''Empire Sandy'' is a tall ship providing chartered tours for the public from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Canada. She was built as an Englishman/ Larch Deep Sea-class

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

for war service by the British government in 1943.Mitchell and Sawyer (1990) p. 304 After the end of World War II she was renamed ''Ashford'' and then ''Chris M'' before reverting to the original name of ''Empire Sandy'' and being converted to a schooner.

Tugboat history

''Empire Sandy'' was one of 1,464

Empire ship An Empire ship is a merchant ship that was given a name beginning with "Empire" in the service of the Government of the United Kingdom during and after World War II. Most were used by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), which owned them and co ...

s built or acquired for war service by the British government. Built in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1943 as a deep sea

, she was tasked with

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

work and salvaging merchant ships damaged in the Battle of the Atlantic and other naval engagements during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. She served in the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

from Iceland to Sierra Leone, the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

, the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

and the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

during the Second World War. ''Empire Sandy''s Second World War 'Official Log-Books' documented all her wartime voyages including the complete particulars of the crew, names, addresses, ages, next of kin etc. The oldest was the

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

, E Thomas, 63, and the youngest the Cabin Boy, Kenneth Lewis 15. She met a storm while towing, with His Majesty's Rescue Tug ''Hesperia'', AFD24 (

Admiralty Floating Dock The Royal Navy had a number of floating drydocks for the repair of warships where there was no fixed dry dock available. The docks did not receive a name and were known as "Admiralty Floating Dock" with a number. In size they went up to ones capa ...

No. 24) off the coast of Libya on 8 February 1945. The tug ''Hesperia'' and AFD24 were both blown ashore and lost. In 1948 she was bare-boat chartered by Risdon Beazley who renamed her ''Ashford''. Together with their Bustler-class tug ''Twyford'', ''Ashford'' entered the rescue towage market. ''Ashford'' is listed as part of the salvage team attending the battleship after ''Warspite'' was drive

aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

on 23 April 1947 on the way to the breakers. ''Ashford'' is incorrectly identified as tug ''Englishman'', however all other particulars are of ''Ashford'' (''Empire Sandy''). ''Ashford'' was handed back to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

in 1952. She was then sold to a Canadian firm, the

Great Lakes Paper The Great Lakes Paper Company was the operator of the largest and most modern pulp and paper manufacturing facility in the world. The Company employed over 4,000 in Northern Ontario, starting in 1924 as a pulp mill at Fort William, Ontario (now Thu ...

Company, and renamed ''Chris M'' (after Chris Michels, a senior employee of Great Lakes Paper). She then came to the Canadian

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

where she spent fifteen years towing

timber raft Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, which are then drifted or pulled downriver, or across a lake or other body of water. It is arguably, after log driving, the second cheapest mean ...

s for

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

logging companies. In the early 1970s the aged ship was to be sold for scrap, but the steel hull was still in very good condition and she was bought by Nautical Adventures Co. for a possible conversion. They completely rebuilt ''Chris M'' as a three-masted schooner in the style of the 1880s and she assumed her original name '' Empire Sandy ''. On 5 August 2017, ''Empire Sandy'' was in collision with the Liberian freighter at

Port Colborne Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada that is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed afte ...

, Ontario. EMPIRE SANDY

Notes

References

* *

External links

Official site
{{2017 shipwrecks 1942 ships Tugboats Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of Canada Steamships of Canada Tall ships of Canada Schooners Three-masted ships Articles containing video clips Maritime incidents in 2017

Tugboat history

See also

Notes

References

External links