Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Good Bye Lord Selkirk II



Lord Selkirk II rusting away.



River Rouge and it snazzy blue colours.



Paddlewheel Princess.



Paddlewheel Queen.



There was a time when you could watch the River Rouge, Paddlewheel Queen, Paddle Wheel Princess and Lord Selkirk II ply the Red and sometimes the Assiniboine Rivers.

The Lord Selkirk II has not sailed the rivers or Lake Winnipeg since 1986. The ship has sat rusting around Selkirk for ten years. Now, it has been announced that the ship that once carried the Queen will be scrapped and sold for its metal parts.

The ship, commissioned in 1970, cruised Lake Winnipeg for many years. It was a majestic ship but at some point, new owners decided to make a go of it in competition with the river boats that did short afternoon and evening tours around Winnipeg. It proved too hard a task to make money at and the ship was retired.

Now, the three remaining river boats in Winnipeg have had to contend with high waters that have made their seasons even shorter.

It has become a regular occurrence that the ships cannot even cruise through most of the city.

Let's hope that the fate of the Lord Selkirk II doesn't befall any of the others ships.

There is a site dedicated to the Lord Selkirk II here.

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4 comments:

Christian Cassidy said...

Right now the Paddlewheel and River Rouge are stuck in Selkirk because the Lockport Dam is still open due to high water levels. They won't be making too much money this year.

John Dobbin said...

I don't know how long our riverboats can last with year over year high water.

It really is sad.

Anonymous said...

If there sitting there. Not making any money. It's because of the poor, advertising. I have been going down there, for three weeks. No ones ever around. Called the number on the website. It's just a message. Said it was leaving from the Alexander docks.umm yeah ok. If they were having tours. You would never know it. You would never know it. There are also no signs down there, telling you when. Oh but once there was sign, that read 10 dollars for a ride. But no one was around. Does anyone have a schedule.

John Dobbin said...

I didn't realize it was that bad trying to arrange for a boat ride.