DETROIT (WWJ) - At almost 120 years old, one of the last and largest Edwardian-era passenger steamers is making her final journey to Lake Ontario, allowing ship enthusiasts here in Metro Detroit to glimpse a piece of history as she passes by.
Built in 1907, the SS Keewatin spent the better part of the last decade in Port McNicoll, Ontario in the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. But on Monday, the roughly 300-foot vessel began the journey to her final resting place at the Maritime Museum in Kingston, Ontario to the delight of history buffs in Michigan.
The Keewatin was making its way past Belle Isle around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. BoatNerd is live streaming from the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on YouTube.
TJ Gaffney, a Port Huron native and self-proclaimed "history buff" who volunteers with several organizations for historical work, has been keeping tabs on her voyage.
Gaffney told WWJ's Beth Fisher that he learned that the ship would travel through the Blue Water Bridge area and to the St. Clair River by tug boat on Sunday.
He immediately jumped to let other enthusiasts know on social media.
“For local folks in Port Huron: this is a site you will NEVER see again," he wrote early Wednesday morning. "The chance to get a picture of a passenger boat five years older than Titanic coming by Fort Gratiot Lighthouse and under the Bluewater Bridges.”
Gaffney told Fisher that he and a few other spectators were at the lighthouse earlier in the morning, watching the SS Keewatin under tow by a couple of tugs.
"She's pretty dramatic against the skyline," he described. "She has a bright white hull and a yellow and black smokestack, so like I say, she stands out in comparison with everything else."
The vessel is due to come down through Detroit before eventually making her way through Lake Erie and onto Lake Ontario.
The exact location of the Keewatin can be tracked on BoatNerd.com as it makes its way through the St. Clair River, then across Lake St. Clair and into the Detroit River.
The Keewatin was built in Glasgow, Scotland and set out on her maiden voyage in September 1907, docking in Quebec. She spent nearly 60 years carrying passengers on the Great Lakes, often docking at Port McNicoll, Ontario.
Port McNicoll was known as the "Chicago of the North" for some time until trains and ships stopped coming through in 1965 due to the completion of the Trans Canada Highway.
After coming out of service that same year, the Keewatin permanently docked in the Kalamazoo Harbor in Douglas in 1968, across from the summer resort town of Saugatuck.
The ship became a museum and sat in the harbor for more than 40 years, when it was towed out of the river back to Port McNicoll in June 2012. Her departure that summer was a big event, with large crowds gathering to see the historic ship make its way out of Saugatuck one last time.
The Keewatin is expected to arrive in Kingston sometime this fall. The exact time she is expected to pass by Detroit is not clear, though the ship had nearly made its way to the lake late Wednesday afternoon.
To track the Keewatin's journey as she heads toward Detroit, search for the tugs Molly M I or Manitou on BoatNerd.
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