THUNDER BAY – The Alexander Henry is one step away from charting a course for home.
Council will decide on Monday whether to approve up to the $125,000 required to return the former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker to Thunder Bay, where it would be utilized as a tourist attraction.
The ship, which was built by the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company in 1959 and broke the ice in the Great Lakes until its decommissioning in 1984, was featured by the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston but was displaced when that property was sold last year.
The Lakehead Transportation Museum Society since last fall has been spearheading the push to return the icebreaker, an effort that has been budgeted at $250,000. Total costs to tow the ship across the Great Lakes and prepare its mooring site range from $290,000 to $320,000.
Charlie Brown, the group’s president, said the greenlight from Thunder Bay city council will start the engine on the relocation.
“Once we have the funds released, we can start setting up the contracts for the actual tow and put that whole thing into effect,” Brown said. “Then we can do site preparation and get it ready for actually opening it up to the public.”
Along with the contribution from the city, Kingston has pitched in $50,000, a private sponsor has pledged another $50,000, the museum society is targeting fundraising of $50,000 and a funding application to the province through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation is pursuing $150,000.
The resolution before council recommends any financing exceeding the anticipated capital costs be reimbursed to the city.
If council approves the funding, Brown said the tow from Picton, Ont. to Thunder Bay would likely happen in mid-July, taking about seven days.
The business plan submitted by the transportation museum society anticipated 7,000 visitors aboard the ship in the first year and a net profit of nearly $15,000.
Brown said utilization plans include Haunted Ship Nights during the Halloween season, along with special events and private functions.
“We will certainly set up different types of tours on the ship. We’ve got a whole bunch of different events lined up,” Brown said.
“Long-term goals, it was used as a bed and breakfast down in Kingston a number of years ago and once we get it up here and do our investigative work on the ship itself then we’ll be looking at possibly opening it up as a bed and breakfast again down the line.”
City administration is recommending the ship be moored at the Kaministiquia River Heritage Park, though the museum society desired the former Pool Six site. According to the report from city administration, the Thunder Bay Port Authority would have required the city to provide protection against liability to consider allowing the ship to be docked at Pool Six.
Brown said there are advantages and disadvantages to both locations, with the Kam River park already home to the James Whalen tugboat and VIA Rail car.
“The Kam River site is a beautiful site,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, it does have a little bit of a poor reputation which we would have to improve. There are artifacts down there that have been left deteriorating. We’re looking at the long-term goal, which is to take them over and restore them. There’s a lot of potential in the site and it can immediately be used right away.”
