James Whalen Tugboat Building Set

For many decades, the James Whalen was an iconic vessel in the bustling harbours of Port Arthur and Fort William. It was built in 1905 by Bertram Engine Works in Toronto, for James Whalen, a Thunder Bay entrepreneur who started in the lumber industry but made his fortune in shipbuilding, towing, dredging, and marine salvage.  When he commissioned his first tugboat, he named it after himself.

The James Whalen‘s hull was reinforced for ice-breaking, which allowed significantly earlier opening of the Thunder Bay harbour each spring. The dramatic bow-high attitude of the ship when breaking ice made it a popular photography subject. As the go-to large tug at the Lakehead in the early decades of the 20th century, it became a local favourite and was sometimes chartered by groups for excursion cruises.

After nearly 50 years at the Lakehead, the tug was sold and worked in the Montreal area until laid up in 1977.  The James Whalen was purchased by the city of Thunder Bay in 1992.  After extensive restoration, it became a static museum ship at the city’s Kaministiquia River Heritage Park. It sank at its dock in 2022 and was eventually scrapped in 2025. The Transportation Museum of Thunder Bay raised funds to salvage several elements, such as the pilothouse and smokestack, which are on display at their site near the CCGS Alexander Henry.

You can see parts of the James Whalen on display at the Transportation Museum of Thunder Bay: https://tmtb.ca/