What Made It Go Tonnage (Gross Registered Ton) 3,856 BUILDER: Fairfi eld Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Govan, YARD NUMBER: 453 CONSTRUCTION: Steel and iron COMMISSIONED: February 20, 1907 LAUNCHED: July 6, 1907 - berth 6 350 ft. LENGTH: (106.68m ) BEAM: 43.8 ft. (13.35m ) DRAFT: 16 ft. (4.87m ) DEPTH: 26 ft. (7.92m ) Reaching a top speed of 14 knots, the Keewatin ran on a quadruple-expansion SPEED: 14 Knots (16m or 26km/hr reciprocating steam engine, which employed double-acting cylinders of ) progressively increasing diameter and/or stroke, which divided the work of HORSE POWER: 3300 IHP the engine into four equal portions for each expansion stage. The result was a smoother faster-responding engine that offered less vibration and was more PROPULSION: Single Screw desirable for large passenger ships. Quadruple Expansion Reciprocating

The Keewatin’s Scotch boiler design allowed hot fl ue gases to pass through Steam Engine and 4 Coal-fi red tubes in a tank of water and used multiple separate furnaces to create heating areas for the furnace’s capacity—for more effi cient operation. Scotch Boilers The single screw propeller—which transmitted power from rotational motion DEPARTED SCOTLAND: to thrust—had fi xed blades rotating around a horizontal axis or propeller shaft. September 14, 1907

Single Propeller The Great Lakes Fleet Canadian Pacific Railways was continuing to expand their steamship fleet, having previously purchased theAlberta , the Athabasca, and the Algoma from one of Fairfield’s competitors.

While CPR executives knew the ships that would become the S.S. Keewatin and her sister ship, the S.S. Assiniboia, were too long to be transported up the Lake Erie canals, the company had previously cut ships in half for transport and successfully reassembled them. With their length not an impediment to purchase, CPR agreed to buy the ships to add to their Great Lakes passenger fleet.

House flag of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company

By 1916, Canadian Pacific Railroad made the decision to allow the newer, more modern Manitoba, Assiniboia and Keewatin to deal with the more demanding passenger trade, while the older Athabasca and Alberta would provide freight-only service. S.S. Keewatin 5 5 Restored to Its Former Glory Elegantly Appointed and Furnished by the T. Eaton Company Travellers could fi nd sustenance for the body and soul in a fully-furnished Edwardian dining room, complete with fi ne china place settings, sterling silver and high quality linens. The menu is said to have equalled that of some of the fi nest hotels in the country.

The Flower Pot Lounge boasted a grand piano and, for more than a decade of the ship’s operation, high-quality furnishing from the T. Eaton Company. It served as a comfortable space for relaxing and entertainment. A similarly appointed lounge was designated just for the ladies. The scenic majesty of Georgian Bay and blue waters of Lake Superior could be viewed in gracious comfort from the Panoramic Room on the stern, a space that could be artfully transformed into a ballroom for music and dancing in the evening. The bar featured marvellously carved walls and panels, perfect for inspiring scintillating conversations. Always in Excellent Taste Throughout its service, the S.S. Keewatin featured outstanding art and design by important artists and artisans. A revolving collection of work from well-known Canadian illustrators and artists was exhibited on public area walls. Too, travellers could marvel at the large and brilliantly coloured collection of stained glass panels acquired by the builders from Murano, Italy in 1907 and used in skylights in both the dining area and main cabin lounge. Created in Owen Sound in in 1908, by a Swedish artist, hand-carved wooden wall panels in the Men’s lounge depicted the international origins of passengers who sailed on Canadian Pacifi c’s ships. Various salons featured custom-built oak and mahogany cabinetry and the staircases boasted exquisite iron work.

18 19 LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! The S.S. Keewatin served as a prominent location setting for “Murdoch Ahoy”, the seventh season premiere of the long- running period drama series , originally aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and produced by Shaftesbury Films. Filmed in early June 2013, the episode starred Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch, the character tasked with investigating threats made against the passenger ship’s owner. Additional cast members included Hélène Joy as Dr. Julia Ogden, Thomas Craig as Inspector Thomas Brackenreid, Jonny Harris as Constable George Crabtree and Georgina Reilly as Dr. Emily Grace. The fi lming also required roughly 100 extras, with many drawn from local communities.

“I had no idea that so many steamships existed at the turn of the century, and that there’s literally none left but this one. That kind of blew my mind… we’re able to walk around in it and see it and… shoot on it. So much of it is still historically accurate.”

Yannick Bisson, star of the CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries, The Midland Mirror, June 5, 2013

Murdoch Mysteries photos courtesy of Shaftesbury Studios. © 2013 Shaftesbury Murdoch VII Inc. The Keewatin Takes a Starring Role Bring Her on Home Shaftesbury has been making Murdoch Mysteries for over a decade. The television When I fi rst learned about the S.S. Keewatin in 2011, the ship’s unique place in series, which is based on the novels by Maureen Jennings, is set in and Canadian history fascinated me. When I found out that the ship was about to be Southern at the turn of the last century. One of the challenges of fi lming repatriated back to Canada, I knew this was a story that needed to be documented Murdoch is fi nding locations that are true to the time. So much of our physical and shared with all Canadians. history is gone. As arrangements were already being made to move the ship from Michigan back Seen all over the world, the cases that Detective Murdoch investigates take him to to Ontario there wasn’t enough time to secure broadcaster funding to produce the all manner of places - towns, the countryside – travelling on horse, bike, train and fi lm ahead of time. But I knew this moment in history was too important to miss. automobile. But in 2010, our characters had not travelled by ship. Supported by the team returning “the Kee”, I was fortunate enough to put together a team of writers, fi lmmakers and editors who were prepared, as I was, to work on To our delight, we discovered the Keewatin. A ship built at the time of the the project gratis in the hope of recouping our investment after the production sitting in dock in Port McNicoll. That she had been preserved was a result of the was complete. enormous efforts of so many. Several months of fi lming followed, including the perilous 600-mile journey So, we made our very own Titanic episode. Filming on the Keewatin, under the home. On a beautiful June day in 2012, the S.S. Keewatin’s homecoming to Port watchful eye of Eric Conroy (who in our episode plays the Captain), we were able to McNicoll was the highpoint of fi lming. Six months of post-production followed and shoot scenes that made the audiences believe that the ship was indeed travelling the completed one-hour fi lm was licensed to CBC Documentary Channel, where (though it never left dock). Like the Titanic, in our episode, there is an accident it ran in regular rotation for three years. While recouping only a portion of our and the ship sinks. Our wonderful visual effects team built a replica model and we investment, every one of us was proud to have been a part of the team that shared staged the sinking. All “fi lm magic”. this great moment in history.

Rarely do we get opportunities to fi lm in or on such a magnifi cent location. And The S.S. Keewatin still has a special place in my heart and I marvel at the wonderful my hope is that we were able to bring to life a bit of the story of the Keewatin. And engineering and craftsmanship that went into building this beautiful ship. Every that Canadians and visitors from around the world, can take pride that this ship, an year, I come to visit “the Kee” and I’m impressed by the hard work of the volunteers important part of our global heritage has been saved – in all its glory. who continuously maintain and renovate the ship. Like them, it is my hope that “the Kee” will live on forever so that future generations can see, touch and feel the Visit the Keewatin often. Tell friends and family about her. She deserves this honour. magical history of the Keewatin.

Christina Jennings John Fulford-Brown CEO - Shaftesbury Producer & Director

27 STEEL and STEAM Written by K. Corey Keeble, Royal Ontario Museum Curator Emeritus The RMS Titanic – and the linage of the SS Keewatin It is here that the story of the Titanic is interleaved with the history of Canada’s rail and maritime networks, principally in terms of the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the transcontinental At the time of its sinking, the Titanic was the newest, largest, most luxurious passenger liner on railway it built from 1881 to 1885, and the CPR’s development, first of passenger steamship service the Atlantic. Until the fatal 11:40pm collision with an iceberg on the night of 14 April, 1912, the on the Great Lakes, and subsequently, a global transportation network of railways, shipping lines, air Titanic was also regarded as the safest – believed by many to be unsinkable. In 1912, the Titanic services, and truck transports. seemed to represent the greatest triumph of modern science and technology over the world of nature, the perfect realization of the grandest aspirations of the Industrial Revolution, which had brought so much of the world into an age of mass production in the great stages of maturation of The Symbolism of the S.S. Keewatin the Machine Age during the first decades of the 20th century. Keewatin means “Blizzard from the North” in the Cree language Among the Titanic’s passengers were Canadian citizens returning to Canada, visitors to Canada, Here, the S.S. Keewatin will function as a powerful symbol of Canada’s evolution as a nation, a process and immigrants seeking to settle in Canada and build new lives for themselves. Both Alan Hustak accelerated by Confederation in 1867, by the founding of the CPR to unite Canada from to sea in 1998, and Lanny Boutin in 2006, have made important contributions in documenting these by a transcontinental railway line, and by the beginning in 1883, of CPR passenger service on the individuals, whose importance extends beyond the history of the Titanic to add detail and dimension Great Lakes culminating in the 1907 construction and survival of the S.S. Keewatin, sole survivor th to Canada’s growing national and international importance in the early years of the 20 century, of the CPR’s fleet of passenger ships, survivor indeed of the art and science of shipbuilding in a while Michael Dupuis has provided important details concerning connections between the Titanic visual, tangible three dimension sense, very different from the records provided by photographs. The passengers and the province of Manitoba. Lusitania is gone! The Mauretania is gone! The Olympic, Titanic and Britannic are gone! The once Among the First Class passengers were citizens from , Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. flourishing passenger steamship services of the Great Lakes are gone. The Keewatin, however, survives! Passengers from Montreal included American-born Charles M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Built for the CPR in 1907 by Scotland’s Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited Railway and resident of Montréal from 1896, Harry M. Molson, Mr. and Mrs. H.J.C. Allison and near Govan and Glasgow on the River Clyde, the Keewatin was launched on 6 July, 1907, with her family, the Baxters and the Davidsons. Toronto passengers included Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen maiden voyage to Canada on 14 September, 1907, and in service on the Great Lakes in 1908. The and J.J. Borebank. A surprisingly large number of First Class passengers came from Winnipeg – ship was retired in 1965, saved from destruction and operated as a museum ship at Douglas Michigan Thomson Beattie, Mr. and Mrs. A.A. Dick, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Fortune and family and John H. and now, returned to Port McNicoll in Canada in 2012. The S.S. Keewatin is a Canadian and an Ross. Passenger E. P. Colley was a mining broker in Victoria, BC. Among the Second and Third international icon of unique historical importance, a powerful visual symbol of Canadian identity, of Class passengers were emigrants from Finland, England, Germany, Ireland, Lebanon, Norway, and Canadian progress within the context of Confederation, of technological progress, of the shaping of Turkey heading for towns and cities in , Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Canadian and world culture through the forces of the Industrial Revolution, of a high point of the era British Columbia. of steam, iron and steel which formed the firm foundations which have led, inevitably, to the collective The list of passengers from and coming to Canada was proof of the interconnection of means reality of the entire world as we know to today. of transportation emerging out of the technology of the Industrial Revolution. The principal The year 2012 was also the 100th anniversary of the CPR’s decision to relocate the eastern terminus forms of transportation involved were trains and ships. Passengers from or heading to Manitoba, of its former Upper Lakes passenger ship service from Owen Sound to Port McNicoll. It also marked Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia travelled by train on land and by ship on the oceans the 47th anniversary of the final scheduled sailing of the CPR’s S.S. Keewatin in 1965, and its return and the Great Lakes. to Port McNicoll 0n 23 June, 2012, after serving from 1967 as a museum ship at Douglas, Michigan.

RMS Titanic RMS Mauretania RMS Olympic

2 S.S. Keewatin - Steel & Steam The Intersecting Origins of the RMS Titanic and the S.S. Keewatin THE S.S. KEEWATIN RETURNS TO CANADA There are numerous fascinating areas where Canadian events interleave and overlap with those On Saturday, 23 June, 2012, an extraordinary event took place at Port McNicoll, Ontario. Throughout of the Titanic, the Belfast shipyard where it was built and with the history of the CPR, its own the morning and into the early afternoon thousands of people gathered to witness an event unique involvement in a wide range of forms of transportation including ships and shipping and specifically in Canadian history. An estimated crowd of 7,000 individuals gathered on the shore at the former the S.S. Keewatin. CPR ship terminal and 1,000 more were in hundreds of small craft in the harbour. Accompanying In 1907, J. Bruce Ismay, chairman and managing director of the , dined with the vast flotilla with media personalities on board was the former CPR diesel tugboat Prescotont and Lord William James Pirrie, chairman of the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. Harland the sightseeing tour boat Miss Midland. Above, helicopters were circling constantly. & Wolff, founded in 1861, was not only the builder of all the White Star Line’s ships, but along A choir and pipe band were among the thousands gathered on land, and there were politicians, with other shipyards in England and Scotland was a major shipbuilder of international, world members of the RCMP and OPP. Primary responsibility for what was about to take place were the wide repute. Pirrie was no native Briton. Although his parents were Irish, William James Pirrie was representatives of Skyline International Development Inc. Canadian by birth, born in the province of Quebec in 1847. His father died in 1849 and the family What was about to happen had been carefully orchestrated. Volunteers were available to help with went back to Ireland. Pirrie joined Harland & Wolff in 1862, rising quickly to become a partner in crowd control. A shuttle bus service had been organized to carry visitors from Midland and there the firm and eventually chairman of the firm. For his services he was awarded the title of Viscount. were tents to provide shade, concessions to provide food and drink to the hungry and thirsty as Ismay and Pirrie’s discussions led to the design and construction by Harland & Wolff of three ships the hours passed, locations for the acquisition of souvenirs. The preparations had been excellent for the White Star Line, the Olympic, the Titanic and the Britannic ( Allegedly the third of the trio and now, all that remained was to keep watchful eyes on the horizon in anticipation of something was to be called Gigantic but was changed after the Titanic disaster.). The Titanic sank after striking unique in the history of Canada. an iceberg in the Atlantic on the night of 14 April, 1912. Approximately forty minutes before 2:30pm, distant shapes appeared, becoming clearer and While all the great Atlantic liners of the pre-World War I generation have vanished, that superbly more distinct as they moved closer and closer toward the thousands gathered as witnesses to and elegant passenger ship, the S.S. Keewatin - one of the two built for the CPR in 1907 for service on participants in something not seen in Port McNicoll since the mid-1960s. Those distant forms the Great Lakes, has survived while its former companion passenger steamship, the S.S. Assiniboia, on the horizon came closer and closer, now recognizable as two tugboats and a ship with a white was destroyed by fire in 1969. painted hull and upper-works, two elegantly raked masts and a slender, raked buff funnel. As the Their construction occurred in the same year that the Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania white painted hull was gently moved into position at the dockside of the former CPR terminal, the entered transatlantic services. The Keewatin’s 1907 sea trials were in the same area as the Lusitania’s name on the starboard bow could be seen clearly, with letters that spelled KEEWATIN. and it was in that same year that J. Bruce Ismay and Lord Pirrie sat down to dinner to discuss The choir sang, the band played, the crowd cheered! The S.S. Keewatin, lovingly preserved at committing the resources of Harland & Wolff to the construction of the threeOlympic class liners. Douglas Michigan since 1967, had, through the beneficence of Roland J. Peterson, who had saved In 1908, the same year that the Keewatin and Assiniboia entered service, the keel of the Olympic was the Keewatin from the scrap yard in the 1960s, and the astuteness of Eric Conroy and Skyline laid down at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard, the laying of the keel of the Titanic following on International Development working together with Mr. Peterson, returned to Canada, returned to 31 March, 1909. Port McNicoll. As noted, 2012, the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic was also the 100th anniversary of the transfer of CPR passenger service on the Great Lakes from Owen Sound to Port McNicoll, the The Voyage Home 47th anniversary of the Keewatin’s last departure from the Port McNicoll dock and the celebration of its return to its former home port where it is now permanently docked, a marvel to behold, a The two American tugboats, American Girl and Wendy Anne, which towed the Keewatin into the unique survivor of the Edwardian era, a cultural treasure of the greatest importance to Canada, the harbour at Port McNicoll had begun their journey after Skyline Developments, which had bought Canadian people and indeed to the world. the Keewatin, and had organized dredging operations along Michigan’s Kalamazoo River to provide

At the dock in Sagatuck, Michigan Travelling home down the Kalamazoo River The Keewatin towed by the American Girl and Wendy Anne

S.S. Keewatin - Steel & Steam 3