The Ss North Coaster, One of Three

CHAPTER 10 The s.s. North Coaster, one of three “B” Type coasters owned and operated by Clarke THE QUEBEC NORTH SHORE, NEWFOUNDLAND AND CHARTERING The 1950s would see an economic boom along the Quebec North Shore, and the fleet serving this coast now consisted of the North Shore, North Pioneer and North Coaster, and the North Gaspé by winter. Clarke was well placed to take part in this growth. Equally, with Newfoundland having become part of Canada in 1949, the Gulfport and Novaport formed the core of the company's service to Canada's tenth province. But Clarke ships alone would not be able to satisfy the demand. Clarke ships had always carried both passengers and cargo, but the latter was now becoming increasingly more important. In addition to general cargo, project cargo would flow to the mining and power developments springing up in Quebec and Labrador and consumer traffic would grow to Newfoundland, while backhaul cargoes would be loaded for delivery to Port Alfred, Quebec, Trois Rivières and Montreal. To serve these markets, more ships would soon have to be chartered in to supplement the core fleet. While the late 1940s had often seen Clarke chartering its ships to others, the 1950s would turn out to be Clarke's biggest period by far for chartering ships from other owners. From early days the company had been active in chartering vessels as required for its various scheduled and non- scheduled services. These ships were normally paid for on the basis of a negotiated amount of charter hire per day, called time charter, although there were occasions when the company would engage ships for a lump sum for delivery of a certain cargo on a voyage charter. The first Clarke charters were the wooden-hulled A Tremblay, which it ran to the Gaspé coast, and the Government steamer Aranmore, taken on within months of the company's formation to replace a fire-damaged North Shore. Clarke had also chartered the Sable I before eventually buying the company that owned her. And when the first North Shore went aground in 1933, it chartered the Anticosti Shipping Co's Fleurus to run to the North Shore for the remainder of the season. In the 1930s, Clarke began to charter a number of auxiliary motor schooners, or goélettes. These included the Père Arnaud, which, starting in 1936, it had used in its North Shore service as far as Blanc-Sablon, and Desgagnés' Mont-St-Joseph, which it advertised to the North Shore as Baie Comeau was being developed in 1937. In 1936, local owners had met in Quebec to form the Sailing and Motorship Owners Association, chiefly to give themselves more voice with government. Changing its name to the St Lawrence Shipowners Association in 1950, all the important goélette owners became members. But as each owner negotiated charters individually, the Association had no real commercial role. Clarke had also begun to charter many canallers. First among these was the Winona, which had worked together with the New Northland to St John's in the autumn of 1934. And when the passenger-only North Star replaced the Gaspesia to Prince Edward Island and the Maritimes in 1938, first the Keystate and Trevisa, and then in the following year the Birchton, Cedarton and Oakton, had been chartered in to handle the cargo requirement. Since the war, canallers had also been used to offer the first Newfoundland sailings from Montreal each spring as Clarke ships that had been south for the winter were still making their way back to the St Lawrence. Chartering activity would expand so greatly in the 1950s that it would come to include many conventional coasters, from both British and Canadian owners. These vessels were used mainly, although not exclusively, for service to Newfoundland. Varying in arrangement, many were typically British, with bridge amidships and engine aft. Others had midships superstructures, while most of the Canadian vessels, both conversions and newly-built, had aft superstructures. Although canallers were mainly steamships, the majority of the coasters were motorships. Although cargo was becoming more important as more ships were chartered to carry the trade, Clarke continued to carry passengers, not only to provide the only means of transportation to many of the ports it served, but also carrying tourists on the company's "Vagabond Cruises." While there were no more cruises to the West Indies after 1950, these summer cruises to the Gulf of St Lawrence were still very popular. Gulf of St Lawrence Cruising Even without the former cruise ships, Clarke still offered an interesting choice of 6- to 15-day cruises, with sailings to the North Shore, Gaspé and the Magdalens, as well as Newfoundland. And, as an indication of Newfoundland's increasing importance, it was no longer served by ships sailing via St Lawrence River ports, but direct. Clarke ships now provided 194 berths for passengers. Compared to the 642 berths offered in the North Star, New Northland, Gaspesia, North Gaspé and Sable I (510 in the North Star and New Northland alone) before the war, this was 30 per cent of that level. Nevertheless, as the North Shore sailed weekly, the actual number of berths on offer was somewhat more like 40 per cent of pre-war levels. Although the bigger cruise ships were gone, Clarke was still offering cruises where many of the pre-war companies had left the scene. The Clarke cruising tradition continued in a different, more rustic fashion, however. There were no more de luxe cruises, but the vagabond cruises had survived. A new edition of Leo Coxs "The Golden North" was printed in 1947 and would be updated again in 1957. "Clarke cruise ships" became "Clarke freight ships," but the narrative was the same, just slightly revised where appropriate. The flavour of the 1950s cruise experience is best summed up in one of the company's "Vagabond Cruises" brochures: - A "Vagabond" summer cruise on a Clarke ship along the scenic, historic coasts of the Gulf of St Lawrence affords one of the finest holidays available anywhere in North America. These voyages on leisurely passenger-freighters enable you to visit in easy-going comfort many remote ports ranging from ultra-modern paper-mill towns and ore-ports to primitive fishing settlements. You enjoy greater variety of interest ashore, opportunity for complete relaxation afloat, and a panorama of unsurpassed scenery. The high Clarke Line standard of cuisine and steward service, as well as a delightful informal atmosphere aboard ship, round out a perfect vacation adventure. Clarke ships no longer called at Pictou, Bonne Bay, St Anthony, Forteau Bay and Battle Harbour, but passengers travelling in its freighters now called at new destinations such as St John's, Halifax, Sydney, Dingwall, St Lawrence and Port Alfred. Meanwhile, the traditional services to the North Shore, Gaspé, the Magdalen Islands and Corner Brook carried on as before but with new ships. A "Vagabond Cruises" brochure appeared every spring, giving sailing dates and itineraries for the coming season. At first it was printed in 10,000 copies, the same number as the "Vagabond Cruises" brochure for 1941. But circulation eventually increased as these cruises came into demand. Canadian National's "Lady Boats" Canadian National Steamships had changed its services after the war by consolidating all sailings at Montreal. The two surviving "Lady Boats," Lady Nelson and Lady Rodney, now left Montreal for Bermuda, the Islands and Guyana, on the route that before the war had originated in Halifax. Round trip fares for the five-week voyage started at $639, not including hotel in Georgetown. As before the war, the "Lady Boats" sailed from Shed 12 or Shed 14 at the foot of Bonsecours Market, two piers west of the Clarke dock at Victoria Pier. To maintain its frequency, CN had commissioned three motorships in 1946 to replace the "Lady Boats" lost in the war. But like Clarke's Gulfport and Novaport, they carried only twelve passengers. And with just two "Lady Boats" sailing a longer route, there was now only about one passenger sailing a month. In 1949, Clarke ships often sailed on the same day as a "Lady Boat" - North Voyageur and Lady Nelson on June 22, Island Connector and Lady Rodney on July 22, North Coaster and Lady Nelson on August 12, North Gaspé and Lady Rodney on September 12, and North Coaster and Lady Rodney on November 4. All left Montreal at 3 pm, except for the North Gaspé, which sailed at 7:30 pm. But only twice in 1950 did Clarke ships sail on the same day as a "Lady Boat," with the North Coaster and Lady Rodney on June 30 and the North Gaspé and Lady Nelson on September 11. With the "Lady Boats" sailings changed to a morning sailing time, however, they were long gone before the Clarke ships departed. Clarke's 1950s Cruise Capacity In 1950, the North Shore offered twenty-five cruises to the North Shore and the North Gaspé twenty-six to the Gaspé coast. With each ship sailing weekly the number of passages offered was double what it would have been with a fortnightly schedule, but voyage durations were shorter. The North Coaster, meanwhile, performed fifteen 12-day "North Coast Cruises" and among them, the Gulfport, Island Connector and Empire Gangway (soon to be renamed Novaport) forty "Newfoundland Cruises." These 107 "Vagabond Cruises" provided 3,750 berths sailing from Montreal. Within five years, the North Shore and North Gaspé would each be offering thirty cruises to the North Shore and Gaspé, with sixteen "North Coast Cruises" by the North Coaster and twenty-nine "Newfoundland Cruises" by the Gulfport and Novaport.

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