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Foul play on the Seaway?

In 1535, Jacques Cartier stood on Mount Royal looking down in despair at the Lachine Rapids that barred his further progress inland along the St. Lawrence River. It wasn't until 1954 that a formal agreement between Canada and the U.S. finally made the St. Lawrence Seaway possible. Heralded as a marvel of engineering when it opened in 1959, the Seaway has been hit by environmental problems and hard economic times over the last two decades. What lies ahead for the Seaway?

The Windoc freighter is stopped dead in its tracks at the Welland Canal when the bridge crashes down on top of the ship before it passes through. Its wheelhouse, the nerve centre of the grain ship, is sheered off, and the vessel veers out of control until the crew drop anchor. However, the danger is far from over. In this CBC Television clip, amateur footage shot by a local resident captures the ship bursting into flames.

An overnight struggle begins as firefighters work to keep the fire from reaching the fuel tanks and prevent an explosion. The next morning, the fire still burns, as the Canal is blocked by the crippled, smouldering ship. Local residents suspect human error on the part of those operating the Canal. "I don't know how you don't see a laker like that coming. It's just beyond me," said John Crooker, the man who shot the amateur footage.
• The crash shut down the Welland Canal for several days before the ship was eventually removed from the water.
• Immediately after the crash, the federal Transport Safety Board launched an investigation and released its findings in January, 2003. The Board discovered that the lift-bridge operator on duty that day, who was called into work on his day off, had taken painkillers and drank several glasses of wine before showing up for work.

• Upon the release of the Transport Safety Board's report, N.M. Patterson and Sons Ltd., owners of the destroyed Windoc, launched a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the operators of the canal, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Company.
• The first Welland Canal opened in 1833 and was made up of 40 wooden locks. The current-day Canal (the fourth version) was completed in 1932 and runs 43.5 km in length.

• During its first few weeks in operation in 1959 several major traffic jams slowed down traffic along the St. Lawrence Seaway, as foreign ships and their crews were not familiar with the operations of the various canals.
Medium: Television
Program: Sunday Report
Broadcast Date: Aug. 12, 2001
Guest(s): Matt Bering, Jim Crooker
Host: Ben Chin
Reporter: David Common
Duration: 3:01

Last updated: April 25, 2013

Page consulted on April 25, 2013

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