Made to Fit

摘要

My dad used to walk the boats all the way to Montreal," said Capt. Rob Wheeler. His father, retired Capt. George Wheeler, started as a deck hand on the old Lachine Canal and Great Lakes waterways right after World War II. As the little 250-by-43-foot lake boats moved through the locks, the deck hands acted as line handlers and walked from lock to lock rather than reboarding. By the time the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, George Wheeler had moved up to mate, and new lake boats moved up to 730 by 75 feet; to take advantage of the new 80-foot lock width. George Wheeler went on to captain the 730-class lakers and brought his son Rob along on his school holidays. In 1963, the same year that Rob was born, a new 730-by-75-foot laker, Qutb&ois, was launched from the Canadian Vickers yard in Montreal. Forty years later, in late May of 2004, Rob passed on the family tradition by inviting his two sons onboard Quebecois, the vessel he commands.