MS ''Windoc'' was a

lake freighter Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. Since the late 19th century, lakers have carried bulk cargoes of ma ...

or laker, initially constructed as an ocean-going

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...

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in 1959. Entering service that year as ''Rhine Ore'', the ship was renamed ''Steelcliffe Hall'' in 1977 and reconstructed as a laker. In 1988 the laker was renamed ''Windoc'' and in 2001, was involved in a collision with a bridge on the

Welland Canal The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines ...

which caused the ship to catch fire. The ship was declared a constructive total loss. While undergoing repairs in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, the ship broke free of its moorings and grounded. Later pulled free, the vessel was eventually converted into a

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

Description

''Windoc'' was initially constructed as the bulk carrier ''Rhine Ore''. As a bulk carrier the ship had a gross register tonnage of 8,202 tons and a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, pro ...

of 19,918 tons. The ship measured

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of . The ship was powered by one

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

and had a maximum speed of . The ''Rhine Ore'' was part of a class of 8 sisterships ('' Ems Ore'', ''Rhine Ore'', '' Ruhr Ore'', ''Weser Ore'', ''Clyde Ore'', ''Tees Ore'', ''Thames Ore'' and ''Tyne Ore''). Three of them were purchased by Hall Corp Ltd. of

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and rebuilt as lakers. After the vessel's conversion to a laker, the gross register tonnage increased to 18,531 tons and the deadweight tonnage to 29,050 tons. The length overall of the ship was increased to and between perpendiculars to . The beam was also increased to .

Service history

''Rhine Ore'' was ordered from the Schlieker shipyard in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, West Germany by Transatlantic Bulk Carriers Inc. with the yard number 533. The vessel was launched on 11 April 1959 and completed in July. Registered under a

flag of convenience Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag state ...

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

upon entering service, ''Rhine Ore'' sailed until sold to Hall Corp Ltd. The ship was renamed ''Steelcliffe Hall'' after the April 1977 sale, it was rebuilt in Canada that year as a laker, with cargo space added forward of the engine room, and the wheelhouse moved aft above the crew accommodation. After decades of service and changes to the function and structural conversions of the ship, in 1988 ''Steelcliffe Hall'' was given the name ''Windoc'' (2) after being acquired by N. M. Paterson & Sons Ltd., following the liquidation of the previous owner, Halco. On 11 August 2001, while traveling through the Welland Canal, ''Windoc'' was hit by Bridge 11 in

Allanburg, Ontario Allanburg is a community within the City of Thorold, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Welland Canal and Highway 20, both important transportation routes through the Niagara Peninsula. The two cross at a vertical-lift bridge, numbered as Br ...

. The accident caused minor damage to the

vertical lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

, and destroyed the ship's wheelhouse and funnel. The vessel caught fire, and was later declared a constructive total loss, but there were no reported injuries, no damage to the $6-$8 million cargo, and no pollution to the waterway. The Marine Investigation Report concluded "it is likely that the ertical lift bridgeoperator's performance was impaired while the bridge span was lowered onto the Windoc.""TSB Reports - Marine 2001 - M01C0054"
bst.gc.ca, Retrieved on 2007-10-20 The vessel was towed to

Hamilton Harbour Hamilton Harbour, formerly known as Burlington Bay, lies on the western tip of Lake Ontario, bounded on the northwest by the City of Burlington, on the south by the City of Hamilton, and on the east by Hamilton Beach (south of the Burlington ...

for repairs, and in March, 2002, it broke free of its moorings in a winter gale, and ran aground away in about of water, where it was pulled out by four

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s three days later. N.M. Paterson & Sons left the shipping business the following year, after 87 years, and sued the canal operator, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., for $16.9 million (C). Their remaining four active and three mothballed ships were sold in 2002. The canal operator denied any negligence, and blamed the shipping company and the ship's crew for the accident."Both sides to present arguments in Windoc-bridge collision."

Boatnerd The boatnerd corporation, a registered not for profit corporation, circulates information about vessels that ply the North American Great Lakes. When Acheson Ventures provided space for a headquarters for the organization in their Maritime Center ...

, 2002-07-15. Retrieved on 2007-08-16. A Transport Safety Bureau report on the collision points to the bridge operator and bridge operating procedures and policies as major factors. The ship was converted into a storage barge. It was scrapped in 2011 at Port Colborne.

References

* Miller, Al
"Windoc Accident: August 11, 2001."

, January, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.

External links

Amateur video of collision"Windoc Bridge Accident Caught on Tape"
(Video), 2008-12-03.
"TSB Report"
PDF), 2007-10-20. {{DEFAULTSORT:Windoc (1959) 1959 ships Merchant ships of Canada Maritime incidents in 2001 Ships built in Hamburg Great Lakes freighters

Description

Service history

See also

References

External links