April 3 , 2014
The icebreaker came.In the middle of the night. And by morning, ice bound ships from Thunder Bay had left. CCGS Pierre Radisson to the rescue again.
Raining Stars by artist/photographer Paula Trus who captured this time lapse image in the early hours of April 3, 2014 at Montreal River Harbour. Lights on the horizon from the stranded ships share the night sky with the stars.
April 2,2014
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| Fisheries and Oceans Canada/Canadian Coast Guard |
Depending on sun, wind and warmth to help out with the
melting of the ice on the lake is a good idea. Nature will provide the balance
while we seek a myriad of ways to cope with this extreme weather.Distractions work well. Between snowshoeing, shovelling, Season Four of Downton Abbey, the
Olympics and the recent Juno awards the days are full. During the televised
Junos I laughed at the exchange between Serena Ryder and twins Tegan and Sara.
They joked about forming a group called the Frost Biters, in honour of this
year’s crazy cold winter.
But extreme winter weather is much more than an
annoyance to the sea faring segment of the Canadian population. The shipping
industry has to rely on the spring break up. When winter won’t let go without a
struggle, then it is time to bring out the big, er maybe bigger, ships. Ice
breakers are a tough breed and they are in a huge demand right now. The
Canadian Coast Guard has 16 icebreakers to operate in Eastern Canada and the
Arctic. There are two heavy duty icebreakers, four medium ones, eight
multi-purpose vessels and two hovercraft. In addition, there is one vessel with
icebreaker capacity on the Pacific Coast.
There’s a desire now to get on with the Great Lakes
shipping season. The U.S. Coast Guard began their annual spring ice breaking in
Thunder Bay on March 27 and the St. Lawrence Seaway’s 56th navigation season started
March 28. That was a special day for Algoma Central Corporation. The Algoma
Equinox, the first of their series of eight, new, energy efficient “Equinox” ships,
went through Lock 3 of the Welland Canal.
The new ships are needed. But so is an ice free lake.
So I
checked with the Canadian Coast Guard to see what icebreakers MIGHT be coming
our way to help out. Right now the Samuel Risley is cracking up eastern Lake
Erie and the Griffon is chewing up ice on the St Lawrence River.
The diesel- powered
CCGS Samuel Risley, built in BC in 1984 is about 70 m long and almost 14 m wide
with a draft of just over 5 m. This ship has a cruising speed of 12 knots and
hosts nine officers and 13 crew members. In 1858, Risley (pronounced is), became the first Chairman of the
Board of Steamship Inspection. He was a pioneer in ship safety regulation.
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| CCGS Samuel Risley Fisheries and Oceans Canada/Canadian Coast Guard |
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| CCGS Griffon Fisheries and Oceans Canada/Canadian Coast Guard |
Another older icebreaker,
the Griffon, was built in Quebec in 1970. About the same size and speed as the
Risley, the Griffon has nine officers and 16 crew members. You can watch the Griffon
on Utube to see, hear and almost feel the crunch of breaking ice.
This vessel is named
after Le Griffon, a much, much older ship, which sailed the Great Lakes in 1679.
On her maiden voyage, the ship sailed the then uncharted waters of Lake Erie,
Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. But it vanished on the return trip, with no
remains ever to be found.
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| CCGS Pierre Radisson Fisheries and Oceans Canada/Canadian Coast Guard |
A third ice breaker, a bigger, middle brother
to the Risley and the Griffon is the Pierre Radisson. Built in BC in 1978, the
ninety-eight m long Radisson has a strong and powerful
diesel-electric motor. She can plow her way through ice a meter thick at a
speed of 6 knots. Named after Pierre Radisson, the French fur trader who
explored Canada’s north in the mid 1600s, the Radisson makes the Arctic its
usual ice breaking theatre. However, this year it has journeyed our way to
loosen Lake Superior’s deep heavy ice and thick drifting snow.
Some say the Great Lakes ice is the worst it’s been
for decades, while others say it’s the best. But, there is no doubt that the
presence of such a huge ice pack has had a huge effect. Some of that can be
most positive. The quietness, freedom and clear air of so much open space pull
on one’s personal magnet. The peace and calm, the muted colours and the
blinding bright light radiate a sense of well being. Good medicine for the tired soul.
But the satellite view of Lake Superior shows that the
lake cover is changing. Cracks in the ice resemble old paint peeling off the
wall. This heralds the end of our icy season. Our sidewalks are going to sink
into the lake. Slush will claim our walkways. The ice paths will be a memory.
That broad, bright, white expanse, which has lit up the lake for a couple of
months, will dim to grey before becoming a brilliant blue. Some will cling to
their digital pix of long walks on all that hard water and others will cheer the
return of Lake Superior’s open water.
There’s a unique music to this ice demise. Tinkling
shards and crashing chunks, the last sighs from a long hard winter, succumb to
the demands of the sun. We applaud such orchestrations. We will add them to our
play list, turning up the volume as the iceman leaves the shore. But, somehow,
I think that there might be a few who would rather be singing Serena Ryder’s song,
Baby Come Back.