The canaller
The steamship Kamloops was built by Furness Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in Haverton Hill within Stockton-on-Tees in the northeast of England for Steamships Ltd of Montreal, Quebec. With a length of only 250 feet (75 m) and rated at 2,402 gross tons, the Kamloops was a relatively small vessel for the Great Lakes in the 1920s. She was built to fit inside the locks of the Welland Canal and other Canadian-operated canals of the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River during the years prior to the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The ship had two rigged masts, and a 1000HP triple expansion steam engine with Scotch boilers.
Kamloops completed its sea testing on 5 July 1924, then shipped to Copenhagen, Denmark to pick up freight, then on to Montreal and Houghton, Michigan. As a canaller, the Kamloops carried diversified "package" freight from Canadian port to port. Her chief duty was carrying manufactured goods from Montreal up the lakes to Thunder Bay. During the 1920s, Canada was part of the British Empire; economically fast-growing areas within the Empire, such as the Prairie Provinces, bought a significant quantity of their manufactured goods from the home country, England. Canada's freshwater fleet, including the Kamloops, was an essential link in this vein of imperial commerce.
It is the custom of Great Lakes shipping to try to move as much freight as possible before winter and associated ice conditions bring boat movements to a halt. The owners operated the ship as late into the season as possible: in 1924 it was one of the last vessels to pass through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, and in 1926 it ended the season stuck in the ice in the St. Mary's River. The Kamloops remained under British registry until 1926, when it was nominally purchased by new owners, Canada Steamship Lines, and re-registered in Canada.
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