A harbour tour on the Hamiltonian, while dreaming of bigger ships
Have you ever had a song jump into your head that won't leave?
It happened the other day when I was boarding the 12-passenger tour boat Hamiltonian" in Hamilton Harbour.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.
I said to myself, Stop it. I'm not going on a three-hour tour' that ends up on Gilligan's Island,' from the 1960s sitcom." At least I hoped not. This was a 50-minute cruise of Hamilton Harbour that I was reasonably confident would end up where it started.
The mate was a mighty sailing man ...
Oh, for crying out loud. Concentrate. This is a chance to learn some harbour history ..."
The 26-foot aluminum Hamiltonian is owned by the Hamilton Waterfront Trust and for about $20 a ticket, it runs excursions seven days per week until Sept. 5, and on weekends from Sept. 10 till Oct. 10.
It's an opportunity to acquaint or reacquaint yourself with the harbour. It can be a relaxing way to spend some time if you don't mind a bit of diesel fumes and the clackety rumble of the Hamiltonian's engine.
I would describe it as more functional than luxurious. But the tiny ship - that has operated on the harbour since 2003 - is sound. It has the distinction of being the last in a long history of tour vessels in the bay over the past 150 years.
And it's a lot of fun. The West Harbour has been going through a renaissance of public access over the past 25 years - most recently with development at Pier 8 - and the best way to check out the changes, is from the water.
It's also a chance to think about the glory days - of the late 1800s and early decades of the 1900s - when big steamers such as the Macassa, Modjeska and Turbinia ferried hundreds of passengers between Hamilton and Toronto.
From 1944 to 1952, there was a 143-foot steel paddle steamer also called the Hamiltonian. The Hamilton Harbour Commission vessel took passengers from the foot of James Street to the Burlington Canal and Lasalle Park until being destroyed by fire in 1952. They say more than one million passengers made that journey over the eight years.
More recently, up until 2019, the Hamilton Harbour Queen offered dinner cruises and other events on the harbour, for up to 200 people at a time. It was owned by the Waterfront Trust for about a decade before being sold to businessperson Albert Samee in 2015. He died in 2018 and his daughter Amber took over. After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted earlier this year, the vessel did not resume operations.
So, if you want to buy a ticket for a regularly scheduled cruise on the bay, the Hamiltonian, for now, is your only choice.
The day of my tour, the captain was a fellow named Mark Mackesy who likes to tailor his commentary to the audience on board. He knew I was interested in harbour history.
They used to name docks in (Harbour West Marina) after the ferry boats that operated on the bay and the lake," he said.
In the early 1900s during the period when Hamilton was known as the Electric City,' you could take an electric trolley down James Street and the ferry dock was right at the bottom and you could board the Turbinia ... and 90 minutes later you would be in Toronto."
The Hamiltonian tour concentrates on the West Harbour, going past Pier 4 Park, Bayfront Park and Dundurn Castle, (which is unfortunately mostly blocked by trees). From there, the boat stopped in the waters in front of the Desjardins Canal near the Thomas B. McQuesten High Level Bridge. Mackesy told the story of the horrific railway disaster that took place in March 1857, killing 59 people when a train broke through the bridge.
From there the boat moved closer to the Burlington side, past the nature-rich Carroll's Point before heading eastward and then back toward the Hamilton shoreline.
Near the end of the tour, the Hamiltonian pulled up close to the giant Second World War era HMCS Haida that is docked on Pier 9.
The destroyer was launched 80 years ago this month on Aug. 25, 1942, after being built in a shipyard in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. It was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy in August 1943.
The Haida served in the RCN until 1963 and is known for having sunk more enemy surface tonnage" than any other Canadian warship. The ship is the only surviving Tribal Class" destroyer out of 27 vessels that were built between 1937 and 1945 for the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, Mackesy says.
It brought to mind the ceremony for the official opening of nearby Copps Pier in June. Sheila Copps told the audience about the behind-the-scenes story from the early 2000s about how the ship ended up in Hamilton from its previous home at Ontario Place in Toronto. She said Parks Canada staff were recommending $2 million in federal money to help out with repairs on the ship that was owned by the province of Ontario.
Being political," she said she was not enthusiastic about giving the money to the Conservative Mike Harris provincial government.
At the time, she also heard the folks at Ontario Place were looking to find a new home for the ship. It didn't fit into their future plans. So, she offered to buy it, on behalf of Parks Canada, which was part of her responsibility as Heritage minister.
You should have seen their faces at Parks Canada when I told them I had bought the Haida for a dollar." But the deal stuck, and after millions of dollars for repairs and tugboat costs, the ship ended up in Hamilton Harbour in August 2003.
Today it remains an impressive National Historic Site to tour inside and it's remarkable to view from the ground.
But you get a whole new perspective from the water.
To be next to the 377-foot destroyer, it made me feel like I was aboard The Minnow," the fateful boat in Gilligan's Island.
And then the song started again.
The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour ...