Callaway Gardens
by Dick Wicklund

xxxxAt the end of 2002 it looked like the end for a vessel named Teakglen. Under this name she made only one trip hauling a load of grain from Montreal, Quebec, to Goderich, Ontario, on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. For a good part of the next three years her duty was for grain storage at this port.
xxxxAt the end of July, 2005, Teakglen’s days in Goderich ended, when she was towed to Sarnia, Ontario, on the St. Clair River. Here, this 608 foot vessel began its return to service, and not the scrapyard to the surprise of many. Further work would be done at Thunder Bay, Ontario, on Lake Superior. In dry dock there, her hull was painted blue, and her new name was applied, Maritime Trader, for the new Voyageur Maritime fleet.
xxxxWith a new future, what was Maritime Trader’s past? For most of its years she was known as the Mantadoc, the second vessel to have this name on the Great Lakes. She was built on the shore of Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay at Collingwood, Ontario, in 1967. Most vessels built during the 1960’s in Canada were 730 feet long. Mantadoc’s smaller size of just over 600 feet meant she could service smaller ports. Her owner, N. M. Paterson & Sons, intended for her to primarily carry grain.
xxxxThe Mantadoc’s design was similar to a 1965 built vessel, the Sir Denys Lowson. This ship was built also at Collingwood, but for the Algoma Central fleet. Paterson bought this vessel in 1979, and they renamed it Vandoc (2). In overall size, Vandoc was smaller, at 605 feet long. Sadly, as grain cargoes on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes became less, this vessel would only serve actively through 1991, then in lay-up until 2002.
xxxxIn 2002 Paterson sold there fleet of ships to Canada Steamship Lines. Both Vandoc and Mantadoc were included, but unfortunately not for service. Vandoc was sold for scrap, and the once active Mantadoc was laid-up. In October, 2002, Canada Steamship Lines did activate Mantadoc for one trip, under the name Teakglen, as noted earlier, this was that one way trip to Goderich for grain storage.
xxxxJust over a year in grain storage, Teakglen was sold in 2004 to the Goderich Elevator & Transit Company which had been using it since it came. However there is an irony for the Teakglen, the former Mantadoc, serving in this way: The first ship named Mantadoc also served here years before in grain storage use. Under the name, R. G. Sanderson, Mantadoc (1) spent a record 20 years here from 1963 to 1983.
xxxxMantadoc (1) was also built on Lake Huron, but on Saginaw Bay at West Bay City, Michigan in 1903, as the Frank W. Gilchrist. After ten years, the Gilchrist fleet was sold to the Interlake Steamship Company, when this new fleet was formed in 1913 by the mining and shipping company of Pickands Mather. They renamed this vessel, Cepheus. After thirteen years, in 1926 Interlake sold Cepheus, and several other ships to Paterson. All were renamed, and that is when this boat became Mantadoc(1).
xxxxThe first Mantadoc was a classic Great Lakes vessel, of which many of her 436 foot length were built. Paterson kept her basic appearance over the 37 years she served their fleet. In 1963 when she was sold to Goderich Elevator, and became the R. G. Sanderson, her outward appearance changed little in the 20 years she would spend in this harbor, out side of pealing paint and rust. Like so many retired Lake boats that came here, she would be forgotten, except for a few that would happen upon this “time capsule.” Of all the vessels used for grain storage, she would the serve the longest at Goderich. At the age of 80 in 1983, the Sanderson was quietly towed away to a scrap yard in Thunder Bay, Ontario, nineteen years before the second Mantadoc would arrive.
xxxxBoth of the vessels named Mantadoc were built on Lake Huron’s shores, and served for a time at the same place years apart. The years of sailing the Great Lakes is remembered for the first, and now a new future begins for the second, as the Maritime Trader, sailing Lake Huron’s blue waters, and beyond!

xxxx(A special thanks goes to Wade Streeter, and Dave Michelson for the November 12, 2005, pictures of the Maritime Trader – with whose help, John Meyland was able to take those pictures in difficult circumstances, along with their own!)