By Steven Sliwka
The Quedoc was constructed in 1965 by Davie Shipbuilding of Lauzon, PQ as hull number 665. It is a maximum Seaway-size bulker, like most of Paterson’s vessels. She is named for the Province of Quebec and is the third Paterson vessel to carry this name. She was built as the Beavercliffe Hall for the famous HALCO corporation. On 27 July, 1967, she took on 987,010 bushels of corn in South Chicago, IL. This record stood until 1969.
The Quedoc was powered by four Fairbanks Morse 12-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of 8000 bhp. She participated in the grain trade, so she was never converted to a self-unloader. The vessel was built with 17 hatches opening up into six holds. Her capacity was 1,021,910 bushels of grain. In long tonnes, the Quedoc has a capacity of 13,060.81 Net Tonnes.
The Quedoc’s cargoes were typically grain products loaded in northern Lake Superior ports such as Thunder Bay or Duluth, and are unloaded in ports further up the Seaway like Baie Comeau and Trois Rivieres.
The Quedoc began a period of long term lay-up at the end of the 1991 season in Thunder Bay, along with the Vandoc. Despite her rough exterior, she still looked great inside.
In March, 2002 N.M. Paterson & Sons Ltd. ended their long family history of operating Great Lakes vessels and sold their active fleet of three vessels to Canada Steamship Lines. The inactive Quedoc and Vandoc were sold to Purvis Marine Limited of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
On June 25, 2002 the Quedoc was towed from her lay-up dock by the tug Avenger IV owned by Purvis Marine.
Arriving at Algoma Steel in the Soo on June 27, it was unknown what would become of the Quedoc. Possible uses could be to cut the vessel down to a barge, partially scrap the vessel and create a floating drydock or scrap the entire ship.
| Overall dimensions | |
| Length | 730’00” |
| Beam | 75’00” |
| Depth | 39’02” |
| Capacity tons | 28,050 |