The SS Canadiana (215 X 54, 1,446 steam powered horsepower) was launched at the Buffalo Dry-Dock in May of 1910, the last passenger vessel to be built in Buffalo, and plied the waters of the Great Lakes into the 1950's.
There were three passenger decks with an original capacity of three and a half thousand passengers and it has the largest dance floor of any passenger steamer ever placed on the Great Lakes. She sailed from the Buffalo harbor on lake cruises and to a Canadian amusement park and was one of the area's great attractions through the close of the maritime era and into the late 50's.
The "Friends of the Canadiana" formed in 1984. Through grueling work and over many obstacles, they brought the Canadiana back some 120 miles from her death bed in Ohio to Buffalo for restoration. The boat was readied for rebuilding under modern day regulations. All wood was removed and she was towed to Port Colborne, Ontario to lie in a sheltered slip near a dry-dock awaiting funds for hull and engine repair.
Unfortunately, funding was never raised and the hull was cut up for scrap during the winter of 2004.
Several items have been removed and saved for restoration, some to Buffalo, some to Fort Erie.
Rick Doan & Paul Kassay will give a presentation on the history as well as an update on the acquisition & restoration of Canadiana artifacts at the March 1, 2005 meeting of the Niagara Divers Association.
FMI - http://www.vaxxine.com/nda/meetings.htm
There were three passenger decks with an original capacity of three and a half thousand passengers and it has the largest dance floor of any passenger steamer ever placed on the Great Lakes. She sailed from the Buffalo harbor on lake cruises and to a Canadian amusement park and was one of the area's great attractions through the close of the maritime era and into the late 50's.
The "Friends of the Canadiana" formed in 1984. Through grueling work and over many obstacles, they brought the Canadiana back some 120 miles from her death bed in Ohio to Buffalo for restoration. The boat was readied for rebuilding under modern day regulations. All wood was removed and she was towed to Port Colborne, Ontario to lie in a sheltered slip near a dry-dock awaiting funds for hull and engine repair.
Unfortunately, funding was never raised and the hull was cut up for scrap during the winter of 2004.
Several items have been removed and saved for restoration, some to Buffalo, some to Fort Erie.
Rick Doan & Paul Kassay will give a presentation on the history as well as an update on the acquisition & restoration of Canadiana artifacts at the March 1, 2005 meeting of the Niagara Divers Association.
FMI - http://www.vaxxine.com/nda/meetings.htm
