Help save some history.

[Verfall]

This is kind of an odd request, but it's somewhat personal to me. My moms family comes from Northern Ontario, the area around Sudbury and from Manitoulin Island on Lake Superior. The town of Manitowaning is where her mother grew up, and my mom used to spend lots of time down there as a kid. My grandparents and her and my uncle moved here to Regina when she was around 5, but she spent many summers out there as a kid visiting my great aunt and uncle and her cousins. I've been down there twice, once when I was 4 and again when I was 11. Beautiful place, I love Lake Superior and the island and have even debated moving there in the future.

But to get to the point, there was a ship berthed at the dock there, an old steamship called the SS Norisle. It was actually the first ship built in Canada after WW2, and served as a car ferry until the 70's. It's one of my favorite memories as a kid, seeing it when I was 4 was practically thrilling for a kid born in the middle of the prairies. When I visited the second time they had it opened up for tours and such, and I got to tour the inside.

Unfortunately in the 14 years since I was last there it has apparently had some problems. Excessive rains caused it too take on water, and with its electric systems offline its bilge pumps couldn't clear it, causing it to list. There was talk of the ship being towed out to a spot in the lake to be sunk as a dive site. Apparently, and thankfully, a group has got together to try to save it, and inturn restore it for sailing. It's only about 60 years old, which is fairly new when you consider they still sail early 1900's freighters on the Great Lakes.

I've always had a soft spot for the ship, and to have it be scrapped or sunk is something I'd really not like to have happen. They're currently asking for people to send 20 dollar cheques to the "Friends of the Norisle" group at this address: Jean McLennan, Box 98, Manitowaning, Ontario, POP 1NO. That's in Canuck dollars, so it's like 16 bucks American. This is a bit different than some of our previous donation dealys, but I figured if any group would even look at a thread like this it's this bunch.

For those interested in history and details I have some links:

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Norisle

A newspaper article on the situation: http://www.thesudburystar.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentID=469335&catname=Local+News

And another article giving more detail on the groups plans: http://www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/old%20files/mar14_2007.htm

She's a beautiful ship, and to have her become some hulk on the bottom of the lake would be outright heartbreaking. I know a few of you guys are in Ontario, so maybe you've seen her.

[Midnight]

 :blink: ...how... random.

I remember taking a couple rides on the Norisle when I was a pup, back when my parents would summer in Canada.

Will do big guy.

[Spring Heeled Jack]

Historic preservation is my field, so I'm a member of plenty of "Friends of BLANK" groups already, and they take up all of my "save the BLANK" money.

But I read about the Norisle, and it's a very interesting story. I always enjoy hearing from people who are trying to preserve their community's heritage. It's becoming a rarity these days!