SS Keewatin - Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, Kingston, Canada

[Manfred M]

We headed to Kingston yesterday to visit the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company's "Keewatin". Built in Scotland, in 1907, she is the largest remaining Edwardian ship in the world. She was a ship that was sailed from Port McNicholl on Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) to the west end of Lake Superior (Port Arthur / Fort William which are now called Thunder Bay) a 2-1/2 day trip with train connections to Port McNicholl. She was built in Scotland in 1907 and had to be cut in two in order to travel through the Welland Canal. The ship remained in service until 1965.

This ship carried only first class passengers in 108 staterooms. There were 6 suites, with their own bathrooms. The staterooms used chamber pots. Luxury travel was certainly not up to our standards on luxury travel...

The ship arrived at the museum in October 2023 and the ship was opened for viewing in mid-May 2024. Much of the interior furnishing are authentic


1. The bow of the ship in the Kingston Dry Dock






2. Pilot house and decks





3. Gentlemen's Lounge and passages to staterooms






4. Dining Room with Steward







I shot these all with the GFX100sII with the Fujinon f/4 45-100mm lens. This is a 36 - 79mm FF equivalent. This was a bit narrow for this type of shooting, but things still worked out quite well. The outdoor shots were at ISO 80 and the interior shots were at ISO 8000 and ISO 10000. Overall, I am quite happy with the quality of the images, given the challenging lighting conditions. Bright mid-day sunlight for the exterior shots and and mixed lighting (natural light + artificial light that was quite dim).

[Manfred M]

I've processed a few more shots from this visit...


1. The Ladies Lounge - close to the bow of the ship






2. "The Swamp" - the watering of the potted plants meant water fell on the carpet and furniture from above, so the crew referred to this lounge as "the swamp".





3. The plant gallery - the lounge can be seen below. Staterooms are on either side of the gallery









4. Cigars, wine and whisky - The Gentlemen's Lounge






5. The kitchen - the chef, was apparently Chinese, as were his four assistants. Cuisine was traditional French.







6. A suite - lots of space to spread out here, unlike the 1st class staterooms.

[escape]

I like the tour. Were you able to get into the wheelhouse and engine room?

[Manfred M]

I like the tour. Were you able to get into the wheelhouse and engine room?

There was an engine room tour, but we had plans to meet a couple of friends who lived in town, so we did not do that tour.

There were 4 fire-tube marine boilers and a quadruple expansion engine down there.

The upper decks and wheelhouse area were being restored and made safe for visitors. Those areas are supposed to be opening in 2025, so the next time we are back, we can take those in.