IMO 5288956 - She was built at the Yarrows Shipyard at Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada for the Northern Transportation Line as RADIUM YELLOWKNIFE. Upon completion she was disassembled, and trucked over 1,500 kms to Waterways, Alberta (now Fort McMurray). There she was re-assembled and launched into the waters of the Clearwater River where it meets the Athabasca River on 18 August 1948.
She then sailed northward along the Athabasca River to Lake Athabasca then further north along the Slave River destined for Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories.. Upon arrival there she was dragged over a land portage to Great Slave Lake where she entered service pushing barges and delivering cargo northward along the Mackenzie River to Great Bear Lake and as far north as the Beaufort Sea. At 31,153 square kilometers, Great Bear Lake is almost as large as Lake Superior; which is 31,700 square kilometers. Much of the cargo handled by the tugs and barges of the Northern Transportation Line was shipped northwards over the Northern Alberta Railway from Edmonton to Fort McMurray.
In 1999 RADIUM YELLOWKNIFE was purchased by Norlake Transportation and she sailed from the Mackenzie River through the Northwest Arctic Passage with 9 former RADIUM barges in tow which had also been purchased by Norlake. With the early winter setting in, she was forced to spend the winter of 1999/2000 at Iqaluit, Nunavut. In 2000 she resumed her voyage eastward then south destined for the Great Lakes arriving at the Welland Canal on 11 September 2000.
The tug DOUG McKEIL assisted RADIUM YELLOWKNIFE from Montreal to Port Colborne, with her 9 barge tow. RADIUM 604 was carrying RADIUM 625 and RADIUM 603, RADIUM 623 was carrying RADIUM 610 and RADIUM 631 while RADIUM 611 was carrying RADIUM 607 and RADIUM 617. They were destined for Thunder Bay where they were to be used to haul timber products.
Today RADIUM YELLOWKNIFE continues to find occasional work on the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. |