CANADIAN
ENGINEER
(Ship
photos from Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine
Historical Collection)
Built by
the Dominion Ship Building Company, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada in 1920 for the Canadian Government
Merchant Marine Service.
Hull
dimensions for the Canadian Engineer was 251 feet
long width was 43.7 feet, height 22.5 feet, gross
tonnage was 2281 t. Her engine was built by J.
Inglis Co. Engine
Builder 1920
Canada.
It was of the triple expansion
type with piston
sizes 20, 33 and 54 inches with a 40 inch stroke.
Her final
disposition in 1944 she found herself on the wrong
side of Hitler’s war and while in possession of the
Italian Government on June 1, 1944 she sailed from
Piraeus to Crete. During the route she was bombed
and sunk by British aircraft.
THE MODEL
"Best
of Show" Port Huron Great Lakes Regatta 2005
Builder: Jim Carnegie
Chatham, Ontario, Canada
Keel
laid January 3,
2003. Her construction is
of 1/32 inch plywood sheeting over her
frames with fiberglass resin for reinforcement.
Her shaft and motor is
positioned under hatch 3 and 4 in the after
section instead of midship
as in the original to cut down on the shaft
length and vibration problems. Her rudder width
was increased by ¼ inch to give her better
control and not divert too
much
from her original appearance as called for on
the plans. Decks are covered with 1/16 inch
plywood and then 1/64th inch styrene
to eliminate any wood grain appearance. Hatches
were built up and then covered with individual
mahogany planks. All winches are scratch built
with drums turned from brass stock and gears
molded from
fiberglass resin. Superstructure is
built
from plywood and styrene,
all railings are constructed from brass stock.
All staircases and ladders were constructed from
individual pieces of
styrene placed in a template. Her stack
is constructed from a piece of 1
¼ copper drain
tubing which made it easy to solder the safety
valves and whistle pipes too.
Her operational features
are an operating anchor windless, twin smoke
generators in her stack, working navigation and
deck lights, electronic whistle and of course
rudder and throttle controls.
Her
official launch date (actually the first time
she had seen water) was at
the Port Huron Regatta on June 4th,
2005 where she performed faultlessly. A major
problem with this hull is the amount of ballast
that it requires to keep her propeller under
water.
Work progresses well on
the model as she requires a lot more detail.
Total building hours to date: 722. I plan to
add a Sherman Tank and a truck to her decks to
reflect how this type of vessel would have
appeared in
convoy moving supplies to
Europe during the Second World
War.
Written by: Jim Carnegie
October 10, 2005
