Site Navigation:
Searchable Databases
Articles Archive
Pacific Nautical Heritage...
- Gallery of Light and Buoy Images
- Gallery of Mariners
- Gallery of Ship Images
- Gallery of Ship Wrecks
- Gallery of Monuments and Statues
- Gallery of Nautical Images
- Gallery of Freshwater Images
- Gallery of New Books
Canadian Naval Topics…
- Nautical History Videos
- UNTD
- British Columbia Heritage
- Arctic and Northern Nautical Heritage
- Western Canada Boat and Ship Builders
- Gallery of Arctic Images
- Reflections on Nautical Heritage
- British Columbia Heritage
Site Search:
Looking for more? Search for Articles on the Nauticapedia Site.
The Tug H.M.C.S. Riverton
by Leigh Cossey 2018
After 10 years languishing dockside at Gamble’s in Port Colborne Ont. the Techno St. Laurent was pulled ashore on July 6, 2018 to be cut up. (Photo from the Jeff Cameron collection.)
My father, Stanley Cossey, was a naval architect who went to work for German and Milne in Montreal where he was the head of the design team for the Norton Class navy tugs. In 1943 he moved to Russel Brothers in Owen Sound and eventually was appointed as the head of the drafting department.
H.M.C.S. Riverton (W.47; ATA.528) was built in 1944 by Canadian Bridge Co. at Walkerville ON for the Royal Canadian Navy. She was 104.5’ x 26.8’ x 11.2’ with a steel hull 257gt 19.17rt. She was powered by a 1–1000bhp, 19.55nhp Sulzer diesel engine by Dominion Engineering Co. Ltd. Lachine, QC.
In 1944 she was commissioned as H.M.C.S. Riverton. After the Second World War she became an auxiliary vessel as C.N.A.V. Riverton, later designated as C.F.A.V. Riverton. In 1979 as the Techno St. Laurent she was sold to Techno Maritime Lt., Sillery, QC. In 2002 as the Kristin she was sold to McKeil Marine Limited, Hamilton ON. In 2006 she was sold to International Marine Salvage, Port Colborne, ON.
Jeff Cameron (Knowyourtugs) reports that "she was in the Marine Recycling scrapyard in Port Colborne ON on July 6th, 2018. She has been at the yard for over a decade in an ever declining state of repair. Having been partly scrapped a few years ago she has finally been dragged ashore. She is surely now, not long from being entirely cut up."
To quote from this article please cite:
Cossey, Leigh (2018) The Tug HMCS Riverton. Nauticapedia.ca 2018. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Riverton.php
Site News: November 2, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,538 vessel histories (with 16,140 images and 13,887 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3989 images). Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 35,000 processed so far this year.
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia's floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who continues (almost every day) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.