After a long and at times controversial process, the Titanic-era S.S Keewatin finally arrived at its new home at a dry dock in Kingston on Thursday afternoon.
The massive ship is over 330 feet long and weighs close to 3,000 tonnes, and was in service from 1908 to 1965, transporting cargo before primarily being used as a tourist vessel.
For years the ship was kept at Port McNicoll since 2012 before being donated to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston, finally making the trip this past week after months of anticipation.
It’s not the first time the ship has been in Kingston, after being transported in two pieces in November 1907.
On Thursday, employees and volunteers from the museum along with the many spectators who came to view the ship upon its arrival said it was surreal to see the ship finally arrive in Kingston.
Director and Chair of the Museum, Christopher West, said it’s amazing to see the ship finally arrive in the museum’s dry dock, but there’s plenty of work remaining to be done.
“It’s enormously exciting, enormously gratifying,” West said.
“It’s a daunting responsibility but we’re up for it.”
It won’t be until May 2024 when the public will be able to tour the ship, as $2 million worth of restoration work is still ahead for the museum, all while they continue to revamp their already existing exhibits.
Michelle Clarabud, the museum’s Programs and Communications Manager, said from now until the to be determined opening date in May much of the work will be cleaning before eventually moving on to staging with artifacts and mannequins.
Clarabud said the staging process will help to restore the ship into a time capsule, and tours will evolve as more of the ship is restored and ready to host visitors.
“We’re going to want to set the stage for the tour so that when you come aboard you get a better sense of what each room was used for, how people used it during the time, the experience of being on this vessel,” Clarabud said.
“The tours next summer will launch in May 2024 and will continue to evolve year over year as we restore more of the ship and make more of it available to the public.”
The Great Lakes Museum foresees this ship having a tremendous impact on the business itself, but also on the greater Kingston tourism economy as a whole.
West and Clarabud agreed that it could become one of the top attractions for both local and out of town tourism in Kingston, rivaling historic locations like the Kingston Penitentiary and Fort Henry.
“It’s going to be a very significant contributor to Kingston’s tourism economy,” West said.
“For sure it will be a popular local attraction… very soon we’ll be in that club of top attractions.”
Eventually, West says, it will also be used as a unique venue for other purposes.
Different programming, events, and other possibilities for the space will be explored as it becomes ready for public visits.
“For an attraction like this to be financially viable you need to max out the tour revenue potential but also the special events revenue potential,” West said.
“Will it be available for corporate events, and weddings, and so forth? Yes.”Â
While the S.S Keewatin won’t be open to the public for a few months, the remainder of the museum is open to the public.
