined by near sister Foundation Valour in 1958, the pair continued in the winter/summer pattern for some time, but events eventually overtook them. Winter navigation became a reality and  Sept-Iles became a year round port. Ships increased in size and tug horsepower had to grow with it, and the duo were virtually obsolete with a few years. It was not until 1973 however that new 4,000 bhp icebreaking tugs displaced the pair from Sept-Iles and they transferred to Halifax permanently. Even in Halifax, which had become a year round port, they were underpowered as larger ships needed more powerful tugs, with quicker response times.

 

1. Point Victor was built with an elevated wheelhouse to provide added visibility when docking large bulk carriers.

Meanwhile Foundation had sold the tug fleet in 1968 to MIL Tug, a division of Marine Industries Ltd of Sorel, QC, who then sold MIL Tug in 1971 to what became Eastern Canada Towing Ltd (a joint venture between the Dutch Smit and British Cory) in 1973. Ectug, as it was known, renamed the tug Point Victor and  found some work for it, but sold it in 1977 to Pitts Engineering + Construction Ltd of Toronto.

2. Kay Cole was fitted with a towing winch, mounted low on the after deck, feeding the tow wire forward through a sheave at the former towing hook location, then aft over the stern.

Renamed Kay Cole the tug ranged far and wide around eastern Canada towing Pitts' dredges and scows to construction sites.They also fitted it with a towing winch. It had a good run with Pitts (which among many other companies merged into various other concerns including Foundation) until 1991 when it was sold to McKeil Work Boats of Hamilton, ON.

3. In McKeil colours, the tug lays over in Halifax while towing a barge with crane components to the US.

4. As Jerry Newberry the tug worked in Montreal for time when McKeil provided ship berthing services in the port.
 

McKeil ran the tug as Kay Cole until 1995 when it became Jerry Newberry. It ranged even farther afield for McKiel, including barge towing to the United States east coast, but as their fleet expanded it was sold to McNally Construction, also of Hamilton in 2007. It was used by their Beaver Marine subsidiary on the east coast and the north. It was while returning from Labrador that it lost the crane barge McNally Olympic when the tow line parted and the barge drifted ashore. The barge was also carrying the smaller tug Le Taureau which was also lost.

5. The tug was looking quite forlorn while laid up in Port Hawksbury last summer. Competitor Mac Isaac Construction had their tug/wokboat conversion Whsipering Seas II tied up alongside.

McNally laid up the tug in Port Hawksbury and listed it for sale, but it was only last month that new owners were found. They have not re-registered the tug or changed its name yet.

 .