The sister ship of the M.S. Norgoma is well on its way to the scrapyard after being moored at the town of Manitowaning on Manitoulin Island for nearly 50 years.
On Wednesday, the S.S. Norisle — a 214-foot vessel which operated alongside the Norgoma on the ferry route between Tobermory and Manitoulin prior to being replaced by the MS Chi-Cheemaun in 1974 — was removed from its berth and towed by tugboat Ecosse to Port Colborne on Lake Erie to be recycled.
A video posted to the Township of Assiginack Facebook page showed the tugboat towing the Norisle from Heritage Park on the Manitowaning waterfront.
“Although it was a hard decision to make, her deteriorating condition and the liability to our water intake, should she capsize, the council felt it was time to make the move while she still was afloat and able to be moved,” said Township of Assiginack Mayor Brenda Reid, in an email to SooToday Friday. “The community is mixed in their emotions, some are very sad which is totally understandable and others are relieved and ready to move on with improvements to our beautiful waterfront.”
In August, the township passed a resolution to accept an offer from Marine Recycling Corporation of Port Colborne to dispose of the Norisle at a cost of nearly $744,000.
The ship, built at the Collingwood Shipyards, carried passengers and automobiles between Tobermory and South Baymouth from 1947 until it was decommissioned in 1974, according to the township’s website.
It had been moored at Manitowaning Bay and primarily used as a floating museum since 1975 after being purchased by the Township of Assiginack for $1 that same year.
Organizations have come forward to pitch ways of preserving the Norisle over the years, but none of those plans panned out.
“Approximately 15 years ago the council of the day realized the time had come for the Norisle to be removed from our bay,” said Reid. “The S.S. Norisle Steamship Society has been working since then to refit her as a cruise ship, but were never able to secure the funding needed.”
Both the Norisle and Norgoma have been included in the 125 Ontario "problem" boats listed on the Coast Guard's national inventory of wrecked, abandoned or hazardous vessels.
The Norgoma, which is still owned by the City of Sault Ste. Marie, has been rusting at a private berth near Algoma Steel since 2019, after council decided to evict the vessel from its previous berth on the Sault’s downtown waterfront, where it had operated as a museum ship since 1975.
- with files from David Helwig