The Early Days
When Robert Scott Misener was a 14 year-old lad, the sea challenged his ambition and he joined the crew of a lumber schooner. From this time forward, the Misener name became synonymous with dependable performance and entrepreneurial success.
The corporations which were proudly associated with his name had their origin in a shipping company, founded in 1917 when Captain Scott Misener purchased the a share in the 1,000 ton wooden-hulled steamer OVERLAND. The OVERLAND was built in 1881 at Bay City, Michigan, as SAGINAW VALLEY. Two years later, in 1919, Misener sold his share and purchased the SIMON LANGELL in a partnership with John O. McKellar. She was of wooden construction also, and was built at St. Clair, Michigan by Simon Langell at his shipyard.
After operating the SIMON LANGELL for the better part of five years with Capt. Misener as Master and McKellar as Chief Engineer the pair sold the ship in 1923 to Langell Transportation Co.
Predicting that wooden ships would eventually give way to steel vessels, the third aquisition was the purchase of the first steel-hulled ship, the CLAREMONT, in 1921. With both men busy sailing the lakes they enlisted the brokerage and management company of Boland & Cornelius, of Buffallo to secure cargoes for them. The ship was kept busy with cargoes including coal, corn, wheat but the most common cargo was sugar.
By 1928 Misener and McKellar negotiated the financial backing of John J. Boland Jr., of Buffalo, N.Y.. With Boland's support the company was able to acquire more ships and become firmly established as a Great Lakes shipping company. Together they formed Sarnia Steamships Ltd. As they grew they were also joined by John North McWatters of Sarnia. His financial expertise helped carry them throough the depression years.
E.P. MURPHY in the old St. Lawrence Canals. (Gordon Macaulay)
By the 1940's and 1950's Misener had purchased and merged with other shipping companies expanding its fleet to 34 ships. By 1951 Sarnia Steamships Ltd. was absorbed by Colonial Steamships Ltd.
PAUL MANION entering the Canadian Soo Canal in early spring (Gordon Macaulay)
Colonial Steamships Ltd.
Colonial Steamships was formed with the purchase of the Mathews Steamship Company. The Mathews Steamship Company Ltd.. of Toronto had gone into receivership in 1932, was operated for one year by Toronto Elevators Ltd. prior to being sold by the liquidator (Frederick C. Clarkson) to Colonial Steamships Ltd. in 1933. The new aquisitions included the canal-sized freighters ARLINGTON, BROOKTON, EASTON, MALTON, NORTHTON, WIARTON, AND YORKTON along with Captain Misener's first upper lakes bulk carriers BAYTON, BERRYTON, LAKETON, MATHEWSTON, RIVERTON and ROYALTON. The "ton" suffix common to the ships of the Mathews fleet.
Not all ships sailed for Colonial Steamships Ltd. One was scapped (MALTON), and three were sold (WIARTON, BROOKTON and ARLINGTON).
The Colonial Steamship fleet was recognizable with their black stack with two silver bands. As soon as the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959 the Colonial named was changed and the fleet became known as Scott Misener Steamships Ltd.
Compass Record of Magnetic and Gyro Compass on Detroit, St. Clair and St. Mary's Rivers, both Up and Downbound
During the 1950's and 1960's, Misener further evolved into a recognized leader within the Canadian shipping industry, moving vast quantities of grain, iron ore and other bulk commodities throughout the Great Lakes in the country's industrial heart.
LT. JOHN MISENER departs Soulange Canal upbound (Gordon Macaulay)
BRAMPTON passes the Long Sault Rapids. Later flooded with the opening of the Seaway in 1959. (Gordon Macaulay)
More to information to come!
SCOTT MISENER (II)
The first contract for the new Port Weller Dry Docks l in 1950. The vessel was ordered by Captain R. Scott Misener for his Colonial Steamship Co. This was the initial step in the post war reconstruction of the fleet.
A gala ceremony heralded the completion of the vessel and it was christened SCOTT MISENER June 17, 1951. The ship, the largest ever built in Canada to that date, was soon at work for Misener in the ore, coal and grain trades. The next year it was noted as the first ship of the season to transit the Soo Locks opening the waterway April 2, 1952.
In 1954, with a new SCOTT MISENER under construction, this vessel was renamed JOHN E.F. MISENER. As such, it was named for one of the sons of Captain Misener.
The 199.3 metre long (654 foot) long JOHN E.F. MISENER was confined to the Great Lakes until the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959. After that the vessel made regular trips to St. Lawrence ports to deliver grain and take on ore.
During the fifth year of the Seaway, 1963, JOHN E.F. MISENER carried a total of 26 cargoes. Most, 13, were ore while 12 consisted of grain. The remaining payload was a shipment of coal from Toledo to the Canadian Lakehead.
In 1963 her ore was loaded at Port Arthur and Sept lies. Seven cargoes were delivered to Cleveland while others travelled to Huron, Ashtabula, Indiana Harbor, Detroit and Trenton, Michigan. Her grain went to Montreal, Baie Comeau, Quebec City, Trois Riveries, and Port McNicoll.
SCOTT MISENER at Thunder Bay. (Nelson Merrifield, courtesty Gene Oncbulenko)
But by 1982 the changing economic picture reduced available ore cargoes and only one of her 18 payloads that season was of that commodity. It travelled from Pointe Noire to Indiana Harbor. The freighter also hauled a single load of coke and this moved from South Chicago to Port Alfred, Quebec. The rest of her work was grain from Thunder Bay to a variety of ports.
This proved to be her last season and the ship tied up at Port McNicoll Dec. 15, 1982. She remained idle until a sale in 1986 and a tow down the lakes.
The JOHN E.F. MISENER, once the largest vessel built in Canada, ended up as scrap. She arrived at Mamonal, Columbia, October 28, 1986, and was broken up.
SCOTT MISENER (III)
The christening of the SCOTT MISENER May 26. 1954 at Port Weller Dry Docks
The third in the series of giant lake freighters for the Misener fleet was launched in 1954 as the SCOTT MISENER. She was, at 208.6 metres long (684.5 feet), slightly larger than her running mate the JOHN O. MCKELLAR and was soon making news around the Great Lakes.
On October 16, 1954, SCOTT MISENER topped the 800,000 bushel mark for the first time in Great Lakes history with a load of barley from Fort William to Port Colborne. She set other records including an ore mark at Buffalo August 24,1956, when she brought in 22,500 tons.
Many consider the SCOTT MISENER to be the best looking of the modern post war breed of lake freighters. She was well maintained, had classic lines and served her owners and their customers well for almost forty seasons. She was particularly stable in stormy weather and excellent in ice.
The fuel crisis of the early eighties made SCOTT MISENER a liability in that cost conscious period. Her steam turbine engine consumed large quantities of increasingly expensive fuel and her size was less than full Seaway dimension.
As a result, SCOTT MISENER tied up at Hamilton December 19, 1983, and did not resume trading until November 1, 1986. Studies to examine repowering and/or lengthening the ship were considered but she set sail without change.
SCOTT MISENER was used in the grain trade before sitting out the 1989 season. She finally received a new, second hand, steam turbine while idle and went back to work March 28,1990. But only three cargoes were carried before SCOTT MISENER tied up at Sorel at 3:45 a.m. May 13. The ship was sold for scrap and arrived at Alang, India, by October 31,1990, for dismantling.
RALPH S. MISENER in the flight locks at Thorold, Ontario
JOHN O. McKELLAR entering the Welland Canal from Lake Ontario
