Imperial Oil Tankers

ROYALITE upbound Bridge 1 Welland Canal April 20, 1932. (courtesy Geny Ascroft Sr.)

ROYALITE, launched December 15,1915, for Imperial Oil, made history as the first tanker to be built in Canada. The vessel was intended for the Great Lakes trade but headed to sea in 1916 due to the demands of World War One. She was based at Halifax while on the coast and did make some transatlantic runs.

The 258 foot (78.6 metre) tanker returned to the inland seas before heading back to the Atlantic for World War Two duty. In the post war years she experienced both freshwater and saltwater sailing.
Imperial renamed their liquid cargo carriers in 1947 and ROYALITE became the IMPERIAL WELLAND. A year later the vessel received major damage in a grounding accident on a shoal near Canso, Nova Scotia. The ship lost her rudder and had extensive bottom damage.

Fortunately,she was without cargo and there was no spill or pollution danger.From 1957 to 1963, IMPERIAL WELLAND was based at Montreal as a bunkering vessel. There she refuelled a variety of ships from cargo carriers to passenger liners. Her final days were spent back on the Great Lakes and she left for the last time in April 1965. After unloading at Kingston, Ontario, the vessel sailed for the St. Lawrence.

Sold for scrap, a tug took IMPERIAL WELLAND and IMPERIAL SIMCOE and headed overseas late in the summer of 1965. The tow line broke twice enroute to Santander, Spain, but the ships were retrieved and they arrived safely October 13, 1965. After forty-nine years of service, the longest in Imperial Oil history, ROYALITE/IMPERIAL WELLAND was cut up for scrap.

IOCOLITE survives as a barge. (Great Lakes Graphics)

IOCOLITE is another of the early Collingwood hulls still in service in 1992. She was launched April 29, 1916, for Imperial Oil.
This canal-sized, 258 foot (78.6 metre) tanker was in Great Lakes service from September to December 1916 and then left the inland seas for coastal trading. One of her first trips in the Maritimes was to St. John's, Newfoundland, probably in early 1917. IOCOLITE was met with a big celebration as she was the first bulk oil carrier to dock there.

IOCOLITE traded up and down the east coast of North America and ventured as far as Mexico. There were occasional trips to the Great Lakes for variety and, during World War Two one of her main tasks was hauling aviation fuel to Goose Bay, Labrador.

Imperial renamed this vessel IMPERIAL KINGSTON in 1947 and she spend the next decade as a "clean oil" tanker on the Great Lakes. A new pilothouse was added in 1950 and, on retirement in 1957, this was removed and installed on IMPERIAL CORNWALL.

IMPERIAL KINGSTON was sold for scrap to Marine Salvage in 1958. But she got a reprieve and was re-sold to A.B. McLean and Sons of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and rebuilt there as a barge in I960.

The ship was reduced in length to 236 feet (71.9 metres) and is still operating as the CHARLES W. JOHNSON. She is used to lighter grounded freighters or haul various cargoes. She carried lumber from Thunder Bay to Chicago in 1984 and has even travelled down the Seaway. However, the veteran Collingwood product still spends most of her time on the upper Great Lakes.

SARNOLITE operated on and off of the Great Lakes. (Earl D. Simzer Collection courtesy George Ayoub)

The third consecutive sister ship tanker for Imperial Oil was christened SARNOLITE. She was launched September 27, 1916. Like the others, this vessel was 258 feet (78.6 metres) long and could carry just over 20,000 barrels of petroleum products.

There were various duties assigned to SARNOLITE. In the early years she operated on the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with stops included at Tampico, Mexico, and Cuba. She also sailed between Saint John, N.B., and New York, N.Y., and even Halifax to France late in World War One. During the twenties and thirties, SARNOLITE was used as the fleet training ship.

SARNOLITE was in and out of the Great Lakes. She was often ordered to carry bunker oil and became known as "the dirty ship" because of the nature of these cargoes.

Imperial renamed her IMPERIAL SARNIA in 1947 and IMPERIAL HAMILTON in 1948 when a new, and larger, IMPERIAL SARNIA was built. The vessel received a new pilothouse at Port Dalhousie during the winter of 1951-52. This structure outlived the vessel and later served as the Pilothouse Museum at Corunna, Ontario.

On September 4, 1961, IMPERIAL HAMILTON caught fire at Sarnia and was badly damaged. She was retired, sold, converted to a barge and eventually used as a breakwater. In 1970 her remains were cut up for scrap.

WINDSOLITE in 1936

WINDSOLITE April 1, 1938

Three Imperial Oil tankers opening navigation on the Welland Canal at Port Colborne April 1, 1938

ACADIALITE/SIMCOELITE at Port Colborne March 29, 1938

ACADIALITE (47), (b) IMPERIAL CORNWALL (154480). 1930 Furness S.B.Co., Ltd., Haverton Hill-on-Tees. 250 x 43.2 x 17,7. Gross 1969, net 1042. In service. Transferred 1969 to Halifax bunkering service.

IMPERIAL CORNWALL in the Welland Canal on April 1, 1955

IMPERIAL LONDON entering Lock One of the Welland Canal on Noveember 6, 1956

IMPERIAL LONDON (173214). 1948 Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. 252.1 x 43.5 x 17.7. Gross 2130, net 1409. Lengthened by 41.6 at Montreal 1961. Gross 2533, net 1612. Lengthened 30.0 with new bow and stern at Sorel 1967-68. Gross 2618, net 1669.

IMPERIAL SIMCOE leaving Muir Bros Dry Dock on March 21, 1957, after wintering in Port Dalhousie. The ship is shown entering Lock One of the Third Welland Canal. A swing bridge was used on the roadway to allow the ships to access Muir Bros Dry Dock.

IMPERIAL COLLINGWOOD

April 29, 1972

IMPERIAL BEDFORD. 1969 Davie Shipbuilding Ltd., Lauzon, Que. 460 x 70 x 33.3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1936