Imitation tugboat Theodore Too partially sinks
On December 17, the imitation tugboat Theodore Too of children’s TV fame partially sank while moored at Port Weller Dry Docks, St. Catharines, ON.
Evening reports indicated the vessel had been stabilized with water being pumped out prior to being craned out and pulled ashore.
Theodore Too is a large-scale imitation tugboat built in Dayspring, Nova Scotia in 2000 based on the fictional television tugboat character Theodore Tugboat. Theodore Too was located in Bedford, Nova Scotia, but arrived in Hamilton, ON, on July 18, 2021 after it was purchased by Canadian shipowner Blair McKeil for use an educational vessel.
The hull and wheelhouse are made entirely of wood, with a fiberglass red hat and smokestack. It has a ‘face’ on the wheelhouse, with large realistic hydraulic eyes (which are no longer operational). The boat displays a number of prop details such as winches and towing bitts inspired from real tugs but operates as a tour boat, not a real tugboat.
Thunder Bay season shaping
up to be busiest since 1990s
Cargo volumes may top 10 million tons this year. Listen to a news report at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbStuu_auPE
FMC Closes Great Lakes Ballast Water Investigation as Canadian Exemptions Ease Concerns
The closure comes after Canada provided exemptions or found compliance unnecessary for six U.S.-flagged vessels that were initially expected to meet new ballast water treatment requirements by September 2024. The remaining U.S. Great Lakes fleet, numbering more than four dozen vessels, won’t need to comply until 2030.
However, broader regulatory differences between the two nations remain unresolved. The FMC’s parallel investigation, launched in June 2020 under 46 U.S.C. Chapter 421, continues to examine the treatment of all U.S.-flagged Great Lakes fleet vessels.
The Canadian regulations, designed to protect waters from invasive species, require vessels to implement comprehensive ballast water management plans and meet specific performance standards by 2024. These requirements include installing ballast water management systems (BWMS), obtaining certificates, maintaining operation records, and submitting to compliance inspections.
FMC Commissioner Carl W. Bentzel highlighted a key point of contention upon loanching the investigation in May “The proposed Canadian regulation appears to go further than provisions regulating ballast water discharges into Canadian waters and would require U.S.-flagged Laker vessels to install a ballast water management system even if they only load, and do not discharge, ballast water in Canadian waters,” he said.
While the closure of one investigation signals progress, the continuation of the broader investigation underscores ongoing concerns about regulatory alignment in Great Lakes shipping.
The FMC’s decision to maintain oversight through its remaining investigation ensures continued attention to potential impacts on U.S. maritime interests in this crucial trading corridor.
Share your boat-themed Christmas and holiday cards
Continuing a Boatnerd tradition, we invite you to share your boat-themed Christmas and holiday cards on our discussion board at https://newsearch.boatnerd.com/viewforum.php?f=6 (attachments must be under 2 MB. Please add to the existing thread.
MHSD’s Ahoy & Farewell III book
documents 30 years of laker history
Ahoy & Farewell III, the third installment of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit’s long-running series marking the MHSD’s 80th anniversary, is now available. The book documents the vessels we welcomed, and those to which we had to bid farewell, during the last 30 years. This 308-page, hardcover book features many color photos, with multiple images of each vessel referenced.
In a departure from the MHSD’s previous volumes, the nearly 308-page, hardcover book includes color photos, with multiple images of every vessel. The book’s authors are marine historians William Moran and Viktor Kaczkowski, and Know Your Ships publisher Roger LeLievre.
“Putting the book together has been a much greater challenge than any of us had expected,” Kaczkowski said. “With the influx of foreign-built new and used tonnage, writing the histories required a lot more research to ensure the information was correct, particularly due to the wide variety of languages that came into play.”
Order Ahoy & Farewell III now at MHSD.org.
