THUNDER BAY — The James Whalen tug will be no more.
On Monday, city councillors voted nearly unanimously to award a contract to “recycle” the over century-old vessel, ending years of deliberation over what to do with it — especially after it sank in the Kaministiquia River in 2022 and had to be lifted out.
Currently, the tug is sitting at another location along the river — on the shore near the James Street Swing Bridge. The Transportation Museum of Thunder Bay has been lobbying to preserve the James Whalen, initially wanting it moved to the museum’s leased location at the former Pool 6 property, then, more recently, either keeping pieces of the boat or the entirety of its deck above the water line for display.
Representatives with the museum made a deputation prior to council’s vote on awarding the scrap-and-recycle contract, asking for an additional $120,000 to be added to the contract cost in order to facilitate their keeping of the deck. In his deputation, David Muir said the museum would, through its own fundraising, reimburse the city.
“The James Whalen tugboat, due to its longstanding years of service of assisting other ships, breaking of harbour ice, doing search and rescue salvage and the use of as a supply ship for various lighthouses and sites in communities along Lake Superior, the Whalen will serve as an icon to our reminiscent history,” Muir said.
Administration has been recommending the complete recycling of the James Whalen, after estimates to do the work came back much higher than expected. Salvaging any parts of the tug would further escalate the price, according to city staff’s report.
Scrapping the boat alone will cost just under $580,000.
Also at issue are ongoing discussions between the city and the museum over the not-for-profit’s lease at the waterfront and how it fits into the city’s best use planning for the future of the Pool 6 site.
On Monday, council discussed, what essentially amounted to a $120,000 loan to the museum, but was cautioned by administration that, with no museum assets against which the loan would be secured, nor anything formal like a business plan, the city would ultimately be assuming full risk.
City staff also did not recommend using reserve funds to cover the cost, instead they found some money budgeted for drainage improvement and rural road upgrades that could be deferred.
“This is not a best practice of loaning out money without any sort of loan guarantees,” city manager John Collin said.
Council voted to reject the proposal. Similarly, another proposal to add a maximum of $20,000 to the recycling contract to keep certain individual parts of the tug also failed.
In the end, councillors voted to award the contract to scrap the James Whalen, subject to ratification at its April 14 meeting.
