Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding of Somerset, Mass., modified its proven Chesapeake-class hull to withstand winter in upstate New York. The 53.5-foot vessel, built with plans from Ray Hunt Design, has thicker bottom plating to operate in ice conditions and a heated deck, rails and boarding platform.
The 1,300-hp Seaway Pilot V replaces the pilots’ smaller, lighter Seaway Pilot IV, which now occupies a reserve role. Capt. John Boyce, president of the Seaway Pilots, said the new vessel is heavier and more capable in inclement weather. Those traits came in handy during the delivery voyage to Cape Vincent, N.Y.
“It rode very well once we got to Lake Ontario,” Boyce said of the trip, which included a multiday journey up the Hudson River and the Erie Canal into the lake at Oswego, N.Y. “We had 8-foot seas, and we were able to do 25 knots comfortably.”
The leg from Gladding-Hearn to the Hudson was equally impressive. “We had 3-foot swells and 2-foot seas, and it went through those like nothing,” he said. “That whole time between Somerset and the canal, we didn’t get any spray of water on deck … which is pretty impressive.”
There are three pilotage districts spanning the Great Lakes. The easternmost is District 1 — served by the Seaway Pilots — running from St. Regis, N.Y., on the St. Lawrence to Port Weller on Lake Ontario, the northern terminus of the Welland Canal. The group’s 18 pilots assist about 1,500 ships in the Seaway each year. Given the length of Seaway transits, most ships change pilots at Cape Vincent.
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