On Saturday, when I was in Iroquois, I noticed a ship out on the river, so I made my way down to the lock to watch it pass through.
At the lock, there is a billboard with information about the lock, showing its position in the St. Lawrence Seaway system. According to the sign, the lock is 934 feet between gates and 80 feet wide. The largest ship it can accommodate is 730 feet long, with a 75 foot, 6 inch beam. Looking down at the lock from the viewing area, it appears mighty narrow. It is hard to credit that the incoming ship is going to fit.
Here she comes! Not only does the ship fit into the lock, it glides right through as if the Captain knew just what he was doing. Probably he does know just what he is doing.
When I was a youngster, we would occasionally have a family outing and picnic down by the Welland Canal. There, ships are lifted or lowered in each lock in the system as they bypass the abrupt water level change at Niagara Falls. As the water level doesn’t need to be adjusted here, the ship is able to continue straight through the lock without stopping. As the entrance gate closes behind the ship, the exit gate opens.
The lock gift shop/ snack bar was open and outside was a sign listing the ships passing through the lock for the day, and whether they are travelling upstream or down. The Pineglen, the second ship of four listed, was headed upstream, bound for Lake Ontario. There was a small turnout of ship-watchers on hand to witness her passage.
So if my calculations are right, the pilot of that largest-possible ship has a leeway on either side of 2’3″. And I’m nervous about learning to drive a car?
While on our travels, E.g. and I have frequently chosen to picnic at a lock — clean, quiet, educational, and occasionally exciting!
It does seem snug, doesn’t it? I wonder if he can parallel park?
As a former resident of Iroquois thanks for sharing. Brings back memories of my buddies and I bicycling out to the viewpoint for the day and shipwatching.
I also watched this set of locks being constructed. Will try to post some pics on my blog in the next little while.
Best
Steve
Steve, it would be interesting to see pictures of the construction underway. I hope you can post some!
So if the lock isn’t for raising or lowering the ship, what exactly does it do? I thought the whole purpose of lock systems was to move boats/ships through water bodies of different elevations.
It’s incredible the precision and control that captains have over their ships. You’d think something like that would be so unwieldy as to require a large buffer on each side. Certainly I feel that way with my canoe, and it’s a lot smaller! ;)
I wondered about the lock, too, Seabrooke; maybe it’s for regulating the traffic?
Oh, and around here, in Saint John, the “buffers” are called tugboats! There’s also a pilot boat: it carries a Harbour Pilot — someone who really knows this particular harbour — out to a ship, where s/he will board the ship and bring it in to the wharf. Cool or what?
But how they manage those skinny little canals, I dunno. Gotta admire their expertise.
Seab, Waterjay, Boy! You guys want details! Unfortunately, I can only give you limited information. Prior to the construction of the Seaway, ships were halted at Montreal by the impassable Lachine Rapids, and between Montreal and Iroquois, the International Rapids. Ships used to come east from the Great Lakes as far as Prescott, where goods were forwarded to Montreal. A system of locks, canals and shipping channels allows ships to now move all the way from Montreal to the Great Lakes, but the more exact details as to why a lock or a canal is used in a particular spot, I don’t know. 2009 is the 50th anniversary of the Seaway and a spate of new books are coming out on its history. I’ll have to read up on it, because obviously…inquiring minds want to know!
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[…] small town of Iroquois gets a mention in the opening pages of Notebooks, as McLean stops to watch a ship go through the locks. One of my favorite ‘place’ stories from Notebooks was ‘The Tall Grass Prairie […]