Unfinished projects

[marshmat]

We had one of those "mystery boats" show up here in Kingston a few weeks ago. Thought I'd share, for the benefit of the community.

She's about thirty metres on the waterline, maybe thirty-five. Construction appears to be of a pretty high quality steel- we actually thought she was aluminum at first glance, due to the nearly complete lack of rust. It appears that steps and partners are installed for three masts and a very large bowsprit. The twin screws look to be sized for around 400-500 hp each, and from pacing out her rough dimensions I would guess her displacement at 200-250 tonnes.

She showed up without fanfare, in a rather odd location- these photos are taken at the back retaining wall of the transient small-craft harbour, an area normally inaccessible to anything over fifty feet. The docks would almost certainly have had to be moved to get her in. With the rudder tack-welded in place and no helm station to speak of, I suspect it took most of the local tug fleet to bring her in.

About a week later, she mysteriously vanished. I have yet to encounter anyone who knows who owns her, or what this evidently rather expensive half-built tall ship was doing here.

[lazeyjack]

mm, well what can one say, people have these dreams , incubating in their minds for years,, when they finally hatch, , this is the result, all I have to say is"nice bulwark stays"

[thudpucker]

Lot's n' lot's of money there. But look how much more there is to be spent on the rest of it.
It's maybe a Fishing Reef out there somewhere now.

[fiberglass jack]

marshmat there is a major movie being made here in toronto, guys i know have made a swing stage platform for a ship to sit on and the bloody thing is massive, wouldnt be surprise this is the boat thats going to sit on it

[marshmat]

Sorry for the delay... finally found some info on her

She's a tourist trap. Intended to be an approximate replica of HMS Detroit, a British ship from the War of 1812, but made of modern high-quality steel and with a pair of nice diesels. It seems that around the turn of the millennium, the federal government was giving out a whole pile of grants to build tourist attractions. This was one of the successful bidders- worth $1.4M, split 50/50 between the feds and a municipal government in the Windsor area that was to receive the completed ship. (The deputy prime minister's riding, no less.)

After something like $515k were spent, the money stopped flowing and the shipyard shoved the project aside. The ship sat around for a while, and has now reportedly been sold to an American buyer on the East Coast.

Her presence in Kingston got a few people worked up.... there's a widespread feeling that had this ship not been built, that money would have gone towards long-planned upgrades to our marine museum and historic drydock.