An old ship that once sailed the Tobermory to Manitoulin Island ferry route is going to be scrapped.
Sault Ste. Marie city council voted this week to spend nearly $400,000 to have a company dispose of the M.S. Norgoma. The decision comes a few months after its sister ship, the S.S. Norisle, was scrapped as well.
The Norgoma was built in 1950 and originally sailed weekly round trips between Owen Sound and Sault Ste. Marie. It was upgraded in the early 1960s and then served alongside the Norisle on the Manitoulin-Tobermory ferry route, until both ships were replaced by the M.S. Chi-Cheemaun in 1974.
According to a Sault Star report, the Norgoma was acquired by the city of Sault Ste. Marie in 1975 and operated as a museum ship. The city’s been trying to sell the vessel since 2019.
In 2021, there was an effort by a Tobermory group to move the Norgoma and permanently dock it in Owen Sound, its old home berth. That proposal was shot down by Transport Canada.