(Image: Brian Krouskie – AngelaBrianPhotography; La Grande Hermine shipwreck)
For those who regularly travel Canada‘s Queen Elizabeth Way, past Jordan Harbour, the site of bare masts rising from the rotting hulk of an abandoned sailing ship is a familiar one. But how did what appears to be a 16th century carrack come to be derelict in the Niagara Region harbour to begin with?
It turns out that the apparently ocean-going craft, which is visible from the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in Ontario, isn’t a 16th century vessel after all. It’s a replica of La Grande Hermine (The Big Weasel), which was navigated along the St. Lawrence in 1535 by explorer Jacques Cartier as he charted the vast river’s course.
Over the years, the famous ship has been featured on regional flags, though the one that now lies in Jordan Harbour is a 140-foot replica with an interesting history of its own.
(Image: Brian Krouskie – AngelaBrianPhotography)
Various replicas of La Grande Hermine were built throughout the 20th century, one of which appeared as a floating restaurant at Expo 67 in Montreal. There’s been some confusion over whether or not this later became the Jordan Harbour shipwreck, or whether the harbour’s ailing vessel was converted from a 1914 ferry or a 1941 icebreaker.
The latter is thought to be the most likely explanation, with the distinctive vessel originally launched as a ferry shuttling passengers up and down the St. Lawrence River in the early decades of the 20th century. It would later become a cargo ship before being converted into a replica of Jacques Cartier’s Grande Hermine.
The replica was later bought by a businessman who moved it to its current location with a vision of reopening the vessel as a floating restaurant, similar to the 1967 Expo example. But his plan ultimately failed.
(Image: Brian Krouskie – AngelaBrianPhotography)
After a brief spell as a haunted pirate ship for a Halloween fundraiser held by a group of local school kids, the carrack was moved to Jordan Harbour in 1997. But the final nail in its coffin came in 2003, when a “suspicious” fire tore through the abandoned ship. Assumed to be arson, those responsible were never caught, and La Grande Hermine was reduced to a charred hulk.
What remains in the harbour today is a listing, rusted ghost ship lying in an artificial cove, a reminder of grand plans that never came to fruition, and a time when the St. Lawrence River was an uncharted, unexplored wilderness. Despite its destruction, the burnt-out hulk, with its spectral masts, remains a well-known landmark of the Queen Elizabeth Way.
Related: Remembering the Eerie Shipwreck of SS Catala at Ocean Shores, WA
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