S.S. Keewatin prepares to depart Port McNicoll for new home

The S.S. Keewatin will soon depart on what's sure to be its final voyage to its new home in Kingston, Ont.

Soon the ship built in 1907 will bid farewell to Port McNicoll and head to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes to spend the next phase of its existence.

Former president and CEO of the Friends of Keewatin Eric Conroy said the move is bittersweet.

"It's really sad and disappointing, if not for everyone, certainly for me," said Conroy. "I started on here when I was 17 years old. I would love to be able to see it stay here, but it can't for a whole lot of reasons. So, I'm quite happy it's going to Kingston. I think it's the right place. It certainly is the centre of history education for Canada."

Inside the S.S. Keewatin in Port McNicoll, Ont., on Tues., April 11, 2023. (CTV News/Molly Frommer)

Officials with the Kingston museum said they're looking forward to having the last Edwardian-era steamliner stay in their dry dock.

"Our intention as a museum is to preserve the ship, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to spend many years improving it over the years as an artifact and keeping it open to the public," said Doug Cowie, Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.

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The Keewatin will be incorporated into the museum's transportation collection, which covers the last 200 years of Great Lakes history.

"We're going to have an interpretive plan for it with an exhibit so people can understand the significance of the ship," Cowie added.

The iconic ship will soon be towed to Hamilton for the summer, where it will undergo major repairs, which will come with a significant price tag.

"We're talking in the millions, not the hundreds of thousands. We want to get all that work done in the shipyard before it comes to Kingston because that's significant work and makes a lot of noise," said Cowie.

The ship will travel to Kingston when the repairs are completed, at the end of the summer or the beginning of fall.

Museum officials hope to open the S.S. Keewatin to the public in the summer of 2024.