The End History and Tour of Historic Tug Boat James Whalen Failed Museum Thunder Bay Ontario
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2025
- The end of an era Historic Tug Boat in the Thunder Bay area...
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Outdoor Rob Adventure Channel
Thank you for showing this grand old tug! Almost like she is still alive! May she be rememberd and respected for all her work and loyalty!! Well done good servant!
Thank You, glad you enjoyed the vid!
Man that's just sad. When you think of all the money people waste on absolute nonsense preserving a beautiful boat like this should be paramount. But go figure it was restored and then not well maintained and because of the lack of care now she's come to this. So sad. And thanks for making the video. At least we have this documented if anything as a lesson why we should preserve some of these older things. Once they're gone, they're gone!
Thanks Man! So true!
Good day again Rob, how are you?, it's a shame what people do to unique and beautiful pieces of history, for 120 years the James Whalen had quite an amazing life. There will never be another tugboat like him, a special and important piece of Thunder Bay's marine history, now only part of our memories. Thanks buddy for this educational and informative video, take care.⛵
Thanks Marc! Glad you found it informative.
@@OutdoorRob Indeed I did Rob, and thanks again for sharing this.
Thanks Rob, it's hard to look at her in such deteriorated condition. The stewardship of this maritime icon has been appalling. Clearly she was abandoned by the City resulting in astronomical costs to remove her from the river. That money could have assured her preservation for another 50 years. Instead the city will now scrap her and continue with investments that administration deems more worthy, like $ 90,000 EV F150's and other highly dubious uses of public funds.
Agree with you, thank You!
I thought the $ 90,000 EV F150's where useless in cold, nor could they pull anything very far?
That's true but they only use them to drive around town a little, so should save the 90,000 in gas very shortly LOL!
Tragic to lose the history , out here there was the IVANHOE , SWAN, and a few others there gone now and the last being the S.S. MASTER which could also meet the same fate unless more people get involved Thank You Rob this was another excellent production.
Thank You! Hope you don't loose the Master, still have to get out there and see it.
My tug is only 50 tons and a decade younger. I’m planning on replating about 1/3 of the boat next season. Not surprising that ship sank
Nice to keep the old tugs alive, great job. Thanks!
Nice job Rob. Not a lot of old boats around. The elements go after that old steel with vigor.
Thanks Fred! There's one City build boat that's been on display in British Columbia for years. Someday I'll get out there again and see how a real City treats historic boats. There's actually two City build boats there, one being the tug.
@OutdoorRob If you get to Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria OR, they have the Columbia lightship.
Nice, thanks!
Thanks for the tour Rob. I always wanted to go check it out before it sank but the area that it was at looked way to sketchy to bring my kids to. Too bad the group that restored it years ago didn't display it on land instead of in the lake where it inevitably rotted away and sank.
Thanks Man!
Sad to lose a beautiful lady like this!!
Very sad indeed, Thanks Tony!
Why would they scrap it? Tow it out to someplace shallow with good visibility like Silver Harbour and sink it. It would be a major draw for scuba tourism.
Major costs involved in getting it off the dock and towing it out there. City just wants it gone now after all their neglect and failure with it. Would be nice to be able to dive on it though...Thanks!
A SAD end for a grand old tug with so much history behind her !!!
Very true, thanks Vance!
Thanks for this Rob. It’s informative to see how deplorable a shape the old girl is in now. Clearly her fate is sealed as the restoration would be extreme,lying cost prohibitive thanks to City Parks & Open Spaces neglect. Sad to see
Thanks Michael!
A sad vid, Rob. All the buildings of any architectural merit in my old hometown were torn down by a "progressive" council in the late 80's. Everyone regretted it by the late 90's. Once they are gone, they are gone.
Yep, once gone, they're gone. Thanks Man!
My buddy has a nice russel brothers boat they are well made his was originally steam powered and retrofitted to diesel it was built in 1929 .its
Named the foster
Cool! Have You checked out the Russel Brother Facebook page or the website? Thanks!
P.S. It's also sad because where the Finnish Labour Temple and Hoito Restaurant once stood for over 100 years, that land remains vacant and empty, gone, but hopefully never forgotten. 😞
Ya, that's another disgrace...
I completely agree with you Rob, more taxpayer dollars simply being wasted and history being tarnished forever.
Odd that you mention the former FLT and Hoito Restaurant in the basement. For 20 some years I delivered new Japanese imported cars that came
off the ships in Vancouver to the dealerships in Thunder Bay. I moved on to other jobs in 2007. I was just in attendance at a funeral in T Bay last
week. Though I had only once had the pleasure of eating at the Hoito on one occasion, it was a great place to have an old fashioned home
style meal. I’ve never forgotten it, and as I was leaving the neighbourhood last week, the place came to memory. Though I’ve always lived south
near TO I have a small connection to the Whalen as I may have stated previously Rob. I used to be a member of the Toronto Marine Historical Society, and Capt Gerry Ouderkirk ( spell ) a major contributor to the society donated a rather large Marconi shortwave marine radio that I
dropped off at the tug on one of my many westbound trips to B.C. That was in the early days of the restoration just prior to opening the tug to
the public. Having owned a tug with a long history to Thunder Bay, the Glen G. for about 20 years, I’m well aware of the costs associated with
the upkeep involved. As tugs go, the JW wasn’t a good looking boat in my opinion, but one must remember that a tug is like a pipe wrench, it’s
their to do a tough job. Tugs wear out, and that’s the cycle of their life. The only way to preserve it is to make a dive attraction, as an alternative to
putting the torch to it. One final voyage ?
Thanks George! I met Capt. Ouderkirk a few times, great guy. I wish they could at least make a dive site out of her but the costs would be too much to get her off the dock and tow her out there.
@ Thanks Rob and George for your stories, until next time on your two YT channels Rob, have a nice Sunday.
Purple haired Robert Szczepanski ran for mayor in 2022 and said the James Whalen is a waste of money on this vanity project; i watched him say that in an interview. There was another person involved in the city parakeeted the same thing "vanity project" when he was interviewed. i looked at the candidate pics, running for some office in tbay of that 2nd guy and his family, wife, purple haired, can't remember his name. Hmmph, some of the most colorful fish [activists] in the sea are the most poisonous even to a steel boat.
Interesting, thanks Man!
Scuffy the Tugboat.
Ya, she's a little scuffed up...Thanks Man!
I was hoping they would clean her out a bit and put her on the bottom somewhere as a dive site. That wouldn't require any maintenance and would probably be cheaper than scrapping her. Shame to see such a piece of history turned into soup cans.
That would be cool for sure but it would cost a ton of money just to get her off the dock and tow her out there. Scrapping her in place is pretty cheap, it's the moving of her or parts to other locations that is the big cost. I personally don't think they could even get her off that dock. Getting a big enough crane down there to lift 300 tons would be a monumental task and I don't think that dock would even support a crane that big with 300 tons on it's hook LOL! It's old with holes in the concrete sitting on old wooden pilings. But it would be nice to be able to dive on her. Thanks Man!
The James Whalen is just another example of how the city council has failed its citizens. Get rid of them, starting with Giertuga.
It's not all City Counsel, it starts with bad management and people that keep their jobs no matter how many times they screw up and cost the tax payers money. After they screw up then they pass the buck to Counsel who looks bad with their final decision LOL! Thanks Man!
What an absolute shame.
Yep, effort gone to waste by incompetent management. Thanks Man!
@@OutdoorRob Yep, and Corey still has his job! Unbelievable!
Yep, it is unbelievable...
cant just tie shit up with no auto pumps.... they will sink if not looked after. just sad...
Very true, not sure why that was never thought of. Maybe they figured since it was mounted to the dock with steel brackets that it wouldn't need one? It is sad for sure. Thanks Thomas!
But the City said they checked it the night before it sunk and it was just fine! lol They blamed the sinking at a city council meeting two days later on the fact that "it got warm and it rained". Yikes!
LOL! Thanks Bob!
Iron always comes to its end. Looks like the hull is irreversible rusted.
It has some issues for sure. Thanks Man!
turn it into housing
I think some people lived on it...unofficially at one time, made a huge mess in there. Maybe sinking it in the river was a way to clean it up LOL! Too much upkeep at this point, she's done for. Thanks Kevin!