Keewatin!

Not a birding post, but some of my followers are interested in ships.
Today was a special day, planned a few weeks ago.  A friend and I headed up to Midland late Friday afternoon, and the destination was Port McNicoll Saturday.  It was not a birding trip, but I did see birds!
Heading up that way is not complete without a stop at West Perth Wetlands in Mitchell.  There were quite a few shorebirds in, but nothing really of note.  Lots of sparrows in the weeds.

We arrived early Saturday morning at Port McNicoll.  There were lots of birds in the harbour!  Especially sparrows (mostly White-crowned) in the weeds.  A few Greater Yellowlegs greeted us as they flew over.
However, the focus of this trip was to get a tour of the CPR passenger vessel Keewatin.  It was built in 1907 and has miraculously been preserved to this day.  It was actually built in Govan, Scotland, sailed over to Montreal, cargo unloaded, then back to Quebec city, cut in half, towed to Buffalo, and reassembled. It was designed to be cut in half since it was too long for the locks of the day.  Its identical sister ship Assiniboia experienced a similar story.

Smaller version of the Titanic's main staircase!

It last emitted steam in December 1965.  In fact, the chief engineer wrote "finished with engines forever" on a chalkboard in the engine room as noted in this photo.  This was never erased!

Some parts are well preserved inside, but much is quite rough.  What do you expect for a 105 year old ship?

We got a tour of the entire ship from one of the keen volunteers, Bill.

Aft Men's Smoking Lounge

Many have volunteered their services to maintain and clean up the vessel.  One of the key figures in bringing this ship to the port is Eric Conroy.  He was a waiter on the boat back in the early 1960's.  We had good conversation with him this morning.  He is seen here in the middle walking back toward the Keewatin with some others.

He even wrote his own book Steak in a Drawer.  The title is appropriate as he once hid a steak dinner in a drawer because he had ordered one too many dinners for the table he was waiting on.  Apparently the waiters had to memorize the orders, rather than write them down, so one time he managed to "mess" up!  Fearing reprimand, he quickly stuffed the dinner in a nearby drawer.

Dining Room (subject drawer is in the back left corner)

View of harbour from the bridge

The quadruple expansion steam engine is so well preserved it could run again today.

It has four boilers, two of which have been cut up to reduce the weight of the ship.

The wheelhouse is nothing fancy and rather small, but did the job.

I took 75 photos this morning, so obviously there are too many to post here.
It was an enjoyable experience, and something I thought I would never happen.
On the way back, we again stopped at West Perth Wetlands.  Fewer shorebirds, but more sparrows.  There  was a large number of Savannah Sparrows.  I did not have time to look too closely, but it was a nice break in the drive.