Hamilton Harbour welcomes STV Pathfinder

It’s Hamilton’s 176th birthday today and the Hamilton Harbour is welcoming back a vintage vessel used for training youth to be sailors.

President of Brigs says Pathfinder is reborn. The STV Pathfinder, one of the Great Lakes’ first training tall ships will be heading out back in the water this summer to accommodate more students from Brigs Youth Sail Training after it was decommissioned almost in 2017.

More than 100 people were in attendance at Heddle Shipyards to witness the return of the 72-footer including Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor, Elizabeth Dowdeswell.

By 2018 the ship’s deterioration forced a sale to a private buyer but last year the CEO of Burlington-based Breakwater Financial, Blair McKeil bought it for under $200,000 and donated it to Brigs.

Close to $1M was invested into replacing rusted steel, repairing the interior, and adding a new wooden deck to the vessel. The engine has been completely refurbished.

Brigs says the vessel’s comeback will meet the demand for new registration and relieve capacity on its other ship, the Playfair. Pathfinder’s Captain Liam Fraser says the organization teaches first-timers.

“We take kids who have never been on sailboats before, some who haven’t been on boats before,” Fraser said.

Repairs on the ship are expected to be completed by the end of the month, just in time for it to sail off in July.

Brigs says expeditions will go as far as Georgian Bay over the next two months.