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I have served in the Canadian Coast Guard for over 35 years and proudly promote and represent the CCG. There are many, many people in Canada who do not even know of the existence of the CCG, and many others who do not know what the CCG does. This is my small attempt to promote an organization that I believe deserves much better publicity.

Simcoe	Click on photos to see full-screen image
	A few photos of the Simcoe leaving her dock in Prescott for buoy work farther down the St Lawrence river.
Kingston Maritime Museum. left:  Alexander Henry - museum ship. right:  CCGS Simcoe - oldest operational ship in CCG fleet.	Another view. left:  Alexander Henry right:  CCGS Simcoe	CCGS Simcoe at the Canadian Coast Guard Base in Prescott.  The yard is full of buoys for Lake Ontario and the upper end of the St Lawrence river.
At the approach wall.  Loading for the next day.	Ready for another day...	with many more to go after that. Above lock 4, Beauharnois.
Simcoe at rest. Above lock 4, Beauharnois.	Upper approach wall to the Eisenhower lock.	Simcoe in hiding. Above lock 4, Beauharnois.
Kingston, Ontario.		Kingston, Ontario.
At the end of the day we secured in downtown Kingston.  There is just enough water to get the Simcoe in here.
Secured in Picton, Ontario after breaking out the harbour for the first ship of the year.	CCGS Simcoe secured below lock 1. The Simcoe is now the oldest operational ship in the Canadian Coast Guard, built in 1962. By Great Lakes standards she's just a baby.	Someone thought it funny to put an 'X' on the Bosun's back.  His nickname is Bear.  Would you take that chance?
In December 2003 one of the winter spars slipped off the edge of the bank when it was placed.  The Simcoe could not recover it because of time and weather constraints.	On the left hand side, about half way up, you can see the buoy floating just under the water.  The boat is preparing to carry out a wire and grapple to snag the mooring.	The buoy is a hazard to navigation.  Here the boat takes the wire out past the buoy.
The buoy is visible under the water at the top left, and the wire leads over the mooring chain. Click on photo to see full-screen view	That didn't work so we tried something else.	Here you can see the current which caused no end of trouble.  Several times we lost sight of the buoy and it would pop up later where we least expected it - around the propellers!
At last.  Once we recovered this buoy we dropped the light buoy in the correct position.	It's not unusual for a buoy to drop off a ledge or to drop just far enough away to disappear into the water. The lanterns will even flash under water!   Sometimes you just cannot recover them and you can see the thing flashing 30 feet down.  Usually they are not a hazard because they are deep enough and close enough to the shoal that ships won't get near them.	The boat is recovering the marker we put out to see if the sunken buoy was moving with the current.
Recovering the boat.	At the lower left is the Stevenson's Screen which houses various thermometers.  They are used to determine temperature and dew-point which are included in the weather reports the ship sends in.	For more on Stevenson's Screen, Click Here.
Cornwall.  The crane that is used to help load the ship. The fall of a bridge at Cornwall, Ontario, Click Here.	Locking the gangway to the buoys so the locals don't push it into the river. I kid you not! It's Gangway, not Gangplank! Click Here.	Heading out to maintain a buoy. In truth, they are going to replace a lantern that was broken during the changeover process.
A bit of a deck load.		The boys and the buoys.
		The FRC, called an RHI by other groups, being recovered. FRC - Fast Rescue Craft. RHI - Rigid Hull Inflatable. An FRC is an elongated plasma ellipsoid conducting an azimuthal current which reverses the direction of an externally applied magnetic field.  Click Here.
Different views of a deck load of buoys.		Select a buoy for current weather conditions.  National Buoy Data Centre, Click Here.
A deckload of winter spars.  These have all been replaced with light buoys for the season.	Preparing to unload at the lock 4 approach wall.	At the approach wall.  Loading for the next day.
Overseeing the operation of the Simcoe. The Captain does not steer.	Tony steers! In CCG he is called a Quartermaster or Leading Seaman.  On Great Lakes ships he would be the Wheelsman.	Mike, Chief Officer, checking out the river.
Approaching the wharf at the Prescott CG base.		Swinging the linesmen ashore.
There's a considerable back-eddy at this dock.  It takes some concentration to get alongside.	Still trying to get alongside.	Are we there yet? I check the progress while the Chief Officer stands by the radio.
The deck crew bring the ship alongside with the wires.  As long as the Captain gets her close enough to the dock the crew do the rest.	These are the people who made the Simcoe go.  A great group.   Almost the entire crew.  Two fellows were ashore.	Putting out more lines.  The ship will be laid up until December.
Tony cleans the wheelhouse windows...	while John maintains a safety watch.	Curtis dogging down the hatch.
The crew paints lines on the dunnage so it can be placed exactly in position when it is removed to work on the steel deck underneath.  The dunnage protects the steel from damage caused by buoys and anchors when they are dropped and dragged.	Len busy painting the dunnage marks. The weather was gorgeous but soon turned cold and windy for a few weeks.	Some info about Dunnage, Click Here.
	Brian runs the lifting gear on the Simcoe.  Looks easy but it is 50 year old technology which requires considerable skill.	Larry the Bosun oversees the loading operation.
First the buoy is delivered by a yard crane.	Then the ships lifting gear is hooked in.  A wire is hooked in each lifting lug of the buoy so it can be lifted upright.	It's then moved to the deck.
And manhandled into position. The Canadian 4-1/2 foot buoys in Central region have been modified so they can be stored standing up.	Tony and John waiting for the next delivery which is being picked up in the background.	Another view of Brian operating the lifting gear.
Here comes another one.	Buoy:  How do you pronounce this word? Click Here.	More grunt work. The Simcoe, which is the oldest operational ship in the CCG fleet, has lots of camber. The deck is not flat, but is rounded with the high spot in the centre and the low spots on each side.
Adolphus Reach	This anchor, and the one on the other side, are just the right height to smash buoy lanterns when you try to back the ship away from a buoy.	CCGS Simcoe overwhelmed by the Toronto skyline.
Martin, 3rd mate, and Steve, 2nd mate involved in some paperwork.	Beth, steward, cleaning out the juice cooler.	Mike, Chief Cook, preparing grub.
Chief Engineer, Shawn, doing up timesheets.	Chief Officer, Don, checking the contract.	A closer view.
Cleaning the wheelhouse.  Tony, Quartermaster.	Finally downbound from Prescott. Ogdensburg bridge in the sea smoke. More on Ogdensburg & the bridge, Click Here.	Approaching the Iroquois lock downbound.
Buncha birds on the ice above the Iroquois.	GU-11's take flight.	Ice in the approaches to the Iroquois.  Not very thick at all.
Lock workers watching the first ship go through.	More on the Iroquois lock, Click Here.	The first ship of the season on this section of the St Lawrence river.
Artwork! The Seven Evil Spirits, Click Here.	A couple of miles above Eisenhower lock we ran into heavy ice. Eisenhower lock info, Click Here.	It took several hours to get through it to the upstream approach wall of the Eisenhower.
Nearly there.  And getting heavier.	Len lays out the lines for tie-up. See what's moving on the St Lawrence Seaway, Click Here.	Crew watching the progress.
	CCGS Simcoe secured below lock 1. The Simcoe is now the oldest operational ship in the Canadian Coast Guard, built in 1962. By Great Lakes standards she's just a baby.	Simcoe at the storage depot below lock 1.