Empire Sandy
The Empire Sandy is a tall ship based in Toronto, Canada. The 200-foot (61 m) long topsail schooner offers sailings for the public, chartered tours, including weddings and other events, on Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and along the St. Lawrence Seaway. During the winter she travels to the Caribbean. Licensed by Transport Canada to carry 275 passengers, she is Canada's largest topsail schooner.
The Empire Sandy was one of 1,464 Empire ships built or acquired for war service by the British Government. Built in England in 1943 as a deep sea tugboat, she was tasked with Royal Navy work and salvaging merchant ships damaged in the Battle of the Atlantic and other naval engagements during the Second World War. She served in the North Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to Sierra Leone, Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal during WWII.
After the war she was renamed Ashford, and worked clearing the wreckage of war from the English Channel. She was then sold to a Canadian firm, Great Lakes Paper Company, renamed Chris M (after Chris Michels, a senior employee of Great Lakes Paper) and came to the Canadian Great Lakes where she spent fifteen years towing timber rafts for Lake Superior 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 the Chris M as a three masted schooner in the style of the 1880s. She assumed her original name the Empire Sandy and is believed to be the last Empire ship built during WWII to be still sailing. She began serving the Great Lakes as a cruise ship in 1982, and continues to this day.
Visitors are usually welcome onboard during the day. Contact the owners, Nautical Adventures, for more information.