Just like it did a century ago, the red ensign once again flies above the SS Keewatin.
With the ships mast more than 100 feet above the ground, a crane or scaffolding is just too expensive for Cpt. Eric Conroy and his crew of volunteers.
“There is no way to get up there. At one time there used to be a rope ladder, but they were taken down many years (ago) and nobody gave it thought what we would have to do,” says Conroy.
That's why the Midland Fire Department came to the rescue on Monday. The town donated its aerial ladder truck and a couple of firefighters to help out.
“Captain Eric came to me and said we got this new tourist attraction and need a little help,” says Midland Mayor Gordon Mackay. “We were very pleased to lend a hand.”
After carefully positioning the ladder truck near the edge of the port, firefighter Jamie Mark is slowly raised to the highest point on the historic steamship.
“It's the max we can reach,” says Mark. “Luckily it’s a big boat and doesn't move around too much.”
Once at the top, it only takes minutes to remove the old, torn rope from the pulley and replace with a new one. This process is repeated at each mast and it's an unconventional method compared to how the Keewatin's crew did it a century ago.
“They used to come up here on a single chair, on a single rope with nothing around you. It would have been an interesting job,” says Mark.
In very little time, Conroy raises one of the Keewatin’s original flags high above the majestic ship – just as it was when the Keewatin first arrived in Port McNicoll in 1912.
A small army of volunteers continue to restore the Keewatin and later this month, the ship’s steam whistle will blow for the first time in 45 years.
