The Algoma Central Corp. bulk carrier Algoma Discovery was launched as hull number 642 at the 3 Maj Brodogradiliste d.d. shipyard, Rijeka, Croatia on November 25, 1986 as Malinska. Built to 729 feet in length and to the width of 75 feet and 9 inches, she was considered a Seaway-max vessel, allowing her to come into the Great Lakes by fitting through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Welland Canal. This size would account for her registered gross tonnage of 23,306 tons with a dead weight tonnage of 35,542 tons.

It would not take long for Malinska to make headlines. On May 5, 1987, she struck the Snell Lock’s lower approach wall, causing a 40-foot by eight-foot hole in her bow. The tug Robinson Bay freed her the next morning. Malinska was chartered in 1988 to the Great Lakes’ Misener fleet. As the 1991 season was just getting started, Malinska loaded steel coils in Hamilton, ON, and made her way into Lake Ontario, where she ran aground on Main Duck Island. The steel coils were unloaded and taken back to Hamilton, allowing her to float free from the bottom. With a hole in her bow, she proceeded to Port Weller Dry Docks on June 2 to receive repairs. She departed again for Hamilton on June 24. With the 1994 season coming to a close, she had the honor of closing out the seaway as the last saltwater vessel to depart the lakes on December 28.

Malinska fell under new ownership in 1997 when she was purchased by Viken Shipping. Viken renamed her Daviken. Almost exactly three years into her time with Viken, Daviken suffered an electrical fire resulting in a grounding in Lake St. Clair on October 20, 2000. On November 20, 2004, Daviken struck the wall of Lock 1 in the Welland Canal, leading to the discovery of a three-foot by seven-foot hole just above the waterline at her bow.

She again changed ownership when the Algoma Central Corp. purchased her on May 3, 2008. Algoma changed her name to Algoma Discovery, which she still carries.

In September of 2009, she lost power in the English Channel near the Bay of Biscay resulting in a grounding. Her cargo was removed and she was inspected before re-entering service. In 2010, her large deck cranes were removed in Europe. She made her way to Halifax later that year and was registered under the Canadian flag October 7. In 2016, she experienced a fire in one of her cargo holds while moored in Sorel, QC. The local fire department got the call and proceeded to extinguish the fire the same day.

Algoma Discovery sails today under the Canadian flag for Algoma Central Corp. as a workhorse in the grain industry as well as in the iron ore trade on occasion.

Written by Joe Cioletti.